tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post922412220700304341..comments2024-02-06T22:19:13.028-08:00Comments on Mining Aśvaghoṣa's Gold: BUDDHACARITA 1.14: First StepsMike Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-60772348548935950112012-05-15T18:54:13.260-07:002012-05-15T18:54:13.260-07:00Thanks Mike. Best of luck to your son.Thanks Mike. Best of luck to your son.真行 https://www.blogger.com/profile/09275768134243230516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-19374835573625721232012-05-15T13:29:53.839-07:002012-05-15T13:29:53.839-07:00O, Oatmeal-munching Scientist! (voc. sg. f.):
Wh...O, Oatmeal-munching Scientist! (voc. sg. f.): <br /><br />Why bother? indeed. That might be the wisest thing you've written so far.<br /><br />By the way, my eldest son is just finishing the 3rd year of a degree in Chemistry at Imperial College, London. Not bad, eh?<br /><br />So I have succeeded pretty well in guiding his progress as a scientist such that he has already overtaken me in his understanding of science. How did I manage this? I will tell you the secret: I set the bar incredibly low!Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-84511265348732977172012-05-15T12:09:23.019-07:002012-05-15T12:09:23.019-07:00Hi Mike –
If your practice consists only of sitti...Hi Mike –<br /><br />If your practice consists only of sitting in lotus as the abandonment of all views, then what is the rest of your life, including this translation effort, your conviction of a link between Alexander theory and not thinking, Nishijima’s teaching around right posture, not to mention your distain of most, if not all, –isms, due to, at the very least, the dangers of group think instead of thinking for one’s self? Why bother with anything at all? <br /><br />I don’t subscribe to Catholicism and I haven’t the foggiest notion of where to procure such a shirt, so I can only hope that my confession to you that I have not yet had the opportunity to listen to the Soros lecture will suffice (though it’s on my list of things to do). Otherwise I may be up sh*t creek without a paddle.真行 https://www.blogger.com/profile/09275768134243230516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-9561262958480546512012-05-15T10:51:21.757-07:002012-05-15T10:51:21.757-07:00Hi Gisela,
"Don't undermine your story&q...Hi Gisela,<br /><br />"Don't undermine your story" could be another way of saying "Don't abandon an idea."<br /><br />I don't know if you followed the link I provided to the talk in which George Soros gave his critique of the enlightenment fallacy of objective reality divorced from reason, and his even stronger critique of the post-modernist fallacy of no objective reality but just affirmation of individual stories, but I thought the talk was very good, exceptionally clear. <br /><br />"Don't undermine your story" sounds like it could be somewhat leaning in the post-modernist direction. <br /><br />My practice is sitting in lotus as the abandonment of all views -- especially religious ones, but thanks to George Soros I would like to add to the list post-modernism with its emphasis on "my story."<br /><br />Yes, I excuse you for being out of line, so long as you say three Hail Mary's and don a hair shirt.Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-56448433711068995412012-05-15T10:28:16.546-07:002012-05-15T10:28:16.546-07:00Mike –
When you say things like “history might pa...Mike –<br /><br />When you say things like “history might pass me by without even relegating me to so much as a footnote” I worry that you’re missing the point. <br /><br />And while the opening lines and the gist of Dogen’s Fukan-zazengi are: “Awakening originally is all around. How could it depend on training and verification?,” he also was moved to tears when he found his vision of practice shared, for example as he describes in Kesa-kudoku: “At that time, there arose in me a feeling I had never before experienced. [My] body was overwhelmed with joy. The tears of gratitude secretly fell and soaked my lapels.” Dogen is full of contradictions like that. And I’ve heard people complain about those contradictions, but life, too, is chalk-full of contradiction.<br /><br />I don’t think Dogen was concerned about fame and fortune. He was, however, a strong advocate of sincerity in practice. What is your practice? Is its worth to be decided by history, Nishijima’s story, or your story? Don’t undermine your story. <br /><br />Excuse me if you think I’m being out of line.真行 https://www.blogger.com/profile/09275768134243230516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-25307565312766423982012-05-15T02:19:47.581-07:002012-05-15T02:19:47.581-07:00Thank you Mike for helping me to get a bit closer ...Thank you Mike for helping me to get a bit closer to the root of the problem! Ofcourse there is still long way for the Tiperery!<br />GeorgeΓιώργος Ασκούνηςhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14706016253217928236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-19047440066166637012012-05-15T00:49:09.854-07:002012-05-15T00:49:09.854-07:00Thank you to all three of you.
For the present t...Thank you to all three of you. <br /><br />For the present the "maybe not even a footnote" hypothesis seems to remain unfalsified.Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-42143440860840551142012-05-14T11:51:31.587-07:002012-05-14T11:51:31.587-07:00Hi Mike -
Still choosing to listen. Wish I were ...Hi Mike - <br /><br />Still choosing to listen. Wish I were a better source of verification.真行 https://www.blogger.com/profile/09275768134243230516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-6374084186407387462012-05-14T09:50:03.376-07:002012-05-14T09:50:03.376-07:00I'm making that choice too, pretty much as Jor...I'm making that choice too, pretty much as Jordan tells it. Whether you're wrong or right? I am in no position to know or try to know, I really don't have a clue. But what you write is often fascinating and it is for me very important. <br /><br />Bu the way, I don't think I've mentioned before in my (very few) comments here, that I have been for a long time and continue to be a loyal student of Mike Luetchford. It seems to me to be right to disclose that, whether it matters or not. <br />But of course that experience with Mike informs the way I receive what I read here. <br /><br />Today I am very moved by your contribution.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08122736799069313026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-69067947937277375882012-05-14T03:38:26.497-07:002012-05-14T03:38:26.497-07:00Hi Mike,
I choose to continue observing your work ...Hi Mike,<br />I choose to continue observing your work in progress and continue to try and pick up on what you are putting down.SlowZenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589294912054724123noreply@blogger.com