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Zen Proverbs, Sayings and Quotes

Zen Proverbs, Sayings and Quotes

Osho, what is meditation?

Osho, what is meditation?

Relatively absolute

George G Clark, 04 August 2008

I still hanker after the  correct answer, after the truth, after cognitive closure. And this is despite an intellectual appreciation of the postmodern position. There remains a feeling that 'they' know and that it is 'our' job to fall in line with their viewpoints. Hegemony and elegant power reign supreme.

Postmodernists talk of the social construction of reality and of the death of metanarrative. We cannot know things as they are in themselves we can know only the perceptions that we build from our conceptions. Cultural relativism: anything goes?

But mystics speak of another kind of knowing, of a perennial philosophy. This is most often  effectively dormant and unseen because the chatter of the normal (intellectual) mind drowns it out. But IF the chatter is stilled THEN the inner mind kicks in. This makes the paucity of normal perceptions and viewpoints immediately clear. Numinousness appears and the limitations of the normal phenomenal mind become blatantly obvious.

This other kind of knowing might be thought of as relatively absolute. Absolute because it is built in to all human brains and relative because it is found only in human brains and only when the cultural dust is removed from the mirror mind. Might a key social task be to popularise the notion of turning your mind around and thus liberating your full potential as a human being?

"Jean-Jacques Rousseau made the famous revolutionary pronouncement that: 'Men are born free, and everywhere are in chains'. A couple of centuries later that still holds truth for us, but now we see that the strongest chains are symbolic ones, mind forged manacles." (Anderson, p219)

 

Digging deeper:

The reference list could be very long. I will mention only a few sources that have recently enthralled me:

Anderson, Walter Truett (1996 Ed) The Fontana post-modern reader; ISBN 0006863701 Anderson's link pieces are particularly clear and useful

Mind and Life Institute (2003) Destructive Emotions and how to overcome them – a dialogue with the Dalai Lama narrated by Daniel Goleman; ISBN 0747561826 – the cutting edge findings from the brains of ace meditators studied by ace scientists.

Gunaratana, Henepola (1991) Mindfulness in Plain English; ISBN 0861710649 – the text is also available on a website.

And Dharma talks about the practice of mindfulness by the good people at Dharma Seed. There is a long list to choose from (including Gunaratana): I personally like the clarity and quiet good humour of Steve Armstrong and Carol Wilson.

Disciplined Democracy

George Clark, 28 July 2008

"It is not by accident that we come by our 'common sense'. People who think freely and independently are quick to realise how they have been taught to imprison and enslave themselves. In breaking free they become the champions of un-common sense. May their thoughts be clear, fruitful and infectious." [George Clark]

Discipline is what causes you to behave this way rather than that. In a democracy there are rules about how to behave. In a well disciplined democracy there will be forms of both  external and internal discipline and these can be thought of as more or less right or wrong. The following box suggests four main patterns:

	Right	Wrong
Internal discipline	Freely chosen	Culturally absorbed
External discipline	Negotiated	Imposed

 

Right internal discipline is freely chosen. This suggests a cool review of the options and a rational/emotional choice about which one to run with. BUT what are the causes and conditions for your choosing one option over another? (see next example)

Wrong internal discipline is culturally absorbed. We are social animals. We absorb the culture in which we are raised. This remains hidden till we are exposed to people from different cultures. This can lead to fanatical behaviour. In these post-modern times we must learn to live with cultural relativism and its attendant uncertainties.

Wrong external discipline is imposed. "Do it this way." "Why?"  "Because I tell you." The power relationship can be within the family, community, tribe, nation, and so on. It tends to lead to unthinking obedience which is rarely ideal in the long term.

Right external discipline is negotiated. IF we are to be social animals living in a pluralist democracy where the rights of the individual are to be respected THEN coercion must be at least 'reasonable' and at best negotiated. The watchwords would be consultation, participation and ownership.

"Cultural influences have set up the assumptions about the mind, the body, and the universe with which we begin; pose the questions we ask; influence the facts we seek; determine the interpretations we give these facts; and direct our reaction to these interpretations and conclusions." [Gunnar Myrdal]	"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." [Sir Winston Churchill]
"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." [Howard Zinn]	"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power." [Lao Tzu]

 

More on hegemony at http://www.caledonia.org.uk/hegemony.htm

Ram Dass interviews Thich Nhat Hahn

Zencast

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Life Stages

William Shakespeare's "As You Like It"

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

 

— Jaques (Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166)

To-be-list

George Clark, 22 July 2008

I am presently between jobs and therefore underemployed, temporarily retired and not making best use of my entrepreneurial potential. The good news is  that (a) I am free from the alien agenda of a boss and work situation and (b) my to-do-list is not automatically filled for me.  I am therefore free to be whatever my personal agenda wants me to be. But, I have been so long out of touch with my true nature, that I have difficulty hearing its voice.

Part of the problem is that I have been sold on the idea that the opposite of work is leisure. And these days the leisure industry is packaged round a set of commodities designed to feature on your to-buy-and-do-list.  There are leisure products to mould the desires of increasingly niche-targeted consumers. All the way from daily drip feeds of distraction from the media, through designer sports wear for the youth to grand world tours for the silver tops. To many people this can seem like moving from one treadmill to another. Are there no alternatives?

There are! If work involves 'doing' then its opposite can be thought of as 'being'. It is possible to adjust your mind so that you enjoy the simple things in life: the warmth of your bed in winter; the taste of cool orange juice in summer; the way the sun shines through the window at different times of year. When you slow down and pay attention to what is 'really' going on then everything changes. The poet William Blake reckoned you can see "infinity in a grain of sand and eternity in an hour"; the Bible reckons that you can know the "peace that passes all understanding". Neat stuff. And all you have to do is adjust your mind. How might this be done?

Classic quotations point the way: "just sit"; and "be still and know". What this means in practice is that you should set aside 20 minutes at least once a day for stillness. Sit comfortably with your back straight and try not to move your body. When you begin this practice you will notice how busy your mind is with thoughts and emotions that stir up your mental mud. You will also notice yourself noticing what is going on. By keeping attention with this 'witness' the mental mud will settle and your mind will clarify and become still.

This peaceful stillness is your natural state. Once you get a little taste you will recognise it and seek more of it. Your 'practice' will lengthen and deepen and spread into non-sitting times. You will then be mentally free to enjoy the simple things in life on a regular basis. You will be well on the way to uncovering the real 'Self' as the benign force of nature and not of man.

Or so they say. I have been experimenting with stillness. The early stages have gone according to expectations and there have been glimpses of the inner voice. It is too early to give a 100% thumbs up but it is looking good with regular periods out of space, time and ego. Perhaps I should package 'Being' as a new leisure commodity with its own to-be-list!

 

 

Thrilling Stilling

George Clark, 18 July 2008

I used to be a Scottish Presbyterian workaholic and busy-ness freak.  There was no time to lose as the devil finds work for idle hands to do.  These days I remain Scottish but I am more relaxed. I made time to stand and stare. I found ways to be still and know how my mind works and about who 'I' am. So how was this managed? In two words – just sit.

The process began by reading spiritual books and listening to dharma talks and this led to developing a meditation practice. This meant having regular 20 minute time slots to just sit. This quickly led to experiencing the major psychological revelations which are reported by the great spiritual traditions.

The first revelation was that the mind has a mind of its own. While I was sitting thoughts and emotions would arrive, hang around for a while and then disappear again. Some were pleasurable, some painful and many were neutral. And 'I' had virtually no control over the process. The causes and conditions of the various thought trains were a mystery. 'I' was not in control; it was not 'my' mind!

Quite soon there was a realisation that 'I' could 'witness' the thought stream. It was as if I was watching a television which had  been programmed to randomly channel hop. But the witness point of view opened up a mental space which created distance between me and the thought trains. I was no longer my thoughts. They no longer had the power to totally capture my attention. It was possible to be free of attachment to them. And, more significantly, it became obvious that the viewpoints in the thought trains had very little to do with real reality. It was therefore OK to let them go. I was freed from my obsessions and from a whole string of messy mental habits. Goodbye John Knox!

So the first step was to be free from the busy mental chatter but what was this freedom for? It took a while to figure this out. It was as if the chatter was stirring up mud in the mind. Once it was gone the mud settled and there was clarity. The chatter is like the tip of an iceberg and it was now possible to identify with the enormous underwater bit. This is where still waters run deep. This is where the link to the unconscious is evidenced.

Here we approach the second revelation and what seems amazingly like freedom, authenticity and the fearless peace that passes all understanding. Here we are in touch with our essential human nature and we know that it is good. While sitting there is an egoless state which is outside of space and time – the word bliss comes to mind.

And, back in the everyday world, when the unconscious is uninterruptedly in the driver's seat, three things are possible – (a) you can view things numinously, (b) you can work in flow and (c) you appreciate the interconnectedness of the Oneness.

The sitting meditation is necessary to retune your brain but you can carry the new atunement back into everyday life. The trick is to stay awake and aware and thus to avoid being driven by automatic causes and conditions. There can then be effortless action performed with grace rather than with a grudge. You are free and flexible – a raw force of nature. No longer culturally programmed.

SO – cancel the endless chatter and take effortless action. Shake free from workaholism and compulsive busy-ness. Why not pluck the inevitable fruits of thrilling stilling?

PS –

There is a BUT. The above story covers over some awkward bits.

There are times when the chatter will not stop and the mud will not settle.  It can be tough remembering to adopt the witness position and to be a neutral observer of the mind state. This can be depressing and cause panic.

I am not yet in a position to call up effortless action at will. I desire to avoid grudge work and to perform only with grace – this means the dishes can pile up for several days before being washed. This can be a source of guilt and shame unless awareness kicks in to put it in perspective.

But, in either case, the answer lies in thrilling stilling!