Mark Foote

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

Saddened. I love how the Sufis celebrate the return to the One, I will think of Blue Eyed that way.

ancient

Sounds pretty much right to me, not that I have any authority to say so. Reading your remarks, I'm thinking, "one hand clapping, the kind of dull thud you get when the thoughts come to an end, and you find awareness broadening out involuntarily." I've heard some Zen teachers give readings of the koans that I knew for a fact were wide of the mark, but then--they were Soto teachers. Maybe Rinzai teachers know better than to stick their necks out!

"Everything changes, work out your own salvation"--last words of Gautama the Shakyan Some real stuff: The frailty of the lower spine emerged with studies made in the 1940’s, studies that established that the discs of the lumbar spine cannot, on their own, withstand the pressure of lifting significant weight. In the 1950’s, D. L. Bartelink concluded that pressure in the “fluid ball” of the abdominal cavity takes load off the structure of the spine when weight is lifted (“The Role of Abdominal Pressure in Relieving the Pressure on the Lumbar Intervertebral Discs”; J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1957 Nov; 39-B(4):718-25). The pressure in the “fluid ball” is induced by activity in the abdominal muscles, and Bartilink was able to establish that in weight lifting, the pressure induced is proportional to the weight lifted. Bartelink theorized that animals (as well as humans) make use of pressure in the abdominal cavity to protect the spine, and he noted that breathing can continue even when the abdomen is tensed: Animals undoubtedly make an extensive use of the protection of their spines by the tensed somatic cavity, and probably also use it as a support upon which muscles of posture find a hold… Breathing can go on even when the abdomen is used as a support and cannot be relaxed. (ibid) In the 1980’s, Gracovetsky, Farfan and Lamay suggested that in weight lifting, the abdominals work against the extensor muscles of the spine to allow the displacement of the fascial sheet behind the sacrum and spine: If this interpretation is correct, it would partly explain why the abdominal muscles work hard during weight-lifting. They apparently work against the extensor muscles. Furthermore their lever arm gives them considerable effect. In fact, we propose that the effect of the abdominal muscles is two-fold: to balance the moment created by the abdominal pressure (hence, the abdominal muscles do not work against the weight lifter) and to generate abdominal pressure up to 1 psi, which would help the extensors to push away the fascia. It is essential that the supraspinous ligament and the lumbodorsal fascia be brought into action to permit weight lifting without disk or vertebral failure. … It must be kept in mind that in some circumstances ligament tension may reach 1800 lb., whereas no muscle can pull as hard. (Gracovetsky, S., Farfan HF, Lamay C, 1997. A mathematical model of the lumbar spine using an optimal system to control muscles and ligaments. Orthopedic Clinics of North America 8: 135-153; bracketed added) Dr. Rene Cailliet summarized these findings: In the Lamy-Farfan model the abdominal pressure is considered to be exerted posteriorly against the lumbodorsal fascia, causing the fascia to become taut…. thus relieving the tension upon the erector spinae muscles. (“Low Back Pain Syndrome”, ed. 3, F. A. Davis Co., pp 140-141) Farfan, Lamay and Cailliet referred to the “lumbodorsal fascia”. That fascia is now more commonly referred to as the “thoracolumbar fascia”. There may be another factor at work in the stretch of the thoracolumbar fascial sheet. Behind the sacrum, the fascia can be stretched rearward by the mass of the extensor muscles as they contract. As H. F. Farfan noted: There is another peculiarity of the erector muscles of the spine. Below the level of the fifth lumbar vertebra, the muscle contracts in a compartment enclosed by bone anteriorly, laterally, and medially. Posteriorly, the compartment is closed by the lumbodorsal fascia. When contracted, the diameter of the muscle mass tends to increase. This change in shape of the muscle may exert a wedging effect between the sacrum and the lumbodorsal fascia, thereby increasing the tension in the fascia. This may be one of the few instances where a muscle can exert force by pushing. (“Mechanical Disorders of the Low Back”, H. F. Farfan;1973 Lea & Febiger; p 183) Farfan mentions a “wedging effect” on the “lumbodorsal fascia” caused by the mass of the extensor muscles as they contract. The extensor muscles run in two sets behind the spine, one on either side of the vertebral column, and the wedging effect of the extensors on the thoracolumbar fascial sheet can therefore alternate from side to side. That is likely the source of the commentary made by Ch’an teacher Yuanwu in case 17 of “The Blue Cliff Record”: … Hsiang Lin said, “Sitting for a long time becomes toilsome.” If you understand this way, you are “turning to the left, turning to the right, following up behind.” (“The Blue Cliff Record”, Yuanwu, tr. Cleary & Cleary, ed. Shambala, p 114)

where dimes are kindness, quarters are some kind of love I think I'll stay home

Slopping Hogs Is No Fun There aren’t many jobs less fun than slopping hogs. But it has to be done. If someone doesn’t slop the hogs, then calamity will strike: NO BACON. What could be worse than that? My friend, Leon Drennan, grew up on a 160 acre Kentucky farm. They raised hogs, cattle, and a few small crops (including tobacco). Leon’s first job on the farm was hog slopping. One step up from hog slopping was feeding the calves. It was a big day when his father trusted him enough to move from the pig pen to the calf pen. He had earned that trust by doing a great job at slopping hogs. And that is the same way any of us get out of the pig pen—we earn our way out. If you or someone you know is stuck in the pig pen, the way out is: Quit complaining. Be grateful you have a job. https://hard-lessons.com/slopping-hogs-is-no-fun/ No bacon! Aack! Blech! The cat loves bacon!

& short films?

Also go to whore did Ikkyū Sōjun, bless him patriarchy sucks patriarchy sucks egg, to use Twain's expression need a brave new world

As in, "category theory"? The second fundamental concept of category theory is the concept of a functor, which plays the role of a morphism between two categories C1 and C2: it maps objects of C1 to objects of C2 and morphisms of C1 to morphisms of C2 in such a way that sources are mapped to sources, and targets are mapped to targets... (Wikipedia, "category theory") Sounds right to me. The relationships involved in "one hand clapping" don't morph onto the relationships of "two hands clapping", they express fundamentally different relationships. I'm with Dylan, though: "well, I don't think it's likely to happen; the sound, of the one hand clapping..."

From the piece I'm currently writing for my own site: The mindfulness that was Gautama’s way of living was composed of sixteen observations and contemplations, each to be made in the course of an inhalation or exhalation. I have summarized what I consider to be the actionable elements of that mindfulness: 1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation; 2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation; 3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation; 4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation. Why the emphasis on breath? As I wrote previously: There’s a frailty in the structure of the lower spine, and the necessity of breath can place the point of awareness in such a fashion as to engage a mechanism of support for the spine, often in stages. The key to detaching from thought is to appreciate thought--I can usually do that, even if I only appreciate that I still have a mind that thinks, regardless of what I think of the contents! Something else you might find useful, also from my current write: In Gautama’s most famous sermon (Satipatthana, MN 10), the mindfulness of feelings consisted of mindfulness of the pleasant, the painful, and the neither-pleasant-nor-painful of feelings. In the mindfulness that was Gautama’s way of living, the mindfulness of feelings consisted of a mindfulness of feelings of zest and ease, feelings that he identified as belonging to the first concentration. In my experience, the feeling of ease associated with concentration is the feeling of ease associated with activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness. Activity of the body can follow automatically as the location of consciousness leads the balance of the body. Automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness has a feeling of ease, and initially a feeling of energy (or “zest”) as well. Gautama spoke of the extension of the feeling of ease, an extension such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this… ease”. He used the words “steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses” to describe how the feeling of ease pervades the body, indicating that the feeling is accompanied by a fluid sense of gravity. The extension Gautama described maintains an openness of the body to the placement of consciousness at any point, and to ease through automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness at that point accompanied by a sense of gravity. Regarding the location of consciousness: Modern neuroscience now includes the study of the “bodily self”: A key aspect of the bodily self is self-location, the experience that the self is localized at a specific position in space within one's bodily borders (embodied self-location). (Journal of Neuroscience 26 May 2010, 30 (21) 7202-7214; https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3403-09.2010) The “self… localized at a specific position in space” is commonly associated with consciousness. The Indian sage Nisargadatta described the self as “the consciousness in the body”: You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. Meditation means you have to hold consciousness by itself. The consciousness should give attention to itself. (Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]; ISBN 978-9385902833) The “specific position in space” of the “consciousness in the body” is often assumed to be fixed somewhere behind the eyes. Zen teacher Koun Franz suggested that the location is not fixed: … as an experiment, I recommend trying it, sitting in this posture (legs crossed in seated meditation) and trying to feel what it’s like to let your mind, to let the base of your consciousness, move away from your head. One thing you’ll find, or that I have found, at least, is that you can’t will it to happen, because you’re willing it from your head. To the extent that you can do it, it’s an act of letting go–and a fascinating one. (“No Struggle [Zazen Yojinki, Part 6]”, by Koun Franz, from the “Nyoho Zen” site, parenthetical added)

If I understand correctly, the teacher Joshu answered the question "yes" on one occasion, and "no" on another.

The local scene--nothing happening, so boring!

that pustulous zit will remain when worlds are gone Away, scullion! (“Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe.” ― Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part Two)