Mark Foote

and then -- "no smoking" no more offerings with pipes rain in the Bad Lands

Yer right, I'm not seeing the four referred to as fields. "Four applications of mindfulness", as in: Mindfulness of in-breathing and out-breathing... if developed and made much of, brings to fulfillment the four applications of mindfulness... ("Anapanasatisutta", tr I. B. Horner, MN III 82, Pali Text Society MN V3 p 124) "Four arisings of mindfulness": Intent concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing, Ananda, is the one state which, if cultivated and made much of, brings the four arisings of mindfulness to completion. ("The Great Chapter: About In-Breathing and Out-Breathing", tr F. L. Woodward, SN V 328, Pali Text Society SN V5 p 292) Four arisings of mindfulness, I like that. The sixteen elements of Gautama's "intent concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing" are described in the section of SN V quoted immediately above. He ascribes the first four to mindfulness of the body, the second four to mindfulness of feelings, the third quartet to mindfulness of mind, and the final four to mindfulness of the state of mind. He also mentions that the concentration was his way of living before enlightenment (as the Bodhisattva) and after enlightenment (the Tathagatha's way of living). That's a peculiar chapter. The account of scores of monks a day committing suicide because Gautama recommended meditation on "The Unlovely" (aspects of the body) is in that chapter. I like to think that he particularly recommended the "intent contemplation" after that incident. Says to me that it's not necessary to focus on enlightenment, there's another focus that will lead to enlightenment if that's in the cards but is a better place to put effort since enlightenment might not be in the cards. There is reference to the "six sensory fields" in Gautama's description of his enlightenment: …[an individual] comprehends thus, ‘This concentration of mind … is effected and thought out. But whatever is effected and thought out, that is impermanent, it is liable to stopping.’ When [the individual] knows this thus, sees this thus, [their] mind is freed from the canker of sense-pleasures and [their] mind is freed from the canker of becoming and [their] mind is freed from the canker of ignorance. In freedom is the knowledge that [one] is freed and [one] comprehends: “Destroyed is birth, brought to a close the (holy)-faring, done is what was to be done, there is no more of being such or so’. [They] comprehend thus: “The disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of sense-pleasures do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of becoming do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of ignorance do not exist here. And there is only this degree of disturbance, that is to say the six sensory fields that, conditioned by life, are grounded on this body itself.” ("Mahasunnatasutta", MN III 108-109, Pali Text Society Vol III p 151-152)

Just your reflection in a bowl of muddy suds delivered by hand

The four fields: Therefore… be ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp. Hold fast as a refuge to the Truth. Look not for refuge to any one besides yourselves. And how… is (one) to be a lamp unto (oneself), a refuge unto (oneself), betaking (oneself) to no external refuge, holding fast to the Truth as a lamp, holding fast as a refuge to the Truth, looking not for refuge to any one besides (oneself)? Herein, … (one) continues, as to the body, so to look upon the body that (one) remains strenuous, self-possessed, and mindful, having overcome both the hankering and the dejection common in the world. As to feelings… moods… ideas, (one) continues so to look upon each that (one) remains strenuous, self-possessed, and mindful, having overcome both the hankering and the dejection common in the world. (Digha Nikaya ii 100, Pali Text Society DN Vol. II pg 108; Rhys Davids’ “body, feelings, moods, and ideas”, above, rendered by Horner as “body, feelings, mind, and mental states”) Gautama offered sixteen elements of mindfulness, four in each of the above four fields, as something "peaceful in itself" and "a pleasant way of living, besides" (see the chapter on in-breathing and out-breathing in SN V). He said that the sixteen were his way of living, especially in the rainy season. The 8th element of Gautama's 16 was translated as "calming the mental factors" by F. L. Woodward, and as "tranquillizing the activity of thought" by I. B. Horner (both Pali text society translators). Buddhaghosa has a list of the "mental factors", but I don't trust Buddhaghosa on that. According to Cheng Man Ch'ing, the Tai Chi classics describe seated meditation as “straightening the chest and sitting precariously” (“Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters on T’ai-Chi Ch’uan”, by Cheng Man-Ch’ing, translated by Douglas Wile, pg 21.). That points to the senses involved in balance as the "mental factors" that need calming (equalibrioception, proprioception, graviception, and oculoception). For me, I must pay particular attention to calming perceptions of stretch in the ligaments relative to activity and balance. The 15th element of Gautama's 16 was: Contemplating cessation I shall breathe in. Contemplating cessation I shall breathe out. (SN V 312, Pali Text Society Vol V p 275-276; tr. F. L. Woodward) Cessation of action of the body: the moment when the movement of breath places attention, volition ceases, and the activity of the body follows solely from the placement of attention. "The rhythm of the four fields including the relinquishment of volition". I took what I perceived to be the active element in each of the four fields of mindfulness, for my summary: I begin with making the surrender of volition in activity related to the movement of breath the object of thought. For me, that necessitates thought applied and sustained with regard to relaxation of the activity of the body, with regard to the exercise of calm in the stretch of ligaments, with regard to the detachment of mind, and with regard to the presence of mind. I find that a presence of mind from one breath to the next can precipitate “one-pointedness of mind”, but laying hold of “one-pointedness of mind” requires a surrender of willful activity in the body much like falling asleep.

find the Hidden Stone redeem it for prizes, trips the ghost of the past

Some of what Steve is talking about, perhaps, but here in more practical terms--at least, that's my take: “But, [Gautama], what is the condition, what the cause of not knowing and not seeing? How do not knowing and not seeing have a condition and a cause?” “At such time, prince, as one dwells with heart possessed and overwhelmed by sensual lust, and knows not, sees not in very truth any refuge from sensual lust that has arisen, –this, prince, is the cause of not knowing. of not seeing. Thus not knowing, not seeing have a condition, a cause.” “Then again, prince, at such time as one dwells with heart possessed by malevolence… by sloth and torpor… by excitement and flurry… by doubt and wavering, and knows not, sees not in very truth any refuge therefrom, –this, prince, is the condition, this is the cause of not knowing, of not seeing. Thus, prince, not knowing and not seeing have a condition, have a cause.” “What, [Gautama] is this method of teaching called?” “These, prince, are called –‘the hindrances’”. (SN V 127, Vol V pg 108) As to the OP's original question, I think Apech has it right. I'm reminded of the lodge ceremonies of the original nations of North America, and in particular of the kachinas in the Southwest USA. I believe that to actually see a kachina was an omen of death, but the dances performed in costumes representing the kachinas were meant to invoke particular spirits, maybe one could say from various realms? Kachina dancers, Shongopovi pueblo, Arizona, sometime before 1900 (from Wikipedia "Kachina") Technically, I guess in Buddhist teaching the realms have to do with rebirth--I'd love to be able to quote a particular sermon from the first four Nikayas, attributed to Gautama and about the realms, but to tell the truth I never paid much attention to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saṃsāra_(Buddhism)#Realms_of_rebirth

waltzing in like that like this, like that, first degree hat trick in July

material girl you got a lot of gall, just waltzing in like that

Not sure he has summarized the second theorem correctly, but I have yet to see and understand the proof in the theory of logic in which it is based. Suffice it for me that if the axioms of the theory can be used to prove all that is known in the theory, then a contradiction can be derived from the axioms. If the axioms do not give rise to a contradiction, then they cannot be used to prove everything that is known in the theory. That Godel also provided a solution to Einstein's equations in which past, present, and future intertwine--there is a Zen koan about that, a master talking about something that happened generations prior as though he were the cause. Intrestin'...

I was questioning "The flow part can't eschew volition but is the training part of the practice." I would agree, there may come a time when contact in the senses outside the range of consciousness enters into the location of attention, and the body turns around the location of attention without volition. I know in Aikido they do a blindfold training, but is that volition in the flow part or the body turning without volition? I've always had some difficulty with Tohei's "extend ki", as a practical matter. For me, I do stretch the hamstrings. At this point I can only sit half-lotus, and sometimes I have to go to Burmese. I have had no choice but to try to understand the actual mechanics of posture. That said, I recognize that the breath necessitates the placement of attention at least some of the time, and that with relaxation the stretch of ligaments can be the source of the activity of breath. Rather than suspend the headtop, I focus on the breath moving through the skull behind the nose--that has pretty much the same effect, if that awareness can be combined with awareness of the way the weight of the body returns from the stretch in ligaments of the legs (principally the ilio-tibial tract) to the stretch of the fascia behind the sacrum. The stretch behind the sacrum combines with the press of the extensors rearward behind the sacrum in an upright posture, and on a good day the stretch behind the sacrum and the breath at the bones behind the nose allows me to relax muscles in the lower abdomen in the movement of breath. I'm sitting with the left leg up more than I used to, the coordination seems to be easier that way. I don't blame you for giving up Aikido (or your Aikido teacher, either). I did myself harm just trying to sit seiza on the mat, and that after years of judo. Apart from that, though, I could do the techniques but not as a matter of extending ki--that's why I'm careful now about what it really means. I know Cheng Man Ch'ing spoke of nine levels in the cultivation of ch'i, and the first two levels of the third stage involved feeling strength from the ligaments and comprehending someone else's strength from ligaments. The final level, in the translation by Ben Lo came out "omnipotence", but in the translation by Doug Wile, the translation is "perfect clarity" (Master Cheng's Thirteen Chapters on T’ai Chi Ch’uan, by Cheng Man Ch’ing, translated by Douglas Wile, p 57). I'm sticking with that, and the spirit mobilizing the ch'i in that split-second of perfect clarity.

Brad Warner's teacher, Gudo Nishijimi, was very big on balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems as the key to zazen. Not clear to me what point you're referring to when you say, "this point"--are you talking about "laying hold of “one-pointedness of mind” requires a surrender of willful activity in the body much like falling asleep"? I have found some science to tell me what I particularly need to pay attention to with regard to my posture, but without the rhythm of the four fields including the relinquishment of volition, the science doesn't mean much. You can read the science I find most important here.

My go-to for the classics of Tai Chi is Professor Cheng Man Ch’ing Wherever the eyes concentrate, the spirit reaches and the ch’i follows. The ch’i can mobilize the body, but you need not will the ch’i in order to move it. The spirit can carry the ch’i with it. (Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan, by Professor Cheng Man Ch’ing, translated by Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and Martin Inn, pg 80, ©1985 by Juliana T. Cheng) I'm working on finding an upright posture, primarily when I sit. For me, that involves relaxing until I discover the stretch of ligaments that gives rise to the activity necessary to breathe, detaching from my thoughts of the moment, and realizing some presence of mind with the point of balance held by the breath. Tohei spoke of a centrifugal force, Omori Sogen talked about the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces, but I believe Tohei's "extend ki" was based around a singularity and extending the spirit of compassion around the world: … the spirit of aikido can only be love and harmony. Aikido was born in accordance with the principles and workings of the Universe. (Morihei Ueshiba, https://aikidojournal.com/2016/09/24/interview-with-morihei-ueshiba-and-kisshomaru-ueshiba/)

Here’s a summary of a study that confirms that activity is generated by the iliosacral ligaments: This study (research by Indahl, A., et al.) established that the ligamento-muscular reflex existed between the sacroiliac joint and muscles that attach to the bones that make up the sacroiliac joint. (The study’s authors) suggested that the sacroiliac joint was a regulator of pelvic and paraspinal muscles and, thereby, influences posture and lumbar segmental stability. (Serola Biomechanics website summary of Indahl, A., et al., Sacroiliac joint involvement in activation of the porcine spinal and gluteal musculature. Journal of Spinal Disorders, 1999. 12(4): p. 325-30; https://europepmc.org/article/med/10451049 https://www.serola.net/research-category/the-nutation-lesion-2/ligamento-muscular-reflex/) The stretch allowed by a ligament is slight (less than 6% of the total length of the ligament [https://web.mit.edu/tkd/stretch/stretching_3.html]), and yet as the study by Indahl and associates showed, even a slight stretch can induce muscular activity. I think, based on my own experience, that the stretch of ligaments anywhere in the body can generate muscular contraction, and through reciprocal innervation a rhythm of contraction and relaxation. Here's Dr. John Upledger, describing his experience of "reciprocal innervation" while lying on salt water in an isolation tank: At some point my body began to make fish-like movements, as though my pelvis and legs were the lower part of a fish moving its tail from side to side. This movement was nice and easy. The neurophysiologist in me related these movements to an expression of what we call ‘reciprocal innervation’. The principle here is that, when your trunk is bent to the side in one direction past a certain threshold, the muscles on the other side of the trunk contract. In doing so, the nerve impulses are diverted from the side to which you are bent, and those muscles relax. Your trunk now bends in the opposite direction until that side-bending threshold is passed. The nerve impulses are then diverted again to the opposite side, causing muscle contraction and side bending in that direction. (“Your Inner Physician and You: Craniosacral Therapy and Somatoemotional Release”, John E. Upledger, p. 165) A trick and a half, to describe surrendering volition in activity and "flowing" qi in the same breath! Best I can do: The presence of mind can utilize the location of attention to maintain the balance of the body and coordinate activity in the movement of breath, without a particularly conscious effort to do so. There can also come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. ... If the activity of the body follows solely from the location of attention, a presence of mind is possible such that no matter where the breath shifts the location of attention, the activity of the body follows solely from that singular location. Presence of mind as the location of attention shifts “suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind” [as Gautama described it]. (More of What Shunryu Suzuki Said, bracketed material added) My take: A central theme of Gautama’s teaching was the cessation of “determinate thought” in action, meaning the cessation of the exercise of will or volition in action. A cessation of the exercise of will could be attained, said Gautama, through the induction of various successive states of concentration. As to the initial induction of concentration, Gautama declared that “making self-surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness of mind”. I begin with making the surrender of volition in activity related to the movement of breath the object of thought. For me, that necessitates thought applied and sustained with regard to relaxation of the activity of the body, with regard to the exercise of calm in the stretch of ligaments, with regard to the detachment of mind, and with regard to the presence of mind. I find that a presence of mind from one breath to the next can precipitate “one-pointedness of mind”, but laying hold of “one-pointedness of mind” requires a surrender of willful activity in the body much like falling asleep. (Response)

What Gödel found was the possibility of a hitherto unimaginable kind of universe. The equations of general relativity can be solved in a variety of ways. Each solution is, in effect, a model of how the universe might be. Einstein, who believed on philosophical grounds that the universe was eternal and unchanging, had tinkered with his equations so that they would yield such a model—a move he later called “my greatest blunder.” Another physicist (a Jesuit priest, as it happens) found a solution corresponding to an expanding universe born at some moment in the finite past. Since this solution, which has come to be known as the Big Bang model, was consistent with what astronomers observed, it seemed to be the one that described the actual cosmos. But Gödel came up with a third kind of solution to Einstein’s equations, one in which the universe was not expanding but rotating. (The centrifugal force arising from the rotation was what kept everything from collapsing under the force of gravity.) An observer in this universe would see all the galaxies slowly spinning around him; he would know it was the universe doing the spinning, and not himself, because he would feel no dizziness. What makes this rotating universe truly weird, Gödel showed, is the way its geometry mixes up space and time. By completing a sufficiently long round trip in a rocket ship, a resident of Gödel’s universe could travel back to any point in his own past. Einstein was not entirely pleased with the news that his equations permitted something as Alice in Wonderland-like as spatial paths that looped backward in time; in fact, he confessed to being “disturbed” by Gödel’s universe. Other physicists marvelled that time travel, previously the stuff of science fiction, was apparently consistent with the laws of physics. (Then they started worrying about what would happen if you went back to a time before you were born and killed your own grandfather.) Gödel himself drew a different moral. If time travel is possible, he submitted, then time itself is impossible. A past that can be revisited has not really passed. And the fact that the actual universe is expanding, rather than rotating, is irrelevant. Time, like God, is either necessary or nothing; if it disappears in one possible universe, it is undermined in every possible universe, including our own. Gödel’s conclusion went almost entirely unnoticed at the time, but it has since found a passionate champion in Palle Yourgrau, a professor of philosophy at Brandeis. In “A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy of Gödel and Einstein” (Perseus; $24), Yourgrau does his best to redress his fellow-philosophers’ neglect of the case that Gödel made against time. The “deafening silence,” he submits, can be blamed on the philosophical prejudices of the era. Behind all the esoteric mathematics, Gödel’s reasoning looked suspiciously metaphysical. To this day, Yourgrau complains, Gödel is treated with condescension by philosophers, who regard him, in the words of one, as “a logician par excellence but a philosophical fool.” After ably tracing Gödel’s life, his logical achievements, and his friendship with Einstein, Yourgrau elaborately defends his importance as a philosopher of time. “In a deep sense,” he concludes, “we all do live in Gödel’s universe.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/02/28/time-bandits-2

Who's on first! As best as I can understand it, karma is a result of intention in action, of the volition or choice in action. Here's Gautama the Buddha: …I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN Book of Sixes 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) “When one determines”–when one makes up one’s mind, "action" takes place. And again: And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) Gautama taught that speech ceases in the first concentration, action of body (specifically activity in the movement of breath) ceases in the fourth, and action of mind (specifically "feeling and perceiving") ceases in the last of the concentrations. By that he meant that "determinate thought" in action ceases, choice or will in action ceases. Whether the intention is good or bad, the consequence of the action ripples on, and eventually comes back to undue the exercise of intention--if we're lucky! Moreover: Where there have been deeds, Ananda, personal weal and woe arise in consequence of the will there was in the deeds. Where there has been speech–where there has been thought, personal weal and woe arise in consequence of the will there was in the speech–in the thought. Either we of ourselves, Ananda, plan those planned deeds conditioned by ignorance, whence so caused arises personal weal and woe, or others plan those planned deeds that we do conditioned on ignorance, whence so conditioned arises personal weal and woe. Either they are done deliberately, or we do them unwittingly. Thence both ways arises personal weal and woe. So also is it where there has been speech, where there has been thought. Either we plan, speaking, thinking deliberately, or others plan, so that we speak, think unwittingly. Thence arises personal weal and woe. In these six cases ignorance is followed after. But from the utter fading away and cessation of ignorance, Ananda, those deeds are not, whence so conditioned arises personal weal and woe. Neither is that speech, nor that thought. As field they are not; as base they are not; as wherewithal they are not; as occasion they are not, that so conditioned there might arise personal weal and woe. (SN II text ii, 36, Pali Text Society SN Vol II p. 31-32) "how does karma get rebirthed into other realms?"--sort of like being in a pool hall, and somebody strikes the ball on their table so hard it bounces off, lands on another table, and strikes the balls there. How's that!

stand and deliver everything under the sun wrapped around a heart

I reserve judgement until I see for myself what tomorrow brings

rest in clear presence the mind moving, breath takes place no one the wiser

once gone sky remains mind like plunk in sense pudding kite on a string, high

Gautama's companion Ananda is generally considered to have had a photographic memory for sound, and his recollections formed the basis for much of the first four Nikayas of the Pali Canon. I think a more straightforward translation of Book of Fours 36 can be found in the Pali Text Society's editions. Here's a little bit more of the text, starting with the questions from Dona to Gautama: Your worship will become a deva? No indeed, brahmin. I'll not become a deva. Then your worship will become a gandarva? No indeed, brahmin, I'll not become a gandarva. A yakka, then? No indeed, brahmin. Not a yakka. Then your worship will become a human being? No indeed, brahmin. I'll not become a human being. ... Who then, pray, will your worship become? ... Just as, brahmin, a lotus, blue, red, or white, though born in the water, grown up in the water, when it reaches the surface stands there unsoiled by the water,--just so, brahmin, though born in the world, grown up in the world, having overcome the world, I abide unsoiled by the world. Take it that I am a Buddha, brahmin. (AN Book of Fours 36, Pali Text Society AN Vol 2 p 44) I prefer "I abide unsoiled by the world" to "I am not soiled by the world", the sense of time in "abide" is helpful to me--like, "I spend my time in a place that is unsoiled by the world". Subtle difference from "I am unsoiled by the world." Likewise, "Take it that I am a Buddha, brahmin", rather than "Therefore, o brahmin, I am a Buddha." "Take it that I am" seems to say, "for lack of a better term, you can just write me down as a Buddha." Now it could be that Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation is more accurate that that of F. L. Woodward, I don't know. I do prefer the gentler Gautama in Woodward's translation, and since grace was universally acknowledged to be a defining trait of the man, I'll continue to refer to the Pali Text Society's translations (they are available online here). For lack of a better term, you can call it "Buddhism".

tetsubin. Japan. many an ancient volume of forgotten lore

sayonara, dude should old long since be forgot celebrate the loss

reversive yin/yang California sees flooding the lake fills slowly

Something from my last post on my site (zenmudra.com/zazen-notes): The presence of mind can utilize the location of attention to maintain the balance of the body and coordinate activity in the movement of breath, without a particularly conscious effort to do so. There can also come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. When the location of attention can shift anywhere in the body as a function of the movement of breath, and the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation follows solely from the location of attention, there is a feeling of freedom. Something from what I'm writing for my next post: Kobun Chino Otogawa said: …Sitting shikantaza is the place itself, and things. …When you sit, the cushion sits with you. If you wear glasses, the glasses sit with you. Clothing sits with you. House sits with you. People who are moving around outside all sit with you. They don’t take the sitting posture! (“Aspects of Sitting Meditation”, “Shikantaza”; Kobun Chino Otogawa, jikoji.org) Contact in the senses, even contact with something beyond the conscious range of the senses (“people who are moving around outside”), can enter into the placement of attention, and in so doing become a part of the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation. Gautama the Buddha described the extension of particular mental states throughout the world: [One] dwells, having suffused the first quarter [of the world] with friendliness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; just so above, below, across; [one] dwells having suffused the whole world everywhere, in every way, with a mind of friendliness that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. [One] dwells having suffused the first quarter with a mind of compassion… with a mind of sympathetic joy… with a mind of equanimity that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. (MN I 38, Pali Text Society volume I pg 48, emphasis added) Gautama declared that “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of compassion (as above) corresponded with the first of the further states of concentration; “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of sympathetic joy, with the second; and “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of equanimity, with the third. Particularly when something beyond the conscious range of the senses enters into the placement of attention and generates activity, there is a sense that the activity generated solely through the placement of attention is independent of the apparent circumstance. If such activity arises through the extension of friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy, or equanimity, then the experience can be accompanied by a feeling of “absolute independence” from immediate circumstances, especially if the spirit in such extension is not otherwise evident in the surroundings... I would say compassion is indeed at the heart of the teaching, as are the four truths.

what a shock - tossed back and grooving, straight up, sideways never here before