Mark Foote

Bong. Thanks, manitou--hope you get to Paris, I've never been there. When I sit, I start out having to relax and calm down, to let go of my mind, and hopefully to find my impermanence and some equanimity toward a little bit of pain around the edges. If I do drop into where I am now, I experience movement in the location of self-awareness, but I can double-down on "free to move through the whole body and as though in open space". Surrender. How much can I transition to action initiated in the stretch of ligaments, and stop moving myself around, I wonder lately. A lot to learn, between the pelvis and the spine, between the lower spine and the thoracic spine, and between the neck and the head. My late teacher Wu Tsu said, “With this turtle-nosed snake, you must have the ability not to get your hands or legs bitten. Hold him tight by the back of the neck with one quick grab. Then you can join hands and walk along with me.” (Yuanwu, "The Blue Cliff Record"; trans. Cleary Cleary, pg 144) I'm bound to be bitten by Wu Tsu, if I take his advice to mean there's something I should do. It's about realizing a cessation of "doing", but I think I might run into him, in the stretch of ligaments.

mind your own business mince your own pie, ya gew-gaw extra point word, there

I have the idea that what is important is centred within us, and that it is important to establish it first within as the source, before identifying with everything ‘out there’ and maybe missing what’s ‘in here’. We'll have fun, fun, fun, 'til her daddy takes the T-bird away... (Beach Boys) It took me a long time to study anatomy seriously (I had to prove to myself it was necessary), and I'll be the first to confess, the relationship between the presence of the heart-mind without abode and kinesthesiology is not straightforward. Nevertheless. I make use of the science that says stretch in the ligaments that connect bone to bone can give rise to activity in the muscles of the body. That stretch of ligaments is subtle, for the most part, but there's a tendency to reciprocating activity in agonist/antagonist muscle groups as a result. I have to feel the stretch, to key appropriate relaxation, to feel the stretch. I look for particulars at first, but I definitely have to work with the location of self-awareness in space to avoid strain. ... like an eagle sleeping in its nest. It has a location. Self-awareness has a location, but the location is unrestricted, can move as though in open space (as when falling asleep, "sleeping in its nest"). The stretch can be localized in the vicinity of self-awareness, or the stretch can be generalized, as the lack of restriction on the location of self-awareness is realized. At some point, the lack of restriction on the location of self-awareness means things beyond the boundaries of the senses, seemingly outside the body, help to place awareness in space. Bending the knees in kneeling, sitting cross-legged, or standing, seems to encourage particular locations of self-awareness. The jewel present within the heart in the center of one’s body is great pristine consciousness. (Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra) However, he would also speak of the Heart as equivalent to the Self and remind them that in truth it is not in the body at all, but is spaceless. (Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi on heart)

One thing or the other (law of the excluded middle)--that logic gives rise to contradictions, in that context (when applied to the infinite, especially when the infinite is taken to be a completed entity, as in "One").

A leap of faith and an abiding awareness of breath, in my experience. The emphasis on awareness of breath is the real strength of the teaching of the Gautamid (IMO). At least, as far as ishinashini. "Let the mind be present, without abode"--that's a relinquishment of volition in action of the body too, and anybody can experience that just before they fall asleep (more easily if they are trying to fall back asleep at 4am, and have had a drink of water). That's what my Waking Up and Falling Asleep is all about.

To this day, I'm amazed by Godel's proofs (which I have yet to acquire a basis in formal logic to see in full). The two proofs from the 1930's established that any set of axioms that gives rise to all that is known to be true in mathematics will also give rise to contradictions. In the early twentieth century, there was a heated debate among mathematicians over the use of the law of the "excluded middle", a common axiom of logic: The law of excluded middle can be expressed by the propositional formula "either p or not p". It means that a statement is either true or false. Think of it as claiming that there is no middle ground between being true and being false. Every statement has to be one or the other. (https://web.stanford.edu/~bobonich/glances ahead/IV.excluded.middle.html, logical symbols replaced with English) Turns out that accepting the law of the excluded middle gives rise to contradictions when working with infinite sets. Learning something every day--I discover on Wikipedia the following: In his lecture in 1941 at Yale and the subsequent paper, Gödel proposed a solution: "that the negation of a universal proposition was to be understood as asserting the existence … of a counterexample" (Dawson, p. 157). ... The debate (over the use of the "excluded middle" in mathematics) seemed to weaken: mathematicians, logicians and engineers continue to use the law of excluded middle (and double negation) in their daily work. (Wikipedia, "excluded middle") Fascinating, captain.

The miracle of the extension of the mind of compassion through the four quarters of the world, above and below, is in the ishinashini that is in accord with a future that hasn't taken place yet. The man sitting atop the hundred-foot pole: Though he's gained entry, this is not yet the real. Atop the hundred-foot pole, he should step forward; The universe is all directions is the whole body. ("Book of Serenity", tr. Cleary, Shambala p 335)

When Layman Pang took leave..., (he) pointed to the snow in the air and said, "Good snowflakes--they don't fall in any other place." (Case 42 "The Blue Cliff Record", Yuanwu, tr. Cleary & Cleary, p 253) An update of some remarks I made in 2014 that concern the infinity of ether, and also the experience of action of the body in the absence of volition, which the Japanese call "ishinashini" (and which the late Sasaki roshi of Mt. Baldy in L.A. cited as a justification for his groping his female disciples): Gautama mentions extending the mind of compassion in the ten directions to infinity, and says the "excellence of the heart's release" in such an extension is the attainment of the realm of infinite ether (the first arupa jhana, or immaterial trance). Lately I’m on a lot about proprioception in equalibrioception– “with no part of the body left out”, a singularity in the sense of location and a freedom of the sense of location to move. More correctly, though, it’s got to be all of the senses including touch “with no part left out”, where “with no part left out” is the extension of the mind of compassion in the ten directions to infinity. An openness to all parts informing a singularity in the location of awareness. And a relinquishment of volition in activity, with self-surrender the object of thought, so that when the wind blows from the realm of infinite ether the limbs can move, so to speak. Or not. I guess the relinquishment of volition is a matter of well-being, the well-being that draws us all as a source of non-material happiness, and whether or not the windy element moves the body is hardly significant. Except to me, because of the lack of doubt I experience in being drawn along. It gets complicated when people like Sasaki claim that they did their misdeeds as a matter of ishinashini, that their hand was will-less. Belief is involved, so although a lot of folks see Zen as somehow beyond reason, the fact is that reason doesn’t go away and belief is involved, even when volition ceases. The realm of infinite ether with its "motile air" (as in the Visuddhimagga) doesn't move me from any other place.

Objection sustained, the Bard was out of line!

First, we hang all the lawyers. Gautama taught four "truths" concerning suffering. To me, the "truths" apply if the first truth applies, "suffering exists". That's not some kind of universal statement, that there is suffering in the world and it will always be with us, though I know some Buddhists take it that way. If I experience suffering, then the second, third, and fourth truths are useful to me. The chain of causation behind suffering and behind the cessation of suffering constitutes the heart of the second and third truths. These truths are inspirational, to me. The fourth truth is the path leading to the end of suffering. Gautama doesn't posit an instant end of suffering. Here's an unusual statement of the eight-fold path, but the only one that I find appealing: (Anyone)…knowing and seeing eye as it really is, knowing and seeing material shapes… visual consciousness… impact on the eye as it really is, and knowing, seeing as it really is the experience, whether pleasant, painful, or neither painful nor pleasant, that arises conditioned by impact on the eye, is not attached to the eye nor to material shapes nor to visual consciousness nor to impact on the eye; and that experience, whether pleasant, painful, or neither painful nor pleasant, that arises conditioned by impact on the eye—neither to that is (such a one) attached. …(Such a one’s) physical anxieties decrease, and mental anxieties decrease, and bodily torments… and mental torments… and bodily fevers decrease, and mental fevers decrease. (Such a one) experiences happiness of body and happiness of mind. (repeated for ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind). Whatever is the view of what really is, that for (such a one) is right view; whatever is aspiration for what really is, that for (such a one) is right aspiration; whatever is endeavour for what really is, that is for (such a one) right endeavour; whatever is mindfulness of what really is, that is for (such a one) right mindfulness; whatever is concentration on what really is, that is for (such a one) right concentration. And (such a one’s) past acts of body, acts of speech, and mode of livelihood have been well purified. (MN III 287-289, Pali Text Society V 3 p 337-338) The experience of the senses he described was surely informed by his attainment of a cessation of habit and volition in perceiving and feeling, recalling that in his account of that cessation, he said that there was "only this degree of disturbance, that is to say the six sensory fields that, conditioned by life, are grounded on this body itself." He spoke of a mundane eight-fold path on the side of merit and demerit, and a super-mundane path. Apparently it's not enough to pursue an eight-fold path based on the discrimination of right and wrong (even though he spoke of "right view, right aspiration", etc.). When I'm hurt, I know I'm grateful for whatever concentration I can find, as the way I experience pain changes in concentration. I have to hope that if I am dying of a pain or illness, I can still find concentration.

I think Sophie mostly purrs to let me know she's there, and please don't step on her/lie on her/disturb her. She doesn't purr when I scratch her chin, but she presents her chin and clearly enjoys it. Maybe she's the exception, I don't know. "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoof-beats...": The essential thing in studying the way is to make the roots deep and the stem strong. Be aware of where you really are 24 hours a day. You must be most attentive. When nothing at all gets on your mind, it all merges harmoniously, without boundaries--the whole thing is empty and still, and there is no more doubt or hesitation in anything you do. This is called the fundamental matter appearing ready-made. As soon as you give rise to the slightest bit of dualistic perception or arbitrary understanding and you want to take charge of this fundamental matter and act the master, then you immediately fall into the realm of the clusters of form, sensation, conception, value synthesis, and consciousness. You are entrapped by seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, by gain and loss and right and wrong. You are half drunk and half sober and unable to clean all this up. (“Zen Letters: the Teachings of Yuanwu”, tr. Thomas Cleary, pg 53, emphasis added) The advice to "be aware of where you really are 24 hours a day" seems straightforward, and Sophie seems to have no problem with it. I don't see doubt or hesitation in what she does, so I guess it all merges harmoniously for her, without boundaries. That is to say, the cats outside the fence enter into her zazen, maybe cats on the other side of the world enter into her zazen, and when the place where she finds herself jumps into the rocking chair, it is without hesitation:

Not sure on that, myself. If I remember correctly, the 90% effective rate was supposed to indicate the inability of the virus to gain a foothold in the body, but it was only two months after the booster that I had a symptomatic infection, presumably of omicron. My guess is that the vaccines are not that effective against omicron. The friend who was not vaccinated had the same symptoms, the same degree of disease. The virus, with its "advanced functionality" (I do believe), continues to mutate toward additional transmissibility. More like the flu than measles, I'm afraid. The folks who are immuno-compromised or otherwise at risk are going to have to wear N-95's. Better air filtration at all mass indoor facilities, including restaurants and bars, should be required. My two cents. and now we really, really return you to your regular programming...

The cat contracted a virus. Bouts of sneezing, loss of appetite, liquidy stuff. Today she's back to solid stuff, eating better, still sneezing. I don't know if she suffers much. She's very fond of having her chin scratched, but once she moves on from it, she seems to just be where she is, as she is. Sophie, recovering (this afternoon):

I had both vaccinations and the first booster before I caught covid, in January. The symptoms lasted five days, two with a slightly sore throat, and three with a runny nose. I did get tested the second day after no symptoms, and the test came back positive. I have two good friends who have refused vaccination. One reported that she contracted the disease two weeks ago, and for her it was five days of mild illness, I presume similar to what I experienced. I can only hope that my other unvaccinated friend experiences the virus the same way, as I think it's not a matter of "if" we all catch the virus, but when. And I'll hope the same for you, liminal_luke!

A thing that amazes me is that more people don't read the classics, as a check against their own assumptions. At the same time, I will allow that at least at first, that feels like drinking from a fire hose. Maybe in the case of Zen, a fire hose without any water coming out. First, I know the impact of emotions can vary from one individual to another. I have a friend who has confessed to me that she feels emotions very strongly, and has had to make it a practice in her life to be aware that she's wired that way, and stay calm. She jokes that I'm on the spectrum (autistic), and I reply she's borderline (personality disorder). Whatever the case, we seem to have grown up to be functioning adults. More or less! Second, there's a part of Gautama's teaching that took me years to appreciate, and that is the practice of mindfulness. Of course, attempts have been made here in the West to extract a working component of mindfulness that can be applied outside of the framework of the teaching, like "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction"--that extract matches up pretty well with "whatever we are experiencing, directly and without conceptual elaboration." I did not recognize initially that there were two mindfulness practices in the sermons, the first in satipathana, and a second in anapanasati. I started reading the sermons with Majjhima Nikaya (middle length sayings) and finished with Samyuta Nikaya (the connected discourses), so I didn't see that it was anapanasati that was Gautama's way of life until late. I can see where MBSR might come out of satipathana, which is broader and more comprehensive than anapanasati. It's only taken another 25 years for me to see why Gautama would recommend the practice in anapanasati as a way of living, instead of urging the monks and nuns on in their pursuit of the cessation of habit and volition in feeling and perceiving. Certainly, he didn't exclude that cessation as a part of anapanasati, since he only speaks of "cessation" and not the particular cessation, but odds are it was the cessation of action of the body that he drew upon in his daily living. I won't argue that each specific element isn't "spontaneously perfected in that connection", but I would point out that there is a constant juxtaposition of the comprehensive or "whole" and the particular in Gautama's description of the states of concentration (meditation). Here's his description of the first concentration: … as a handy bathman or attendant might strew bath-powder in some copper basin and, gradually sprinkling water, knead it together so that the bath-ball gathered up the moisture, became enveloped in moisture and saturated both in and out, but did not ooze moisture; even so (one) steeps, drenches, fills and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease. (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III pg 18-19) That kind of juxtaposition continues in his description of each of the first four states of concentration--here it is again in the fourth, which I've quoted before: Again, a (person), putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, (one) 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. … just as a (person) might sit with (their) head swathed in a clean cloth; even so (one) sits suffusing (their) body with purity… (Ibid) How is that possible, to realize a "one-pointedness of mind" that has no object, that is as though in open space, and yet Gautama speaks of "not one particle of the body that is not pervaded..."? Why I love the Pali Text Society translations--"not one particle of the body that is not pervaded...", so whatever part might enter into the experience of one-pointedness of mind, can be found to be so pervaded.

The eight limbs of yoga are yama (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption). (Wikipedia, Ashtanga [eight limbs of yoga]) Samadhi is of two kinds, Samprajnata Samadhi, with support of an object of meditation, and Asamprajnata Samadhi, without support of an object of meditation. ... Asamprajnata Samadhi, also called Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Nirbija Samadhi, is meditation without an object, which leads to knowledge of purusha or consciousness, the subtlest element. (Ibid) How ya gonna keep 'em, down on the farm, after they've seen Paree...

Old3bob, bless his heart...

Just for you, old3bob!

I like a nice manifesto before breakfast. Pass the salt, pass the butter--more syrup, anyone? Coffee!

That is the paradox of the spiritual undertaking, I think--the difficulty of reconciling a fundamental spiritual perfection with a seemingly imperfect existence. Because there is a fundamental spiritual perfection, many say that nothing needs to be done except to realize it. And yet... I think Gautama was right to take the tack of approaching the undertaking from the standpoint of making an end of suffering, rather than realizing that fundamental perfection. Gautama's effort to sit down and induce concentrations that culminated in a cessation of volitive activity indicates to me that he believed there was a fundamental well-being of body and mind, apart from any exercise of will. Moreover, his experience of such states was an affirmation that action of the body and mind necessary to well-being can take place even in the absence of the exercise of will. Not that "nothing needs to be done", but that there doesn't need to be a "doer" in order for what needs to be done to take place. "You must do that which it is now time for you to do"--something Gautama says in parting with individuals (under certain circumstances), in the sermons.

What's the cure, per Patanjali or Swami Krishnananda?

I always like to know the source of a quotation--how about it, old3bob?

dwai, I began skipping large parts of that tract because it was so repetitious--didn't you find it to be so? Swami Krishnananda calls out the senses as an obstacle: There is the form of the object, called the rupa in Sanskrit, and there is the essentiality of the subject, called the svarupa. The svarupa is the quintessential form, the basic essence of the ‘self’, and the rupa is the form of the object. The rupa always manages to keep itself away from the svarupa of the meditating consciousness. We always perceive the object; we never unite ourselves with the object. Such a thing has not been done because the senses, working together with the mind, act as a screen. They sift all processes of perception and take only the impressions of perception, sensation, etc., but will not allow the unity of the substantiality of the subject with the object because if that could be achieved, there would be no function for the senses. He seems to attribute action to the senses, saying that they "working together with the mind" as a screen, taking "only the impressions of perception, sensation, etc.". Gautama described his experience of a "cessation of (volition in) feeling and perceiving". He said "the disturbance" of the six senses continues, even without any volition or habitual tendency in feeling and perceiving them. The swami notes that the senses "take only the impressions of perception, sensation, etc., but will not allow the unity of the substantiality of the subject with the object"--as though some action must be taken to counter what the senses are doing. I'm going with the cessation of action, and a reliance on the fundamental wellness of the senses and the mind.

You misrepresent me, old3bob--I'm nobody's student, and I belong to no school (perhaps unfortunately). I also have been attracted to Zen, since I read "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" when I was 15. And Alan Watts. Finally had the opportunity to sit with a Zen teacher (Kobun) and hear him speak at Santa Cruz Zendo, in the early '70's, but I was only occasionally in the zendos over the years. I always wanted to be able to do what they do at Antaiji, sit fourteen 50-minute sittings a day for five days straight, once a month. Or at least sit a seven-day sesshin at the much more lenient American Zen centers I've had occasion to sit at. Managed 5 days, once, in a slack sort of way. Best I can do now is 25-30 minutes in Burmese posture, twice a day. There is the cautionary tale of Shohaku Okumura, who did those sittings at Antaiji and continued them in Indiana, and now can only sit on a chair. I know Dennis Merkel went from half-lotus to lotus to Burmese, so I guess I'm in some kind of company (can't say good--Merkel trademarked "Big Mind" and has been selling it to people with money to burn). I did discover, and purchase a set of, the Pali Text Society sermon volumes in the 1980's. Seems about every 12 sermons, there was one that seemed remarkable to me, but it was tough to make sense of the teaching overall. Somewhere in the 90's, I wrote out my notes, that's here. Maybe I begin to see now, but what was important in my life was that ruination, when zazen got up and walked around--I see the teachings now as a way for me to experience that zazen appropriately. But I like Daoism, I'm very keen on the Tai Chi classics and Cheng Man Ch'ing (though again, only a student for a brief time with a student of his students, at the free lessons in the park). I like the Gospel of Thomas, and even Brian Stross's accounts of the sacrum bone in the art of Mexico and Central America. Like Manitou, I think the teachings have more in common than differences, though for me Gautama's teaching is a way out of a particular pickle I found myself in. Tell me, who's been doggin' down your Hindu/Advaiti beliefs!