Mark Foote

Very popular, especially amongst Buddhists. Good call, Apech!

"Makes someone a Christ"--"that makes you a Christ". Makes it sound like you want to become a Christ, or that to become "a Christ" is a Christian goal. I thought there was only one Christ expected in the Old Testament, and that most Christians aver that Jesus was that one (or is that one). In the Philippines, there are men who have themselves nailed to a cross, some have been nailed to a cross every year for many years. I'm sure that's not what you meant, but it's unclear to me what you mean.

Ya mean like: ... thinking ‘there is the body’, [one’s] mindfulness is established precisely to the extent necessary just for knowledge, just for remembrance, [and one] fares along independently of and not grasping anything in the world (repeated with regard to feelings, mind, and state of mind). (MN I 57, Vol I p 73) One hand to the ground, and one to the heavens. "I don't know" was Bodhidharma's famous reply to the emperor's question, "Who are you?" What I've been asking myself all these years is, did Gautama describe real aspects of human nature with regard to concentration (and with regard to the nature of suffering)? A monk asked Jōshū in all earnestness, “What is the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the West?” Jōshū said, “The olive tree in Apech's garden.” ("olive tree" for original "oak"; "Apech" for original "the"; translator unknown; "The Gateless Gate" by Ekai, case 37) Then there's this: [The bad person] reflects thus: ‘I am an acquirer of the attainment of the first meditation, but these [others] are not acquirers of the attainment of the first meditation.’ [Such a person] then exalts [him or her self] for that attainment of the first meditation and disparages others… But a good (person] reflects thus: ‘Lack of desire even for the attainment of the first meditation has been spoken of by [Gautama]; for whatever (one) imagines it to be, it is otherwise” [Similarly for the second, third, and fourth initial meditative states, and for the attainments of the first four further meditative states]. And again … a good [person], by passing quite beyond the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, enters on and abides in the stopping of perception and feeling; and when [such a person] has seen by means of wisdom [their] cankers are caused to be destroyed. And… this [person] does not imagine [him or her self] to be aught or anywhere or in anything. (MN III 42-45, Vol III p 92-94) An open mind is a good thing.

“‘What do you think about this, monks? Is material shape permanent or impermanent?’ ‘Impermanent, revered sir.’ ‘But is what is impermanent painful or is it pleasant?’ ‘Painful, revered sir.’ ‘And is it right to regard that which is impermanent, suffering, liable to change as “This is mine, this am I, this is my self”?’ ‘No, revered sir (similarly for feeling, perception, the habitual tendencies, and consciousness).’” (MN III 19-20, Vol III p 69) Whatever ... is material shape, past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, mean or excellent, or whatever is far or near, [a person], thinking of all this material shape as ‘This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self’, sees it thus as it really is by means of perfect wisdom. Whatever is feeling ... perception... the habitual tendencies... whatever is consciousness, past, future or present... [that person], thinking of all this consciousness as ‘This is not mine, this am I not, this is not my self’, sees it thus as it really is by means of perfect wisdom. [For one] knowing thus, seeing thus, there are no latent conceits that ‘I am the doer, mine is the doer’ in regard to this consciousness-informed body. (MN III 18-19, Pali Text Society Vol III p 68)

Gautama taught the cessation of "determinate thought" in the activities of speech, body, and mind. My impression is that the cessation of "determinate thought" in the activity of the body coupled with the "excellence of the heart's release" through the extension of compassion and sympathetic joy ("throughout the four quarters of the world, above, below, without limit") is what passes for enlightenment, for the most part. Gautama studied under two of the masters of his day. They did not attain the cessation of "determinate thought" in feeling and perceiving, the attainment associated with Gautama's enlightenment ("dependent causation"). They were dead by the time he finally surpassed them, something he realized as he thought to go back and teach it to them. I don't think even the first cessation is very accessible to the masses, plain though Gautama's teaching may be, much less the final cessation. (what's a mother to do!)

'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]. Mumbai: Zen Publications. ISBN 978-9385902833) Question is, how to Incorporate that experience in daily life, no? Dogen wrote: When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. (“Genjo Koan”, Dogen, tr. Tanahashi) Given a presence of mind that can “hold consciousness by itself”, activity in the body begins to coordinate by virtue of the sense of place associated with consciousness. A relationship between the free location of consciousness and activity in the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, “practice occurs”. The “place where you are”, the “fundamental point”, is “actualized”. Dogen went on: When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point… (“Genjo Koan”, Dogen, tr. Tanahashi) Activity can take place solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. “When you find your way at this moment”, habit and volition in the activity of the body has ceased, first and foremost with regard to the movement of breath. Instead, the activity of the body comes automatically with the free location of consciousness. I sit down first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I look to experience the activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. As a matter of daily life, just to touch on such experience as occasion demands—for me, that's enough. (hopefully part of an upcoming post of mine) As Neil Young sang: It's hard to make that changeWhen life and love turns strangeAnd cold To give a love You gotta live a love To live a love You gotta be part of When will I see you again? ("A Man Needs A Maid")

So strange that you characterize the skandhas that way. They are identifications of "self" with phenomena, not the phenomena. Dependent causation has to do with the source of suffering, which suffering (old age, sickness, death) Gautama referred to as "in short, the five skandhas". They don't have to do with whether or not a tree is real, or what caused the tree, or what caused us to perceive the tree. Pass the olives, please.

I ask for examples of: The art work of early Buddhism shows what early Buddhism and the Buddha was like. He is not depicted but represented by a pair and sandals, or an empty cushion and so on. He is surrounded by dancing and singing, by nature spirits including voluptuous female nature spirits, and naga serpents. and you give me a parasol over an empty seat. Tsk, tsk. I see that you're right, northwestern India suffered Muslim incursions in the 7th century, but the wider invasion of India and the destruction of the Buddhist universities was not until the 12th-13th centuries.

Reality comes from the disco up the river, I'm willing to entertain that!

Miraculous power and marvelous activity Drawing water and chopping wood. (Pangyun, a lay Zen practitioner, eight century C.E.) Cleave a (piece of) wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find Me there. (The Gospel According to Thomas, pg 43 log. 77, ©1959 E. J. Brill)

You have examples of depictions with a pair of sandals surrounded by women and snakes? No argument there, although he was the first to give a cogent explanation of concentration and the result of concentration. It's generally agreed the books were repeated orally for the first 500 years, and only written down after that for fear that some of them might be forgotten. They were written down in Sri Lanka. I'm not sure when the universities began to appear. Certainly, they were destroyed in the Muslim invasion around 700 C. E.. Peculiar that Tilopa and Naropa appeared on the scene about then. Wikipedia points out that Tilopa was a pimp for awhile and Naropa was grossly overweight. Nevetheless the practices they taught were the foundation of Tibetan Buddhism, or at least some schools of Tibetan Buddhism--am I right about that? Five monks were required to induct a novice into the Order. Ashoka sent his son and four others to Sri Lanka. I don't entirely disagree with your argument, here. I think Ch'an and Zen also preserve the mystery aspect of the original teaching, to some extent. As I've said before, the mystery aspect is just the transition from a state of ease wherein the jaw, the arms, and the legs are sensed along with "one-pointedness" to a state wherein the activity of the body proceeds from the free location of consciousness ("as though in open space"). And maybe with the addition of the extension of compassion, activity of the body (and ultimately the mind) from the free location of consciousness encompassing things beyond the senses. The transcendent state of the perfect buddhas is supported. It is supported on the material aggregate, for example, like an eagle sleeping in its nest. It has a location. It is located in the heart, for example, like a figure in a vase. ("Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra", Wikipedia, “Rigpa”) … free from the fervor of zest, (one) enters and abides in the third musing; (one) steeps and drenches and fills and suffuses this body with a zestless ease so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this zestless ease. … just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lillies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease. (Pali Text Society AN III 25-28 Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93 Vol III p 132-134) You must strive with all your might to bite through here and cut off conditioned habits of mind. Be like a person who has died the great death: after your breath is cut off, then you come back to life. Only then do you realize that it is as open as empty space. Only then do you reach the point where your feet are walking on the ground of reality. (Zen Letters, translated by J.C. and Thomas Cleary, pg 84)

Ignoring that remark, and having established a basis, I now move to the central question of the thread: "why is Christianity so weird." The great ones have difficulty conveying the means of their own attainment to others, that's why. Gautama reflected on the difficulty of teaching, and only decided to go forward with teaching after the appeal of a celestial one for him to do so. Gautama at least had a companion with a photographic memory for sound, or so the story goes. His attendant Ananda is purported to be the "I' in the "Thus have I heard" that begins many of the Pali sermons. And Gautama is unique in teaching the four arising of mindfulness and the states of concentration, and connecting those states to a particular insight into suffering. The teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is as close as we have to a record of Jesus's actual practice, IMHO. Did everybody find that passage I quoted made good sense to them? In the Gospel of Thomas, the impression is left that Thomas was the only one of Jesus's disciples who got something of what Jesus actually had to offer, in the way of a teaching. And Thomas apparently didn't do well at getting it across, if Dr. King's story about his death by stoning in the south of India is to be believed. Jesus did not do well at getting it across, even though people are still moved two millennia later. Paul's perverse version of Jesus's teaching has perhaps provided more people with a vehicle for selfless action in this world than Jesus's own teachings. Gautama wound up eating a meal offering that killed him, some months after he ate it (a pig that ate a poisoned mushroom?). In his prescient way, Gautama told everyone else at the meal that he was the only one whose karma allowed eating of that particular offering. Gautama continued to teach for some months afterward, offering some of his most remarkable teachings in that period (no closed fist of the teacher regarding the esoteric aspects of the teaching, being a lamp to oneself regardless of any teachers and teachings). The difficulty is in the explanation of the teachings. The number of meditation manuals that have been written since time immemorial testifies to that difficulty. I believe a better one can be written, out of the materials Eastern and Western that we now have available to us. Whether people will feel inspired to utilize such a manual without the provider of the manual demonstrating an otherworldly presence or performing miracles, that's another matter. The cost of failing to provide a truly useful description to the folks making the offerings or to the powers that be, is clear. On the other hand, how exactly is someone to be persuaded to let go the arms and legs, and the jaw too? To experience something like blue, white, and red lotuses that never break the surface of the water--while suffusing each particle of the body with no particle left out with ease--and then "make an image in the place of an image"? Holding a bent-knee posture, on the floor or standing, for any length of time, reveals necessity placing consciousness.

I do like to think that he wound up a carpenter in Kashmir. & I do like to think that the words recorded in the Gospel of Thomas are his: They said to Him: Shall we then, being children, enter the Kingdom? Jesus said to them: When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female (not) be female, when you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, (and) an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter [the Kingdom]. (The Gospel According to Thomas, coptic text established and translated by A. Guillaumont, H.-CH. Puech, G. Quispel, W. Till and Yassah ‘Abd Al Masih, pg 18-19 log. 22, ©1959 E. J. Brill) "Eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot"--"just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lillies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease." "an image in the place of an image"--"(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." Jesus, like Gautama, spoke of himself in an odd fashion. That I think for both of them was a result of their attainment of "the cessation of ('determinate thought' in) feeling and perceiving", the condition associated with Gautama's insight into the nature of suffering. Gautama taught the further states culminating in "the cessation of feeling and perceiving", but for the most part he finished his descriptions of concentration with the fourth of the initial states, followed by a description of the "survery-sign" of the concentration (an overview of the body). Most of what passes for enlightenment is the ability to utilize the "survey-sign" to touch on activity of the body solely by virtue of the location of consciousness, "purity by the pureness of mind", as called upon. Jesus finished his description above with "an image in the place of an image", but he certainly taught the compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity that are the basis for the first three of Gautama's further states, and the way he referred to himself speaks to his personal attainment of the signless state.

Long quote from Pali sermons, hold your nose, Nungali: … just 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, (a person) 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. … imagine a pool with a spring, but no water-inlet on the east side or the west side or on the north or on the south, and suppose the (rain-) deva supply not proper rains from time to time–cool waters would still well up from that pool, and that pool would be steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with the cold water so that not a drop but would be pervaded by the cold water; in just the same way… (one) steeps (their) body with zest and ease… … free from the fervor of zest, (one) enters and abides in the third musing; (one) steeps and drenches and fills and suffuses this body with a zestless ease so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this zestless ease. … just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lillies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease. 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… (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93, PTS p 132-134) The step off the pole is between the third state above and the fourth. A summation of my experience, so far: I wrote to a friend: The striking thing to me about my experience on the cushion these days is that I am practicing some kind of scales, as it were. Gautama outlined the feeling of four states, the initial three and then the “purity by the pureness of [one’s] mind”, the fourth. I’ve described that “pureness of mind” as what remains when “doing something” ceases, and I wrote: When “doing something” has ceased, and there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot receive the placement of attention, then the placement of attention is free to shift as necessary in the movement of breath. The rest of the scales are looking for a grip where attention takes place in the body, as “one-pointedness” turns and engenders a counter-turn (without losing the freedom of movement of attention); finding ligaments that control reciprocal innervation in the lower body and along the spine through relaxation, and calming the stretch of ligaments; and discovering hands, feet, and teeth together with “one-pointedness” (“bite through here”, as Yuanwu advised; “then we can walk together hand in hand”, as Yuanwu’s teacher Wu Tsu advised). In the months since I wrote my friend, I’ve had some time to reflect. There are some things I would add, on my practice of “scales”. Gautama spoke of suffusing the body with “zest and ease” in the first concentration: … (a person) 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 p 18-19) Words like “steeps” and “drenches” convey a sense of gravity, while the phrase “not one particle of the body that is not pervaded” speaks to the “one-pointedness” of attention, even as the body is suffused. If I can find a way to experience gravity in the placement of attention as the source of activity in my posture, and particular ligaments as the source of the reciprocity in that activity, then I have an ease. Gautama taught that zest ceases in the third concentration, while the feeling of ease continues: (One) enters & remains in the third (state), of which the Noble Ones declare, ‘Equanimous & mindful, (one) has a pleasant abiding.’ (Samadhanga Sutta, tr. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, AN 5.28 PTS: A iii 25; Pali Text Society, see AN Book of Threes text I,164; Vol II p 147) That’s a recommendation of the third concentration, especially for long periods. Nevertheless, I find that the stage of concentration that lends itself to practice in the moment is dependent on the tendency toward the free placement of attention. As I wrote in my last post: When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration. Shunryu Suzuki said: To enjoy our life– complicated life, difficult life– without ignoring it, and without being caught by it. Without suffer from it. That is actually what will happen to us after you practice zazen. (“To Actually Practice Selflessness”, August Sesshin Lecture Wednesday, August 6, 1969, San Francisco) I practice now to experience the free placement of attention as the sole source of activity in the body in the movement of breath, and in my “complicated, difficult” daily life, I look for the mindfulness that allows me to touch on that freedom. ("To Enjoy Our Life")

Well, they don't let tourists into that tomb anymore. I can't tell anything from the photo, either, but I was hoping whoever wrote that website got a closer look, and that the photo might at least say that it's possible. Just another long-haired hippie from the west, that landed in Kashmir and earned himself a tomb in 89 A.D.. Dogen wrote "although actualized immediately, what is inconceivable may not be apparent". That's his version of "sometimes zazen gets up and walks around". I've been sparing everybody Dogen's remarks, but here you go: 10. Here is the place; here the way unfolds. The boundary of realization is not distinct, for the realization comes forth simultaneously with the full experience of buddha dharma. Do not suppose that what you attain becomes your knowledge and is grasped by your intellect. Although actualized immediately, what is inconceivable may not be apparent. Its emergence is beyond your knowledge. 11. Mayu, Zen Master Baoche, was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, “Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why then do you fan yourself?” “Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent,” Mayu replied, “you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere.” “What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?” asked the monk again. Mayu just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply. 12. The actualization of the buddha dharma, the vital path of its authentic transmission, is like this. If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind is permanent and you can have wind without fanning, you will understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind. The nature of wind is permanent; because of that, the wind of the buddha’s house brings forth the gold of the earth and ripens the cream of the long river. Written around mid-autumn, the first year of the Tempuku Era [1233], and given to my lay student Koshu Yo of Kyushu Island. Revised in the fourth year of the Kencho Era [1252]. --Translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi Isn't it better to just say, "sometimes zazen fans the person doing zazen"? It's a difficult topic to address, and as Kobun said: It’s impossible to teach the meaning of sitting. You won’t believe it. Not because I say something wrong, but until you experience it and confirm it by yourself, you cannot believe it. (“Embracing Mind”, edited by Cosgrove & Hall, pg 48) From the post I'm working on now: I used to talk about the location of consciousness, but a friend of mine would always respond that for him, consciousness has no specific location. As a result, I switched to writing about the placement of attention: There can… 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. (A Way of Living) ... I have found that zazen is more likely to “get up and walk around” when the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an active extension of compassion, an extension beyond the boundaries of the senses. Perhaps that’s why my friend thinks of consciousness as pervading the entire universe. Or perhaps he’s just tuned in to the state of concentration that was known to Gautama the Buddha as “the infinity of consciousness”. “The infinity of consciousness” was described as a “further state”, to be attained by “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of compassion and sympathetic joy beyond the limits of the senses. Nevertheless, when Gautama addressed the wanderer Udayin, he said: Udayin, as an emerald jewel, of all good qualities, might be strung on a thread, blue-green or yellow or red or white or orange coloured; and a [person] with vision, having put it in [their] hand, might reflect; ‘this emerald jewel… is strung on a thread, blue-green… or orange-coloured’–even so, Udayin, a course has been pointed out by me for disciples, practising which disciples of mine know thus: This body of mine… is of a nature to be constantly rubbed away… and scattered, but this consciousness is fastened there, bound there…. (MN II 17, Pali Text Society vol II p 217) So there's yer compulsory long quotation from the Pali sermons, Nungali. Right now, the tomb is apparently looked after by devout Muslim families, who of course look nothing like Israelic families, and who don't like tourists around the tomb: Yes, locals warned me that Sunni Muslims around do not like the idea of tourists visiting, so I had to dress up like locals & managed to reach this blessed tomb. There are warnings not to take video or photos & tomb is closed. (Trip Advisor, https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297623-d3704970-r378435732-Roza_Bal_Shrine-Srinagar_Srinagar_District_Kashmir_Jammu_and_Kashmir.html) The blessed tomb... bless its little heart...

The claim made by the acts of Thomas that he traveled to the land of the Parthians and the border of India is supported by other recordings of the time, from writers such as Ephrem the Syrian, Eusebius and Origen... (Wikipedia, "Acts of Thomas") I think I believe Dr. Noel King's story about Thomas in the south of India, though it was just the folklore of the village he came from. Photo purported to be from Rosa Bal, of footprints carved in stone that were apparently found when "century-old layers of wax were removed in 1975 from an elevated stone in the inner chamber of the tomb": (https://www.mukti4u2.dk/Jesus_Rozabal_Srinagar.htm) More from that site, of course it must be true, I read it on the internet! The mausolaeum of the profet Yuz Asaf and the Islamic saint Syed Nasr-ud-Dinis is today located in the middle of Srinagar's old town, Anzimar in the Khanyar quarter. The building constructed is called "Razabal" or "Rauza Bal". "Rauza" is a term used to denote the tomb of a celebrated personality, someone noble, wealthy or saintly. Anjuna, which is Sanskit for John/Johannes, built the tomb around 89AD. The tomb was first mentioned in documents from 112AD which states, that a protective building had been constructed over the crypt. The tomb is said to have been tended by an Israelic looking family, in an unbroken line throughout the centuries. It's one thing to believe in Jesus as the Christ through whom all of mankind's sins are redeemed, and to take as an article of faith that such a belief will permit the bearer to pass from this earth to a place in the sky where all the relatives (or maybe only the well-liked relatives) reside. It's another thing to experience a personal helplessness to do right and take Jesus within, to "let Jesus do it" in daily life. That would be my understanding, Jesus is not my vehicle, although when I find my way to feeling and to extending ease in the experience of "one-pointedness" of mind, I wonder if that is not something of the feeling that a Jesus-freak attributes to the divine. And I'm pretty sure that when Jesus lends a hand, it goes like this: Gautama pointed out that with concentration, “determinate thought” in action of the body can cease, in particular volition that affects the movement of inhalation or exhalation can cease. That doesn’t mean that action of the body can’t take place, only that the exercise of will or volition is not involved. I have many times quoted a remark I heard Zen teacher Kobun Chino Otogawa make at the end of one of his lectures at the San Francisco Zen Center: You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around. If a person “takes the attitude of someone who… lets go of both hands and feet” (as Dogen instructed), then perhaps there will come a moment when the hands and feet walk around. At that moment, there will be new meaning to be had in cleaning cat boxes, cooking, shopping, driving, and bathing, though these experiences might not involve the attitude that advances from the top of a 100-foot pole throughout. (Response to “Not the Wind, Not the Flag”, slightly edited) From the post I'm working on: Activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness can sometimes get up and walk around, without any thought to do so. Action like that resembles action that takes place through hypnotic suggestion, but unlike action by hypnotic suggestion, action by virtue of the free location of consciousness can turn out to be timely after the fact. Everyone experiences action by virtue of the free location of consciousness all the time, though usually without a presence of mind. When such action takes place with a presence of mind, then there’s a sense of something that is not readily apparent behind the action, of the inconceivable. Maybe some would say, "of Jesus!"

Saw it in the book store many times, but never bought or read it. Just wondering what he said about Jesus--if he said anything about Yogi Bear, that would be a bonus!

You didn't give a source, on your quote. As to "born to the rulers of the Sakyan clan": I know that while my father, the Sakyan, was ploughing, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, I entered on the first meditation, which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness, and is rapturous and joyful, and while abiding therein, I thought: ‘Now could this be a way to awakening?’ Then, following on my mindfulness, Aggivissana, there was the consciousness: This is itself the Way to awakening. This occurred to me, Aggivissana: ‘Now, am I afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind?’ This occurred to me…: I am not afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind.’ (MN 1 246-247, Pali Text Society Vol I pg 301) I'm thinking the rulers of the Sakyan clan didn't plow fields much, and Gautama was therefore probably not born to a ruler of the Sakyan clan. His aunt raised him, as his mother died at childbirth. Can't give a source on that, but I think it's commonly accepted. It was his aunt who, many years later, appealed to Gautama to admit woman to the order--or rather, Gautama's attendant Ananda appealed to Gautama on her behalf. Three times Ananda asked, and on the third Gautama relented and admitted them, warning that it would shorten the life of the Order from a thousand to five hundred years ("The Gotamid", Pali Text Society AN vol IV p181) One of the most amazing events in the history of Buddhism was the first schism, when the order of monks couldn't agree on whether or not an arahant (an enlightened individual) could have a wet dream (could be seduced by a Succubus, in their sleep). I believe that split was the beginning of the distinction between Theravadin and Mahayanin traditions (this from "Indian Buddhism", by A. K. Warder). A strange religion getting stranger. Gautama put forward a way of living that he said was: … something peaceful and choice, something perfect in itself, and a pleasant way of living too. (SN V 320-322, Pali Text Society SN V p 285) That way of living, Gautama said, was his way of living both before and after enlightenment. The fact that he recommended a way of living that could be realized without enlightenment gets lost, in all the hullabaloo about enlightenment. A favorite passage from the Pali sermons: But when walking along the highway, Nagita, I see nothing whatever in front nor behind, it suits me, even over the calls of nature. (AN VI, IV 42 Pali Text Society vol 3 p 243) Buddhism is a strange religion!

I did a search on "Autobiography of a Yogi Jesus". Among the search results: What was yogi Bear's famous saying? The quick summary window revealed: Perhaps his most famous of all: "It ain't over 'til it's over." "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical." On posterity: "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken." Gee--I always thought it was "Smarter than the average bear!" Give us a hint, old3bob!

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" is a phrase that appears both in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, in the Book of Psalms, as well as in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, as one of the sayings of Jesus on the cross, according to Matthew 27:46 and also Mark 15:34. ...In the New Testament, the phrase is the only of the seven Sayings of Jesus on the cross that appears in more than one Gospel. ... Matthew ESV 27:46: Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark ESV 15:34: And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, for what have you forsaken me?" (Wikipedia, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?") I think Thomas got poor Jesus on a caravan going east. I had a professor at UC Santa Cruz, who said that his home-town folk in the south of India believed Thomas came there, and was stoned to death there. They were all Thomas Christians. Is there a tomb of Jesus, in Kashmir? A tomb with a stone carved with footprints that show having been pierced as though by crucifixion? The images of Jesus in the Christian churches, aren't they like a visual representation of the sacrifice necessary to take Jesus within and realize the will of God in action? The step from the top of the hundred-foot pole... Shishuang said, “How do you step from the top of the hundred-foot pole?” Changsha said, “You who sit on the top of a hundred-foot pole, although you have entered the Way, it is not yet genuine. Take a step from the hundred-foot pole and the worlds of the Ten Directions are your total body. Excerpt from a Verse: The peach trees, without words, make a path. —Gateless Gate, Case 46 & Book of Serenity, Case 79 (https://www.pacificzen.org/library/koan/shishuangs-hundred-foot-pole-gg46-bs79/)

@surrogate corpse By Robert Hilburn Sept. 5, 2004 12 AM PT LA TIMES STAFF WRITER “I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate,” Joni Mitchell says, summarizing just about everything she feels is wrong with the pop world these days. “I thought, that’s interesting, because I believe a total unwillingness to cooperate is what is necessary to be an artist -- not for perverse reasons, but to protect your vision. The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music. That’s why I spend my time now painting.”

These social advances have given us both freedom and anxiety; not one or the other, but both. For this reason, I have empathy for the rigid, controlling people who think I should watch football, drink beer, and get a girlfriend. They instinctively know we are tied together in an energetic web and the choices I make effect the world they live in. My choice to be a freak makes their world just a little more freakish. Actually, they choose to remain ignorant of the fact that their consciousness doesn't really belong to them, they choose to become what they have already been again, and they choose to desire what is pleasant in the senses over equanimity. They don't see that as the source of suffering. Neither do I, most of the time! Do animals suffer? Yes, they do, especially because of the machinations of humans, but I think they don't suffer to the extent that humans do. They are not as attached to the thinking mind--they think mostly in pictures instead of words, apparently. Maybe that helps. We have to find the joy in our thoughts, or at least in our capacity to think, in order to relinquish thought. We also need a clue, about how to apply our presence of mind other than to thought. All the clues have led me here: I sit down first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I look to experience the activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness.

In the first century of the Common Era, there appeared at the eastern end of the Mediterranean a remarkable religious leader who taught the worship of one true God and declared that religion meant not the sacrifice of beasts but the practice of charity and piety and the shunning of hatred and enmity. He was said to have worked miracles of goodness, casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead. His exemplary life led some of his followers to claim he was a son of God, though he called himself the son of a man. Accused of sedition against Rome, he was arrested. After his death, his disciples claimed he had risen from the dead, appeared to them alive, and then ascended to heaven. Who was this teacher and wonder-worker? His name was Apollonius of Tyana; he died about 98 A.D., and his story may be read in Flavius Philostratus's "Life of Apollonius". ("Gospel Fictions", Randel Helms, p 9) I don't doubt that the man whose sayings were recorded in "The Gospel of Thomas" was a profound teacher, one of the few in the history of our civilization (if you could call it that). If I remember correctly, there are no miracles in that gospel, and it was Thomas who stood out among the disciples, not Peter. The kingdom of heaven was within, the deathless attainable. In Thomas, the deathless was attained by penetrating the meaning of the words, while in John, the deathless is available to those who "obey my words" (John 8:51). If I understand correctly, it was Paul who came up with the notion that we're all helpless sinners who cannot do right without taking Jesus within. Strangely enough, that's what works, for the Jesus freaks I've known who had a living faith. Something I'm writing now: You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around. (Kobun Chino Otogawa, S. F. Zen Center lecture, 1980’s) Activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness can sometimes get up and walk around, without any thought to do so. Action like that resembles action that takes place through hypnotic suggestion, but unlike action by hypnotic suggestion, action by virtue of the free location of consciousness can turn out to be timely after the fact.... I have found that zazen is more likely to “get up and walk around” when activity by virtue of the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an active extension of compassion, an extension beyond the boundaries of the senses. It's that "timely after the fact" part that makes the successful Jesus freaks I've known take Jesus within and surrender their action to him. The individual without Jesus was a helpless sinner, because the more willful the action was, the less "timely after the fact". As for me: I sit down first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I look to experience the activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. Then I pray that I'll return to that experience as my circumstances require, during my daily life.

There's a sermon somewhere in the Pali Canon where some dignitary visits the place where a group of monks are residing, and comments that they are like wild animals, in that they respond to their environment more readily than the average person. Sometimes I think the wild animals I meet respond to my mind, before I do anything overtly. Just the presence of my consciousness with them is enough to set them in motion, or so it seems! From the post I'm writing: I sit down first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I look to experience the activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. The practice of the wild animals, IMHO. I take that to have been the daily practice of the Gautamid, not the cessation of volition in feeling and perceiving associated with his enlightenment, but the cessation of habit and volition in the activity of the body in inbreathing and outbreathing. Set it up, come back to it as necessary. Maybe someday, I will move because someone was conscious of me, without knowing why.

While I understand what you're saying (or at least I think I do), I have to believe the mastery is not in head-on confrontation. I'm working on a post for my own site, and this is the last part of it (so far): Dogen wrote: Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. ("Genjo Koan", tr. Tanahashi) Kobun Chino Otogawa provided a practical example: You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around. (Kobun, S. F. Zen Center lecture, 1980’s) Activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness can sometimes get up and walk around, without any thought to do so. Action like that resembles action that takes place through hypnotic suggestion, but unlike action by hypnotic suggestion, action by virtue of the free location of consciousness can turn out to be timely after the fact. When action accords with future events in an uncanny manner, the source of the action may well be described as “the inconceivable”. I have found that zazen is more likely to “get up and walk around” when activity by virtue of the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an active extension of compassion, an extension beyond the boundaries of the senses. There is also a sermon wherein Gautama described what he learned about dealing with fear in the forest. He says he learned to continue in the carriage or posture he was in until he overcame the fear--if he was walking, he continued to walk, if he was standing, he continued to stand, and so forth. Amazing how I found "sink" the other day, when the neighbor's German Shepard got out and was growling behind me as I walked down the street! How could I not extend compassion to the Shepard, knowing his owner had given the dog a junkyard life since he was a pup. Harder for me to have compassion for that owner, although I suspect he too was given a junkyard life. Lot of junkyard lives around, we all have junkyard lives in one respect or another.