Mark Foote

Ok, not wild, but beautiful--at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden:

I can't say, about what happens after death, if anything. Lately I've been fascinated to discover, that Gautama taught concentrations including one that he claimed was the attainment that set him apart from his teachers, but declared enlightenment to be something apart from any attainment in concentration. A "perfect wisdom", a "profound knowledge"--he first associated these with the fourth initial concentration, then with the final signless concentration, then averred that such "wisdom" or "knowledge" was not automatic even with the final attainment in concentration. But to return to the question of the self. Right now, I am writing about something from the field of neurobiology: A key aspect of the bodily self is self-location, the experience that the self is localized at a specific position in space within one's bodily borders (embodied self-location). (Journal of Neuroscience 26 May 2010, 30 (21) 7202-7214; https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3403-09.2010) I write about it in this context: A surrender of the exercise of will, of intention and deliberation, is necessary to allow the “base of consciousness” to move away from the head, to allow an experience of “embodied self-location” wherever consciousness takes place. What I'm realizing is that some people are very good at allowing an experience of "embodied self-location" wherever consciousness takes place. Especially a handy talent to have for an athlete, as the automatic response of the body follows from embodied self-location. I believe that there are enumerable people for whom the sense of self is a strength, because they associate it with "embodied self-location". They have a freedom of consciousness, consciousness can take place anywhere in the body and produce activity in the body and mind in a way that's natural and healthy. It's only the folks who get lost in their heads and can't "leap out of the diamond cage", as Yuanwu put it, who need to learn to be truly selfless. And for them, all the books are a thicket of thorns that must, as Yuanwu also said, be swallowed with care.

indoctrination cow pies in a pasture of words stepping lively now

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

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

ancient

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

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

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

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

& short films?

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

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

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

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

The local scene--nothing happening, so boring!

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

Leaves only one, none Who sits like a wall miles-high? ghost of Christmas past

I'm working on something about the interface between physiology/kinesthesiology and a peculiar kind of ease, it's long and I'm not at all sure it will help, but I'm guessing the larger picture might: Studies made in the 1940’s established that the discs of the lumbar spine cannot, on their own, withstand the pressure of lifting significant weight without rupture. In the 1950’s, D. L. Bartelink concluded that pressure in the “fluid ball” of the abdominal cavity takes load off the structure of the spine when weight is lifted (“The Role of Abdominal Pressure in Relieving the Pressure on the Lumbar Intervertebral Discs”; J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1957 Nov; 39-B(4):718-25). The pressure in the “fluid ball” is induced by activity in the abdominal muscles, and Bartilink was able to establish that in weight lifting, the pressure induced is proportional to the weight lifted. Bartelink theorized that animals (as well as humans) make use of pressure in the “fluid ball” of the abdominal cavity to protect the spine, and he noted that breathing can continue even when the abdomen is tensed: Animals undoubtedly make an extensive use of the protection of their spines by the tensed somatic cavity, and probably also use it as a support upon which muscles of posture find a hold… Breathing can go on even when the abdomen is used as a support and cannot be relaxed. (ibid) In the 1980’s, Gracovetsky, Farfan and Lamay suggested that in weight lifting, the abdominals work against the extensor muscles of the spine to allow the displacement of the fascial sheet behind the sacrum and spine: If this interpretation is correct, it would partly explain why the abdominal muscles work hard during weight-lifting. They apparently work against the extensor muscles. Futhermore their lever arm gives them considerable effect. In fact, we propose that the effect of the abdominal muscles is two-fold: to balance the moment created by the abdominal pressure (hence, the abdominal muscles do not work against the weight lifter) and to generate abdominal pressure up to 1 psi, which would help the extensors to push away the fascia. It is essential that the supraspinous ligament and the lumbodorsal fascia be brought into action to permit weight lifting without disk or vertebral failure. … It must be kept in mind that in some circumstances ligament tension may reach 1800 lb., whereas no muscle can pull as hard. (Gracovetsky, S., Farfan HF, Lamay C, 1997. A mathematical model of the lumbar spine using an optimal system to control muscles and ligaments. Orthopedic Clinics of North America 8: 135-153; bracketed added) Dr. Rene Cailliet summarized these findings: In the Lamy-Farfan model the abdominal pressure is considered to be exerted posteriorly against the lumbodorsal fascia, causing the fascia to become taut…. thus relieving the tension upon the erector spinae muscles. (“Low Back Pain Syndrome”, ed. 3, F. A. Davis Co., pp 140-141 Farfan, Lamay and Cailliet referred to the “lumbodorsal fascia”. That fascia is now more commonly referred to as the “thoracolumbar fascia”. There may be another factor at work in the stretch of the thoracolumbar fascial sheet. Behind the sacrum, the fascia can be stretched rearward by the mass of the extensor muscles as they contract. As H. F. Farfan noted: There is another peculiarity of the erector muscles of the spine. Below the level of the fifth lumbar vertebra, the muscle contracts in a compartment enclosed by bone anteriorly, laterally, and medially. Posteriorly, the compartment is closed by the lumbodorsal fascia. When contracted, the diameter of the muscle mass tends to increase. This change in shape of the muscle may exert a wedging effect between the sacrum and the lumbodorsal fascia, thereby increasing the tension in the fascia. This may be one of the few instances where a muscle can exert force by pushing. (“Mechanical Disorders of the Low Back”, H. F. Farfan;1973 Lea & Febiger; p 183) Farfan mentions a “wedging effect” on the “lumbodorsal fascia” caused by the mass of the extensor muscles as they contract. That wedging effect may be augmented by stretch provided by the various muscle groups that attach to the thoracolumbar fascia behind the sacrum, among them the hamstring, gluteous, transverse abdominus, serratus, and latissimus dorsi muscle groups. The sacrotuberous ligaments that attach at the sacrum and at the iliac tuberosities on each side of the bottom-front of the pelvis may also play a role: At the base of the lumbar spine all of the layers of the thoracolumbar fascial sheet fuse together into a thick composite that attaches firmly to the posterior superior iliac spine and the sacrotuberous ligament. (J Anat. 2012 May 27;221(6):507–536. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01511.x) The iliolumbar ligament(s) also appear to fuse with the thoracolumbar fascia, behind their attachments to the spine (ibid). The iliolumbar ligaments are four ligaments in two pairs, one pair running vertically between the fourth lumbar vertebrae and the pelvis, the other pair running horizontally between the fifth lumbar vertebrae and the pelvis. The ilio-lumbar ligaments provide support to the base of the spine in the flexion and extension of the spine with the movement of breath. My guess is that a cross-legged posture exacerbates the shearing stress on vertebrae of the lower spine in the movement of breath, and that the free location of consciousness can lead the balance of the body in activity to relieve that stress. Critical to the relinquishment of willful activity in the body is the recognition that the ligaments of the body can regulate muscular activity. In research done at the close of the 1990’s, the sacroiliac ligaments were shown to regulate activity in the gluteous muscles and the muscles of the lower spine (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). The stretch allowed by a ligament is slight (less than about 6% of the total length of the ligament), and yet the study by Indahl and associates suggests that even a slight stretch may influence muscular activity. I would say based on my own experience that other ligaments of the body can also regulate activity in associated muscle groups. The metaphors Gautama offered for the initial states of concentration speak to the role of “one-pointedness of mind” in engaging the stretch of particular ligaments. The ligaments in turn regulate reciprocal activity in various muscle groups that attach to the thoracolumbar fascial sheet, including the transverse abdominals and the spinal extensors, and thereby control aspects of the stretch and possible displacement of the fascial sheet. My guess is that even when the spine is not under significant load, stretch in the thoracolumbar fascial sheet may still be engaged to provide support to the structure of the spine, and thereby ease the nerve exits between vertebrae along the sacrum and spine. The free occurrence of consciousness in the body I believe depends in part on such ease. Gautama’s mindfulness included mindfulness of a feeling of ease, a feeling of ease that followed relaxation in inhalation and exhalation. In the first two concentrations that Gautama described, that ease was accompanied by a feeling of zest, or energy. In my experience, the feeling of ease that enters into mindfulness is the feeling of ease associated with activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness. Activity of the body can follow automatically as the location of consciousness leads the balance of the body. Automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness has a feeling of ease, and initially a feeling of energy as well. Gautama spoke of the extension of the feeling of ease, an extension such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this… ease”. He used the words “steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses” to describe how the feeling of ease pervades the body, indicating that the feeling is accompanied by a fluid sense of gravity. The extension Gautama described maintains an openness of the body to the placement of consciousness at any point, through a relaxed extension of the feeling of ease together with a calm experience of the sense of gravity. There are illustrations of some of the anatomy in the last part of my pdf, A Natural Mindfulness.

A friend of mine was kind enough as to offer criticism of my latest post (on my own site). She said: I found it very meandering. Cut to the quick, she's good with swords! I responded: I view what I’m doing as more like a mathematical proof. My favorite proofs, and I believe those of my instructors, are the ones where the result just falls out from seemingly unrelated or seemingly unimportant related work. I thought the most interesting part of this post was the characterization of transmission outside of scripture as the transmission through demonstration of activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness. That being the characteristic of the fourth concentration, and while it’s true there are a number of sermons where Gautama arrived at “profound knowledge” (enlightenment) while in the fourth concentration, it’s also true (by the “seven persons existing in the world” sermon) that attainment of the fourth concentration alone does not automatically result in the complete destruction of the cankers. Folks wonder why their authentic Zen master has been sleeping around, they think enlightenment should preclude this. From the time of Gautama, the answer has been no, that’s not necessarily the case. What is transmitted in the Zen tradition does not in and of itself mean that sensory desire is cut off at the root. Something I didn’t delve into in the essay, because I didn’t need to in order to make the points I wanted to make, is the record of how Gautama arrived at “profound knowledge” in the fourth concentration. He did so by using the pliability of his mind in that state to reflect on “former habitations”, and “the passing and arising of beings”, after which he attained insight into the four truths about suffering and a similar four truths about the cankers. That’s how the cankers were “cut off at the root” for him. I dare say, if I were witnessing my habitations in past lives, and my own past and future lives as well as those of the people around me, the cankers might come to be completely destroyed in me as well! But I don’t expect that. And as I point out in the essay, I can aspire to live the way of life of Gautama that was a thing “perfect in itself, and a pleasant way of living besides” without enlightenment. You can too, if you catch a glimpse of the “base of consciousness”, the mind, moving as you’re dropping off to sleep. It’s nothing to be afraid of, you know. In fact, helps me fall asleep, all the time! The post is here, love to have all the sword-masters here weigh in...

Like I always said, < deleted >

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; emphasis added) So he abides fully conscious of what is behind and what is in front. As (he is conscious of what is) in front, so behind: as behind, so in front; as below, so above: as above, so below: as by day, so by night: as by night, so by day. Thus with wits alert, with wits unhampered, he cultivates his mind to brilliancy. (Sanyutta-Nikaya 51.12; tr. Pali Text Society vol. V p 235; emphasis added; expanded, SN 51.20)

RIP David Crosby