GrandmasterP

Enjoy. Work day here. 1 til 9pm at the 'chalk face'. Managed a tip run this morning with all the weekend's garden debris. We get a free 'resident tipping' permit so I load up the van every now and again for the dump. Never ceases to amaze me down at that council tip just what folks throw away. I've come back with three perfect good deep 10 inch wide planter pots.

I dunno. Whilst we can't ever accurately convey the ineffable via language, some poets - for example - make a pretty good fist of trying. Visual artists and some musicians too. That striving to communicate the incommunicable does, sometimes; seem to bring out the best in some folks.

We need 8 hours sleep each night. Daytime naps are a bonus. Worst time to fall sleep is whilst meditating.

Q: How many Zen masters does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. The Universe changes the bulb, and the Zen master stays out of the way. A: A tree in a golden forest. A: Three: one to change the bulb, one not to change it and one to neither change or not change the bulb. A: One to change and one not to change is fake Zen. The true Zen answer is Four. One to change the bulb. A: None. Zen masters carry their own light. A: Two: One to fetch the whacking stick and one to hit the new novice with it until he changes the bulb. A: None: If a bulb is changed and there is no Zen master there to observe it then maybe the monastery has outsourced maintenance. Serious point. There are claimed to be 84,000 precepts of the Buddha and every school and sect since ever the lad bought the farm has cherry picked and re- imagined Dharma to suit their own agendas.

" A dao (way) is formed by walking it, things are made so by calling them so. Why so? By being so. Why not so? By being not so. Things inherently have what is so; things inherently have what is admissible. No thing is not so; no thing is not admissible. (cf. Graham 1981: 53)." Dao as 'logical positivism'. Being an academic is sweet work if one can get it. :-)

Man that global economy knows no boundaries eh? ' Zen Garden' in Thailand is the name of a chain of touristic Chinese Restaurants. Presumably calling the outlets 'Ch'an Garden' might have confused western tourists.

The back lawn's heavy duty grass seed mix as we're on it a lot so are the dogs, pretty vigorous and tough. The front lawn which is for looking at and gets minimal walking on is fine turf and not so vigorous. No chance of die-back here during most summers are we generally have enough rain, and more than enough sometimes. Once it warms up I'm mowing twice a week. Did all the edging this afternoon first time since last November. That was 'fun' going round with the crescent spade is easy enough but picking it all up and cleaning round afterwards was a chore and a half. My poor old back knows about it right now!

£6.99 ( about $10). http://www.amazon.co.uk/BUDDHA-GARDEN-STONES-TEALIGHT-HOLDER/dp/B00E0JV4OS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396221929&sr=8-2&keywords=Zen+garden+in+a+box Zen garden in a box from Amazon. I prefer real flowers in the garden. If we had a zen style garden the cat would never be out of it and not for any aesthetic purpose either!

Super spiritual here hence no blind spots at all. Well, maybe some. This thread for one, and then there's....................................... etc. :-)

Interesting post plebeian. Say we are steeped in Judaeo- Christian concepts due to upbringing then look for something different and plump for Taoism. First stop would likely be TTC and it's kinda like the 'scriptures' we've maybe been familiar with. Laid out in Chapters and Verses and all. Now Christianity pushes that 'one true faith' schtick. That goes deep and maybe someone coming to TTC having rejected Christianity is looking at or for a replacement 'one true faith' simply due to their conceptual baggage from Xtianity that there must be some 'one true faith' even if that isn't Xtianity. "I believe in Jesus." ( well not any more) hence... " I believe in Taoism." So now we're in the realms of comparative religion but our comparator is basically still Xtian ... " There MUST be one true faith." Comparative religion is just 'old'. Here's some from 1567- ish. "Some say it is hard to see reality-nature by studying Zen. But what about studying Taoism to become an immortal?" I respond: Not to cultivate the Pure Land and instead want to study Taoism to become an immortal is like throwing away a fine jade that's in front of your eyes to seek an imitation jade that you cannot necessarily get. Isn't this an illusion?... When the people of the world today study Taoism to become immortals, not one in ten thousand succeeds ... Because they are attached to their bodies and their spirits, and cannot relinquish them." ( Master Tsung- yen in ' Direct Pointing Back to the Source). Now that's blatant Pure Land propaganda . He's dissing Taoism big style and Zen to a lesser extent whilst bigging up Pure Land which just happens to be Tsung-yen's own cultivation of choice. "Taoism good... All else not so good." - type claims serve naught beyond self affirmation or convincement. Surely it is as risible today to big up one spiritual path label above any other path as ever it was. What works for one may not work for another. It would be a short-lived restaurant that had just the one meal on its menu.

Poor MPG's not exactly inundated with members over there on his new forum is he? Apropos IQ and other psychometric ( measuring mind) 'tests' if there is a criticism it has to be that the compilers of each test set the parameters against their pre-definitions of what is to be measured, how and why. For example someone doing one particular test comes out as an " INTJ". Super. But, according to whom? Why, the people who set the test and created each 'definition' of course.

Hadn't heard of this HHC so hit Amazon and found this review... "I starting reading this when I got home, and something seemed off. Turns out that they laugh about this book on Taoist discussion boards. Hua Hu Ching was a forgery in the 8th century CE. The intent was to convert western Chinese Buddhists to Taoism by presenting Lao Tzu as teaching Buddhist thought in China before Buddha's Enlightenment. The earlier chapters have a rather Buddhist feel, which turns into a "Religious Taoist" feel in the later chapters with discussions on magic, Feng Shui, "angelic" sex, and the need to worship the 64 I Ching hexagrams! It was responsible for some tremendous bad blood between Buddhists and Taoists, and was eventually ordered destroyed by an emperor in the 14th century. Apparently, at least a handful of Taoists believe in it and have kept it alive via oral tradition. The first several chapters are beautiful, insightful, and poetic, though a bit wordy for Lao Tzu. for instance, "Division is contrary to the nature of the Tao. / Foregoing antagonism and separation, one enters into the harmonious oneness of all things." (3) However, after Chapter 50, things go rapidly downhill, I mean falling-off-a-cliff downhill, with bizarre New-Age flavored droppings such as "Because yin and yang are not complete within us as individuals, we pair up to integrate them and bring forth new life./ Although most people spend their entire lives following this biological impulse, it is only a tiny portion of our beings as well. / If we remain obsessed with seeds and eggs, we are married to the fertile reproductive valley of the Mysterious Mother but not to her immeasurable heart and all-knowing mind." (65) Sounds just like Lao Tzu, right? Or how about this? "In ancient times, various holistic sciences were developed by hightly evolved beings to enable their own evolution and that of others...The student who ignores them hinders the development of all beings." (54) I wish I had researched this one before I bought it. I'd like to have my money back! Interested in wisdom from Taoism? Read the Tao Te Ching, and Chuang Tzu. Interested in Buddhist scripture? Read the Dhammapada, The Way of the Bodhisattva, and other sutras. Avoid this junk, which was banned for its dishonesty." Is this Walker HHC walker's 'own' translation of 'just' an extant Taoist text or has he produced some of the content himself by 'channeling' or similar means?

Wittgenstein was a closeted zen buddhist.

That Zen Meditation handbook's a meritorious ambition Taiji Bum, good luck with it and every success to you. Not a quibble but a question.... Your... "Be very careful if you join a meditation group of any kind. When you begin to meditate more than them, they will try and stifle your enthusiasm. You become who you hang out with, and they will try and drag you down to their level." That... "a meditation group of any kind." would of necessity include Buddhist groups such as a group cultivating zazen. Might your wording there be wilfully misinterpreted as disrespect to the sangha? Here's a link to a free handbook written by the Abbot of a Zen abbey in England. http://www.throssel.org.uk/sitting-buddha-book

Shingon ( Tantric Buddhism) has fused with Candomble ( voodoo) and Spiritism in Brazil. http://www.globalbuddhism.org/4/shoji032.htm

Yep. Those guys have got it sussed. Use what works and never mind the labels. Vietnamese Buddhism's a bit like that, very ecumenical with Zen plus Pure Land plus folk religion plus a dash of Taoism etc. Thich Nhat Hanh's the lad for Vietnamese pragmatism.

There's that riff of Wittgenstein's in 'A Lecture on Ethics' about the impossibility of expressing the absolute in language. We can talk 'around' Tao on here or anywhere else until the cows come home. Try as we might though we could never express ourself in words that would come close to communicating our experience in such a way as to effectively and accurately transmit our subjective experience to another.

Those coal tits have made a nest in the Buddleia. They had a go last year but abandoned it, hopefully this year may be more successful for them.

Yep almost total sheet. So bad that it'll be featured on X Factor next series. The rests are by far and away the best parts of it.

All " Mo Pai Manuals" on sale to westerners by westerners are, by definition; fake. The Mo Pai don't have a manual, it's a clan/family based sect. Word of mouth only and that via a somewhat obscure village dialect. Anyone not born one is never ever going to 'be' one.

. This ' Five Minute Buddhist' resource might cover it..... http://www.tricycle.com/sites/default/files/images/blog/Page%20of%205-Minute-Buddhist.pdf

For sure and that's healthy.There's a link to an academic paper elsewhere about just how soon and how enthusiastically people began cherry picking from the various faith paths. Tao merged with Chan merged with ancestor worship merged with Shamanism. Your modern 'ethnic' Taoist East of Suez is no different really to her ancestors. A bit of Tao Maybe a tad of Pure Land chanting. If there's a monk pops round for a chat , cuppa tea and a donation he'll likely be from one of the Chan sects. He'll honour the ancestor shrine in passing. Our modern Taoist lady might go with her friends to see a fortune teller or watch a Shaman show. Everyone celebrates everyone else's festivals including Christmas. That sort of pragmatic syncretism has been around from the get go. TTB reifies a syncretic Western 'Taoism+ extras' amongst much else. That whole 'one true faith ' idea is on loan from post- Constantinian Christianity whence the Moslems also got it.

Absolutely, within a given context it can well be that. Mine was sheet music. We're both correct.

I'm not Chinese. Like them though I enjoy eating familiar foods. Being raised veggie I'm a veggie. Eat whatever you enjoy eating. We are none of us defined by our dinner.

+1 and some seem to use it to do their thinking for them too.