Guest guest Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Help! All this verbal diarrhoea! This excerpt from 'The Method of Zen' by Eugen Herrigel might help … .... Zen Masters permit at the very most, exclamations like 'Stick!' 'Snow!' 'Wild geese!' but consider statements 'Those are wild geese' just as fallacious as the reverse 'Those are not wild geese,' and 'The wild geese have flown away' just as fallacious as 'They have not flown away.' A person who judges in this manner, who isolates things both from himself and from one another, breaking up the whole, is no longer a seer but an observer, who stands outside the picture and experiences the observed as an opposite. He does not feel one with what he sees, he is addressed by things as if from outside, and in turn questions them so that they shall answer. In this game of question and answer he fancies he has grasped the full reality of the 'object' and exhausted it, not noticing that he must be content with the merest substitute. Between himself and the object there is interposed a mirror-image which he crams with meaning, not realising that for the seer his vision is overflowing with meaning and that he has only to keep himself open to receiving it. For an observer, consciously relating everything to everything else, past and future are clearly divided in everything he perceives. Vision is not like this; it consists in a non-related present, in an unreflected Now of timeless occurrence. The rhythm is not felt as anything extraneous, but as one's own, pulsing together with all things in an inexhaustible and boundless process of change. Kind regards, bd2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 Billy's post sounds more like verbal dyssentry!! --- billydid2 <surinow wrote: > Help! > All this verbal diarrhoea! > > This excerpt from 'The Method of Zen' by Eugen > Herrigel might help > … > > .... Zen Masters permit at the very most, > exclamations > like 'Stick!' 'Snow!' 'Wild geese!' but consider > statements 'Those > are wild geese' just as fallacious as the reverse > 'Those are not wild > geese,' and 'The wild geese have flown away' just as > fallacious > as 'They have not flown away.' > > A person who judges in this manner, who isolates > things both from > himself and from one another, breaking up the whole, > is no longer a > seer but an observer, who stands outside the picture > and experiences > the observed as an opposite. He does not feel one > with what he sees, > he is addressed by things as if from outside, and in > turn questions > them so that they shall answer. In this game of > question and answer > he fancies he has grasped the full reality of the > 'object' and > exhausted it, not noticing that he must be content > with the merest > substitute. Between himself and the object there is > interposed a > mirror-image which he crams with meaning, not > realising that for the > seer his vision is overflowing with meaning and that > he has only to > keep himself open to receiving it. > > For an observer, consciously relating everything to > everything else, > past and future are clearly divided in everything he > perceives. > Vision is not like this; it consists in a > non-related present, in an > unreflected Now of timeless occurrence. The rhythm > is not felt as > anything extraneous, but as one's own, pulsing > together with all > things in an inexhaustible and boundless process of > change. > > Kind regards, > > bd2 > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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