SPLIT TOPIC: Brain, Mind ... NEVER MIND!

[disastermouse]

NOTE FROM JUNDO: I SPLIT THIS BIG TOPIC FROM THE JUKAI DISCUSSION ON THE PRECEPT ON AVOIDING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

Hi Alan,

Well, I would say that such is a traditional view of Chinese Medicine, with a heavy dose of Taoism, rather than strictly Buddhist or Zen Buddhist. Some old Asian Zen folks, being old Asians of course, professed such things too. In centuries past, that is how folks in Asia tried to describe what is going on in the body before all our modern ways of doing so. Is it literally true or not? Do such energies truly exist in and around us? Well, maybe not as something that can be seen with a microscope or on a meter ... but if it helps you express in words something true, then it is useful, a poetic description. Also, much of what he is describing ... about nourishing, caring for and resting the body-mind ... is true no matter how it is called or described.

I do agree that Shikantaza is finding a balance amid/as/through-and-through the swirling imbalances of this life-world ... a balance of body-mind. It is balance of the body in sitting, balance of the mind ... body and mind, not two. It is a Balance so Balanced, it covers both daily balances and imbalances.

Gassho, J

Isn't this like the difference between 'brain' and 'mind'? Brain may be the outward organ, but mind is the internal experience.

Chet