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We dance around in a ring and suppose.
But the secret sits in the middle and knows.
Robert Frost
Maybe, just maybe, all of our thougts, actions and delusions are that ring dancing and whirling around us, causing us confusion. Maybe, just maybe, Zazen is the secret. Shall we sit with the secret, not trying to figure it out?
Gassho,
William
"There is no secret ingredient." -- Kung Fu Panda
Gassho
Andy
And that's why we don't try to figure it out. :p
But, I do love Mr. Ping. "When I was young and crazy, I thought about running away and learning how to make tofu."
Gassho,
William
Indeed, I wasn't disagreeing with you at all, William, just taking the opportunity to post a gratuitious KF Panda quote.
I think that life is just like you say - we often circle around it without actually directly engaging. Thinking there is a secret way to live ignores the most obvious solution of just living.
A teacher of mine liked to quote H L Mencken:
"Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops."
Gassho
Andy
Yeah, Andy, I realize that. I just wanted to run with your quote. We could probably devote an entire thread to the Zen of Kung Fu Panda.
Gassho,
William
Cool Karasu. Love that movie!
"The dragon warrior is.....you! There is no secret technique." Also Kung Fu panda.
A bit zenny but both the circle and the center is you.
The center can make it all appear or disappear. I always look at the circle as the movie screen everything plays on. Things come and go as the story or dance unfolds. You, the true you, is the light bulb in the projector that makes the whole thing go. Take away the film once in a while and let the clear true light shine and there is no circle anymore and so not even a center. We can't distinguish or speak of a center without a circle. right?
The circle is not something we want to get rid of. We only need to learn to see the circle for what it really is. Part of you, but not you.
Well, something like that anyway.
Gassho
Enkyo
Not knowing, living with mystery is one thing.
Ignorance is another.
I feel that in Buddhism, we celebrate living with the unpredictability and unknowability of certain things in life. The Buddha left certain questions alone, and could not tell ya who was going to win the next World Series (Actually, many old Buddhists claimed that he could, was all knowing and all seeing. However, I tend to doubt he was. I think him very Wise on some points, in the dark with the rest of us on others). I am happy to let the mysteries be.
But about certain points, Buddhist Practice looks for clarity, certainty, absolute knowing ... on impermanence, emptiness, non-self, True Self, the cure for Dukkha, Original Face, Buddha.
That is the point of this enterprise.
Gassho, J