The crux of this argument is not WHETHER you judge things to be good or bad, but HOW you judge things to be good or bad. If you use your intellect, rationality (discriminating mind) to judge things you are liable to be let down. If the judgement is coming from Buddha Mind (and then it's not really a judgement but a 'seeing' or 'knowing') then you will never be led astray.
...Bill! --- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, Chris Austin-Lane <chris@...> wrote: > > On Monday, January 17, 2011, ED <seacrofter001@...> wrote: > > > Every individual is at the type and level of consciousness that he/she > > possesses at the present time, and this may evolve with age. > > Is any of these positions 'better' or 'worse'? The 'rational' mind can > > always be dragged in to 'justify' a position, whatever it might be. > > Eh? What? > > Do what is good. Do not do what is not good. Where is the > rationality or the 'rationality' either? > > Your frequent response to people telling how they respond to the > various ethical debates of our age seems to be to imply that the only > proper non-judgmental response is nothing. Forgive my clumsy > assumption if that is not your intended implication. > > I continue to find that for many of the ethical debates of our age, > there are useful actions I can take do. > > > --ED > > > > --- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, ChrisAustinLane <chris@> wrote: > >> > >> Thanks, > >> Chris Austin-Lane > >> Sent from a cell phone > > > >> On Jan 15, 2011, at 5:12, Mel gunnar19632000@ wrote: > >> > >> > Don't get me wrong, because I personally love my vegies, fruit, tofu, > >> > beans and so on...but I'm not quite clear on this 'vegetarian' thingy > >> > >> I am vegetarian and the thing I tell my kids is that since I do not need > >> to eat meat and since the world has too many people to support every one > >> eating meat, I abstain (except for my cultural high holy days: > >> Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years). > >> > >> I must confess to enjoying not having to shudder so much when the PETA > >> people get some footage of the abattoirs in front of me, but I do not do > >> it for that reason. > >> > >> There is an advantage to not eating meat for environmental reasons is that > >> the environmental consequences of out behavior is mostly based on the > >> aggregate total of all out behavior, so the first duty of an > >> environmentalist is to persuade others, not to be a beacon of purity. If > >> you > > are 99% pure but piss of your neighbors to the extent that they > > compensate for your purity, you have achieved no environmental savings. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: zen_forum-dig...@yahoogroups.com zen_forum-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zen_forum-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/