Chris,
In certain moods, maybe a more resonant Western classical figure is that of
Odysseus. He was trying to keep alive each day, yes, but as much as or more
than anything -- in addition to all his other efforts and exertions -- he was
just trying to get Home! ;-)
--Joe
PS Funnily, another thing Shifu Sheng Yen used to say was, "If you find
yourself on a pirate ship, the best thing to do is be a Pirate!"
> Chris Austin-Lane <chris@...> wrote:
>
> Totally agree on the posture. I wish we could introduce a word
> "body/mind" to English usage. It is much more precise.
>
> The riff on giving up hope is my summary of a lot of Joko Beck's
> transcribed dharma talks in "Nothing Special." -- e.g.:
>
> In talking about Sisyphus:
>
> "What would be the enlightened state for King Sisyphus? If he pushes
> the rock a few thousand years, what may he finally realize? .... Just
> to push the rock and to have abandoned hope that his life will be
> other than it is. .... if we simply push our current boulder and
> practice being aware of what goes on with us as we push, we slowly
> transform."
------------------------------------
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:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
