Hi Mike, I think perception is a rich word. It can refer to many slightly different things.
People complain that strawberries that I refer to them as very sweet and tasty, are in fact very sour. I thought I have different standard of 'sweetness' and 'sourness'. But I just realised that this has also to do with my perception of the word sweet, as it is also very closely connected to tasty. So when I have tasty strawberries, I attach the taste to the word 'sweet', while in fact, they are sour. I didn't attach that particular taste (sensation) to the word 'sour'. It is being labelled as tasty first, and thus, it is sweet, because everybody says that sweet strawberries are tasty. Funny how it works, isn't it? Now this also reminds me of pure perception described in the Mulapariyaya Sutta. The taste, without any label (sweet, sour, whatever), is pure perception, is the reality. Whatever comes to mind after that is illusory, not because they do not exist, but because there are already concepts, labels attached to them and they are relative. In your vipassana practice, do you also refer to this Sutta or only Maha Satipatthana Sutta? Siska -----Original Message----- From: "mike" <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Sat, 18 May 2013 02:05:33 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [Zen] Re: Advaita Hi Siska, Both! It's possible to understand that perceptions are illusory *and* enjoy them without being neither fooled by them nor attached to them. Mike --- In [email protected], siska_cen@... wrote: > > Hi Mike, > > > Who wouldn't want to enjoy the taste of a strawberry! > > Those who do not like strawberries? > > How about this, I used to enjoy sour strawberries (and other berries, and > also oranges) more than the sweet ones. Is the pleasure from eating 'sweet' > strawberries real or illusory? > > Siska > -----Original Message----- > From: uerusuboyo@... > Sender: [email protected] > Date: Thu, 16 May 2013 14:27:42 > To: BillSmart@...<BillSmart@...>; zen group<[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Subject: RE: [Zen] Re: Advaita > > Bill!<br/><br/>Yet the strawberry tastes so sweet! I just feel that your > description of Buddha Nature just doesn't seem to engage with life (and yet I > know that as 'Bill!' you do!). I think it goes back to the feeling I have > that what you say about Buddha Nature, although correct, only focuses on the > Absolute. Life is recognising both the relative and absolute as truth. Who > wouldn't want to enjoy the taste of a > strawberry!<br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad >
