On Jun 23, 2005, at 10:13 PM, Warren Ockrassa wrote:
Language is, like the Buddha, two and a half pounds of flax.
Ha. It's three pounds, you know. :-)
You seem well-read on the topic. I had to google your flax reference,
and came across a page, "Shape of a Buddha," that included a commentary
on this impenetrable comment on the Buddah that included this:
People immediately rush to the words to understand, not
realizing that words and speech are just vessels to convey
the truth, not yet the truth itself.
That sounds very much a part of this conversation. But of course:
when the student is ready, the teacher appears. This koan has just
been there, waiting for the student.
The same master also said, “Language doesn’t help matters; speech
doesn’t bring forth the truth. Those burdened by language are lost;
those held up by words are deluded."
Yeah, but they are what we have.
Further, the Dalai Lama has said that to the extent science disproves
*any* Buddhist teaching, it is Buddhism, not science, which will have
to
change to fit newer human understandings. If we discover that rebirth
is
completely, totally impossible, the Buddhist idea of rebirth will have
to go. (Fortunately that's all right. Buddhism works just fine without
the idea.)
That's an area where Spong really gets fundamentalists in a lather. He
feels that the virgin birth narrative doesn't speak to us today. He
denies its literal reality, but upholds its value as a tool that the
first-century gospel writers used to set Jesus apart.
It bears noting that this is an extraordinarily liberal view of the
Bible, which puts a lot of people off.
I'm hardly surprised. There are several beloved sacred cows being
tipped
here.
It reminds me of the subtitle of a book by another progressive
Christian, Marcus Borg: "Taking the Bible Seriously, But Not Literally."
Thanks, Warren. Much better than "Zen is evil and should be
eradicated."
Don't get me wrong here; Zen *is* evil and it *should* be eradicated.**
Zen is two or three pounds of flax and should be emancipated.
Dave
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