It seems to me that these notions of Truth or the Infinite are just more mental constructions that simply pop into our mind. The same way a car pops into our mind when certain conditions are met.
They come and go.
Holding onto thoughts while rejecting others and placing value on them is an exercise in attachment. Being attached to the idea of Infinite or Truth is like being attached to the idea of Islam or Cars. Its not up to you, its conditional. Although we can let go and simply observe them, without trying to grab them.
It seems to me that a letting go is required to see clearly, letting go of opinions, of ideas, of truths and systems of belief, and seeing them for what they are.
Conditioned events that occur within our awareness. (of course this is simply another idea, but when you apply its meaning to itself, it dissolves just as easily as all the other ideas)
Any thoughts on this thought? :P
Truth, Infinite, Reality, are just ideas?
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Cory Duchesne
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What you are saying Hades sounds a bit like what Huang Po had reportedly said.
As you might be able to tell by where the link leads you, David Quinn apparently holds Huang Po in very high regard.
The difficulty is reconciling Quinn and Solway's heavy emphasis on abstract, conceptual thought with the high regard they have for sages like Huang Po.
I think the only problem Quinn or Solway in particular would have with what you are saying above Hades, is that they might suspect that you havent freed yourself from attatchment to worldliness, and thus, by not valuing the supremely rational groove of conceptual thinking and set of values for the sufficient period of time, you remain all too human, you remain high maintenance in your need for sensuality and thus you remain full of fear and emotion, which causes your actions and speach to create darkness, rather than light.
People are generally quick to believe they have reached the end, the end being the place where they can set aside attatchment to conceptual thought. People are perhaps too quick to eschew thought, despite eschewing thought is eventually a part of being liberated.
As you might be able to tell by where the link leads you, David Quinn apparently holds Huang Po in very high regard.
The difficulty is reconciling Quinn and Solway's heavy emphasis on abstract, conceptual thought with the high regard they have for sages like Huang Po.
I think the only problem Quinn or Solway in particular would have with what you are saying above Hades, is that they might suspect that you havent freed yourself from attatchment to worldliness, and thus, by not valuing the supremely rational groove of conceptual thinking and set of values for the sufficient period of time, you remain all too human, you remain high maintenance in your need for sensuality and thus you remain full of fear and emotion, which causes your actions and speach to create darkness, rather than light.
People are generally quick to believe they have reached the end, the end being the place where they can set aside attatchment to conceptual thought. People are perhaps too quick to eschew thought, despite eschewing thought is eventually a part of being liberated.
Some words by Huang Po
If you would spend all your time - walking, standing, sitting or lying down - learning to halt the concept-forming activities of your own mind, you could be sure of ultimately attaining your goal.
The way is spiritual Truth and was originally without name or title. It was only because people ignorantly sought for it empirically that the Buddhas appeared and taught them to eradicate this method of approach. Fearing that nobody would understand, they selected the name "Way". You must not allow this name to lead you into forming a mental concept of a road. So it is said, "When the fish is caught we pay no more attention to the trap". When body and mind achieve spontaneity, the Way is reached and Mind is understood.
Many people are afraid to empty their minds lest they plunge into the Void. They do not know that their own Mind is the void. The ignorant eschew phenomena but not thought; the wise eschew thought but not phenomena. When everything inside and outside, bodily and mental, has been relinquished; when, as in the Void, no attachments are left; when all action is dictated purely by place and circumstance; when subjectivity and objectivity are forgotten - that is the highest form of relinquishment.
So, if you students of the Way are mistaken about your own real Mind, not recognizing that it is the Buddha, you will consequently look for him elsewhere, indulging in various achievements and practices and expecting to attain realization through such graduated practices. But even after aeons of diligent searching, you will not be able to attain the Way. These methods cannot be compared to the sudden elimination of conceptual thought, in the certain knowledge that there is nothing at all which has absolute existence, nothing on which to lay hold, nothing on which to rely, nothing in which to abide, nothing subjective or objective.
" When everything inside and outside, bodily and mental, has been relinquished; when, as in the Void, no attachments are left; when all action is dictated purely by place and circumstance; when subjectivity and objectivity are forgotten - that is the highest form of relinquishment." - Huang Po
Hmmm. He emphasizes both bodily and mental relinquishment.
Many people simply relinquish the physical realm and its worldly attachments, but then they hop into the mental realm with its spiritual and intellectual attachments. Not realizing they gave up one trap for another.
Hmmm. He emphasizes both bodily and mental relinquishment.
Many people simply relinquish the physical realm and its worldly attachments, but then they hop into the mental realm with its spiritual and intellectual attachments. Not realizing they gave up one trap for another.
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AbsentMinded
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