[MD] Essentialism and the MOQ

[Heather Perella]

     [Marsha]
> I find morality as a binding agent works well with
> the Buddhist idea 
> of suffering.  I think.  If something is 'good' one
> wants to attach 
> to it, if something is 'bad' one wants to avoid it. 
> Isn't that what 
> Buddhism states is the cause of suffering.   If
> you're living in the 
> moment, you're not attaching or avoiding, just
> chopping wood, 
> carrying water or painting.

     Quoting from "Zen and Western Thought", by Masao
Abe, first though, Masao Abe quotes Chinese Chan (Zen)
master Ch'ingyuan Wei-hsin of the T'ang dynasty:

     "Thirty years ago, before I began the study of
Zen, I said, 'Mountains are mountains, waters are
waters.'
     After I got an insight into the truth of Zen
through the instruction of a good master, I said,
'Mountains are not mountains, waters are not water.'
     But now, having attained the abode of final rest
[that is, Awakening], I say, 'Mountains are really
mountains, waters are really waters."

     Masao Abe goes on to explain this Zen saying, and
meanwhile Abe is very aware of Western philosophy, so,
he is dedicated to putting this saying into careful
western words.  
     "(A) that the true Self is unattainable, to the
realization (B) that the unattainable itself is the
true Self is a crucial turning point."
     From (A) to (B) is the realization of (from above
quote) (A)'Mountains are not mountains, waters are not
waters' to (B)'Mountains are really mountains, waters
are really waters.'
     Thus, in the pre-Zen instruction from a good
master, master Ch'ingyuan Wei-hsin says, 'Mountains
are mountains, waters are waters'.  This is what Abe
says is ego-self.  The nonattachment comes in here. 
To have no attachment is to let go of ego-self by
realizing (A) which is true Self is unattainable,
thus, negating mountains and waters (Mountains are not
mountains, waters are not waters), this is also the
no-self of Buddhism, for true Self is unattainable,
thus, detach from ego-self, detach from 'thinking'
there is a true Self.  Yet, also, one is to detach
from (A) to realizing (B), thus realize 'Mountains are
really mountains, and waters are really waters'.  I
quote Abe, "Although a realization of no-self, a
realization that the true Self is unattainable, is
necessary and important, it is still negative and
nihilistic (there's that word), entailing a dualistic
view of no-self as something in contradistinction to
the ego-self.  Only when even no-self is existentially
overcome does the true Self awaken to itself."  That
ultimate true Self awakened to itself, is (B) from
above, that states, "that the unattainable itself is
the true Self.  
     This is why I stated to Ham that Quality, and I
experience quietness this Way, too, is that quality is
nothingness and quality is essence.  Quality is
nothingness-essence.  Quality is mysterious and at the
same time is something.  Quality is dynamic
(undefined) and also static ('things' defined). 
Quality is not nihilistic, but quality is not fully
defined and knowable, too.  Detach, as I see it, is
the detachment from ego-self.  Detachment from
thinking we can actually conceptualize and totally
'get it'.  Yet, by detaching from thinking we can, we
actually do conceptualize and 'get it'.  We 'get' that
we don't 'get it'.  I don't see how and I quote you: 
"If you're living in the moment, you're not attaching
or avoiding, just chopping wood, carrying water or
painting.", I don't see how this relates to morals.  I
don't see how this relates to just attach to what is
good and avoid what is bad.  We are going to make
moral decisions, but how we make those decisions is to
not 'just do it'.  If I'm stabbing my hand with a
thorn by walking into the thorn, then I'm not going to
just do it, walk into the thorn.  Zen is not blind. 
I'm going to pull back and avoid the thorn.  What is
ultimately good or bad, well, that is what I see as
unattainable.  That is why moral decisions are 'in the
moment lived'.  Yet, the trust, I think, in Zen is
that by targeting and living that which is
unattainable, we realize our tiny skull, live in the
moment, and take it day by day, and try not to make it
too complex - the simple life, making it as clear and
easy on ourselves so our experience can not only be
intellectually understood, but socially predictable as
much as possible, since all in all, the world is
mysterious enough.

woods,
SA 
   
     


 
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