[MD] humpty dumpty

[118]

Dave,

On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 4:20 PM, David Thomas
<combinedefforts at earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 8/2/12 6:04 PM, "MarshaV" <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
>
>>  p.s.  Dave Thomas, I am not anti-intellectual.  I just think it wise to
>> acknowledge the limitations as well as the strengths; limitations RMP has
>> presented.
>
> I didn't say you were. But you have posted Pirsig's "Kill the intellect.."
> translation of Lao Tzu which is an integral part or goal in Zen Buddhist
> practice which might lead one to think that.
>
> Though I will say that being anti-Pirsig's-intellectual level is a very
> tenable position.

I come away with a different sense from the "kill the intellect"
phrase.  The goal of Zen Buddhism has never been to deny oneself from
thinking.  Such a goal would be just plain ridiculous.  Have you ever
met a Zen priest who does not think?
>
What this means to me is that one needs to treat the intellect for
what it is.  The intellect comes from the brain which is an organ just
like the heart.  Nobody is saying "kill the heart".  One can become
aware of thinking, just like one can become aware of a heart beating.
There is no fundamental difference between the two.  Both are
functions of the body.  The problem in the West, is that many are
bewitched by the intellect ("I think therefore I am").  By this logic
one has to think in order to be.  Of course this is ass-backwards
since one has to be in order to think.  Quality awareness resides in
being.  Part of such being is thinking, but most of it is not.  The
ego thrives on making thought the center of being since that gives it
complete control.  However, I don't know if you have noticed, but we
cannot control our thoughts.  All we can do is pretend that we have
thoughts that control other thoughts.  But who controls the
controller?

"Killing intellectual patterns" simply means not letting them kill
you.  It means "kill the control that intellectual patterns have on
you"!  There is nothing anti-intellectual about this, since the
ability to kill this control is a learning process which involves the
intellect.  The intellect is a method for achieving Zen.  Zen is not a
method for dismissing the intellect.

Cheers,
Mark
>
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