tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308545293311569644.post830473032293727928..comments2010-03-26T09:14:05.724-07:00Comments on ERRATA: The Pearl & The LotusMike Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308545293311569644.post-79178151500875306482008-04-03T22:08:00.000-07:002008-04-03T22:08:00.000-07:00Hi MT,Yes, when we want to express to others our o...Hi MT,<BR/><BR/>Yes, when we want to express to others our own enlightenment, the expression is like that. Or, again, we might say that the one bright pearl is totally the one bright pearl, and full lotus sitting is fully full lotus sitting. <BR/>Knowing the sincerity of Plato's question, however, I wanted to respond as truly as possible, and not only on the basis of Buddhist philosophy. Just that desire to come up with a good response is the very cause of me answering wrongly.<BR/><BR/>That is how a questionner, like Plato or Socrates, can become a teacher -- by helping the answerer to see his own wrongness. <BR/><BR/>When I say "wrongness," I do not mean wrongness in the abstract. I mean, for example, not sleeping regularly and suffering pain in the stomach. Those symptoms might be delayed effects of burying grief, which is something I have tended to do. <BR/><BR/>To sit like this, self-conscious of one's own suffering, is not body and mind spontaneously dropping off. But my reading of Master Dogen's message is that to sit like this is also valuable, not because there is any value inherent in self-consciousness of suffering, but because of the value inherent in sitting itself.Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308545293311569644.post-77398675228496771762008-04-02T08:16:00.000-07:002008-04-02T08:16:00.000-07:00'What Master Dogen means is that the value is ther...'What Master Dogen means is that the value is there throughout the whole developmental process -- the bright pearl is there throughout the whole lotus.'<BR/><BR/>Does Master Dogen not mean that the bright pearl IS the whole lotus, is not throughout it but is it?Michael Kendo Taithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02820939636088069525noreply@blogger.com