Undercover Buddhas

  I could have a job, but am too lazy to choose it; I have got land, but am too lazy to farm it. My house leaks; I am too lazy to mend it. My clothes are torn; I am too lazy to darn them. I have got wine, but I am too lazy to drink; So it’s just the same as if my cup were empty. I have got a lute, but am too lazy to play; So it’s just the same as if it had no strings. My family tells me there is no more steamed rice; I want to cook, but am too lazy to grind. My friends and relatives write me long letters; I should like to read them, but they’re such a bother to open. I have always been told that Hsi Shu‑yeh Passed his whole life in absolute idleness. But he played his lute and sometimes worked at his forge; So even he was not so lazy as I.                                     — Bai Juyi, 9th century Chinese poet. I can never forget the middle-aged “nontraditional” student sitting in my Chinese ...

  There’s an old Zen koan about the old Zen master, Linji that goes:  Linji ascended the hall and said, ‘Here in this lump of red flesh there is a True Man with no self. Constantly he goes in and out the gates of your face. If there are any of you who don’t know this for a fact, then look! Look!’ At that time there was a monk who came forward and asked, ‘What is he like — the True Man with no self?’ Linji got down from his chair, seized hold of the monk and said, ‘Speak! Speak!’ The monk was about to say something, whereupon Linji let go of him, shoved him away and said, ‘True Man with no self—  what a shitty ass-wiper!’ Linji then returned to his quarters. The “True Man with no self” is a concept that originates in the ancient taoist philosophy of Zhuangzi . The person with no self is empty, able to incorporate any rank or role they may need to, to be completely in the moment. Linji’s test was to see if any of the monks could respond from such an empty, selfless positio...

  Poetry is better than self-help, Part 1…. ( Blogger’s note: This will be a two-part essay, with part 2 being published on November 6 . )  In his seminal work, Phenomenology of Perception , French philosopher Maurice Merleu-Ponty elucidates, most thoroughly, his idea of the eidos of consciousness, which is a counter to Rene Descartes’ mind-body dualism . For Merleu-Ponty, consciousness is not something separate from the body, an assumption that most people seem to automatically, reflexively hold. Religious folks, for example, believe the mind is really the “spirit” or the “soul,” and at death it separates from the body and flutters off into a metaphysical realm somewhere where it is rewarded or punished for its various deeds and misdeeds. But most non-religious folks also hold the view that the mind and body are ultimately two distinct things. Think about such phrases as “mind over matter” or “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Or think about how the vast majori...