in reply to Re: Re: Philosophical Perly Queues
in thread Philosophical Perly Queues

Your clever dissertation on cleverness clouding perception is nicely underscored by your disserting on the wrong quote. Intentional?

And the immediate actual truth which I do not need to be beaten to understand is that I prefer not being beaten. This is an example of "learning".

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Philosophical Perly Queues
by TheDamian (Vicar) on Apr 20, 2003 at 19:49 UTC
    disserting on the wrong quote. Intentional?
    Unfortunately not. I suspect my s/pearls/a pearl/ on the quote was merely the (un-Enlightened) desire to make the epigram a little punchier. ;-)
    And the immediate actual truth which I do not need to be beaten to understand is that I prefer not being beaten.
    Of course. Me too. :-)

    But the unpleasantness of being beaten is not the immediate actual truth that the Zen master is trying to beat into the student. Nor is it the immediate actual truth that the Zen student is trying to perceive by submitting to the Master's beatings.

    The lesson is not "I don't like being beaten. Ever."
    The lesson is "I am being beaten. Right now."

[reply]
[d/l]
      There's an interesting parallel here with the old ceremony of 'beating the bounds', where a young boy would be marched round each corner of the village and thrashed soundly - thus becoming the arbiter for disputes for the rest of his life, being forever intensely aware of exactly where the boundaries lie...
[reply]

In Section Meditations