Beginner's Mind

[bobby1933]

Accurate Translation of the Tao Te Ching

Comments

[amaebi]

Congratulations on your triumph, I guess.

[bobby1933]

:)

[nerthus]

I think I see the nature of thought as a sort of duality, a yin and yang prospect if you will of both light and darkness, ignorance and enlightenment. And its effect on the 'soul' depends I guess on whether it's mind in the organic sense, mind in the cosmic sense or necessarily a composite of both

Me again, still rambling!

[nerthus]

I know that my son made me realize on some levels my own 'willful ignorance' and complacency and urged me to use 'mind' in helping others rather than merely brooding only on my own place in the scheme of things. Using his own pain to reach out to others was one thing he came to value and cherish, whether it be with giving away most of his money to individuals and causes, helping his Vietnam vet friend to get medical care, taking him groceries and paying to take his cat to the vet, volunteering at various places, working with the Campaign For Tibet and other Buddhist causes, giving to Children's Cancer Fund, etc. He would get emails and calls from friends wanting his help and/or advice, and he never turned them down; he refused to even kill a fly or bug and cried when he found a dead baby bird that fell out of its nest, feeling so moved by its suffering. He never could see that he was already so enlightened on so many levels. But our minds as biological entities are unreliable, science experiments and MRIs have shown us how easily our

Re: Me again, still rambling!

[bobby1933]

Thank you for sharing some of your memories of Daniel.

We are imperfect forms who cannot comprehend our essence. Religion and philosophy try to short circuit this incomprehensibleness by providing ways of moving through the phenomenal world in relative safety--the safety being more for the sake of our essence (soul) rather than our material bodies. Buddhism provides a particularly good path.

But real Buddhists are also imperfect creatures who continually confuse themselves and stand in the way of their
own journeys. I am of the opinion that the journey continues beyond physical death in ways that we cannot begin to comprehend.

[reginaterrae]

I'm glad you posted this, Bobby, because I'd been a bit worried by your relative silence. This is a good explanation for it, and I am content.

Love
R

[bobby1933]

:) And i will try to be more responsive Silence is probably golden partly because it is rare.