On Jun 9, 12:22 pm, Richard Henry wrote:
On Jun 9, 12:07 pm, taichiskiing
wrote:

On Jun 9, 10:14 am, Richard Henry wrote:

On Jun 9, 10:27 am, taichiskiing
wrote:

On Jun 9, 6:50 am, Richard Henry wrote:

On Jun 9, 7:32 am, taichiskiing
wrote:

Deny it the first time, you maybe
innocence of denying, just being ignorant and arrogant; deny it second
time around? that's pathetic; third time around? You become shameless.

Excellent philosophy.

Now say the words out loud in front of a mirror.

Don't have to, a real truth is true anywhere. It is only a matter of
how you perceive it.

When mouth is open, do not close ears.

But you don't follow your own advice?

The best tool for a philosopher is a well-polished mirror.

Regarding a "well-polished mirror," here's the most famous story in
Chinese Zen Buddhism: When the fifth patriarch ready to retire, he
made the announcement on the bulletin board and asked his disciples to
write their understanding/insight/comprehension the meaning of the
Chan/Zen, and whoever wrote the most insightful/comprehensive piece
would get his robe and transmission. A few had tried it and posted
their views on the board, until Shen-Xiu, who was the fifth
patriarch's most senior and most disciplined disciple, wrote down his
poem:

"The body is [like] a Budhi tree,
And the heart/mind is [like] mirror bright,
Polish it often constantly,
So not to let any dust settles on it."

He was saying that he disciplined to polish himself constantly to
reach an ever purer/higher state/realm of Zen, and he has reduced all
the world's 10k things to only one element--the mirror bright heart/
mind. And the rest of disciples thought that his vision has reached
the highest level comprehension and practice that he should receive
the robe and transmission, so the posting stopped.

Hui-Neng was a low rank monk at the time, cannot even read and write,
so he asked a fellow monk to read it for him and afterward to write
his poem for him:

"The Bodhi/body is not a tree,
The bright heart/mind is not a mirror,
From the beginning there's not a thing,
Where the dusts come from and attach to where?"

After reading this, the fifth patriarch decided that Hui-Neng had the
highest comprehension and passed the transmission to him. Hui-Neng
became the six patriarch, and Shen-Xiu, with his well polished mirror,
lost the bid.

The reasons? Shen-Xiu still saw the world/reality through a medium/
mirror, even with his well polished mirror, and he still had a "self."
And Hui-Neng's vision had no self, and only when one becomes no self,
the body becomes transparent, where then one can see the One/whole
world/universe/reality unpartitioned. And that's the true essence of
Zen/Chan practice.

Mind of no mind,
IS