46 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2023
      • for: Deep Humanity, epoche, BEing journey, Douglas Harding, Zen, emptiness, awakening, the Headless Way

      • summary

      • adjacency between
        • Kensho
        • Zen
        • Douglas Harding's Headless Way
      • adjacency statement

        • this paper explores the parallels between Zen b experienced of Kensho and Douglas Harding's Headless Way
      • question

        • can this technique be adapted for Deep Humanity BEing journeys and mass awakening /epoche?
  2. Jul 2023
    1. So something about our   process is completely wrong. Something about our  understanding of ecology is completely wrong.   But for me, I look back at, for example,  the Daoists. To me, the Daoists understood   very deeply the complexity. Daoism really starts  with just accepting the mystery and the complexity   00:19:33 of the world and not trying to necessarily  explain it all, and then to pattern behavior   after these natural processes
      • for: emptiness, ecology and emptiness, ecology and Taoism
    1. Ecology and evolution provide the scientific background needed to address the biodiversity crisis; Zen provides the deeper knowing that will motivate our action to address this problem.
      • comment
        • the Zen mindfulness practices demonstrated in the rest of the paper depend on one assumption
          • that the scientific narrative employed are within the salience landscape of the reader
        • if they are not aligned to these narratives (ie, if they are religious fundamentalists) then these practices will fail to be effective
        • this suggests that we may need to appeal to an even more fundamental human quality that IS shared by all of us, the creation of narratives
    2. There is a traditional Zen koan which is often stated something like this: “What was your Original Face before your parents were born?” There is no such thing as a “correct” answer for a koan. This koan is sometimes interpreted as an invitation to contemplate one's ancestry.
      • Guided meditation
        • What was your original face before you were born?
        • A Zen koan sometimes used to guide contemplation of one's ancestry
    3. The ecologist David Barash (1973) discussed the parallels between Zen Buddhism and ecology.
      • The ecologist David Barash (1973) discussed the parallels between Zen Buddhism and ecology.
        • interdependence and unity of all things was fundamental to both
          • the practice of Zen and
          • the science of ecology
      • adjacency
        • ecology
        • Zen
        • interdependency and unity are fundamental to both Zen and ecology
        • both share a common nondualistic view of the fundamental identity of subject and surrounding
        • a bison cannot be understood in isolation from the prairie
          • understanding requires studying the bison-prairie unit
      • quote
        • "The very study of ecology is the elaboration of Zen's nondualistic thinking".
      • author

        • David Barish
      • comment

        • adjacency
          • indyweb treats words and ideas as empty,
            • that is, they are selfless, and have no meaning except in relation to all other words / ideas
    4. The Buddhist concept of interconnectedness or emptiness (all things are empty of a separate self) is represented by the metaphor of the Jewel Net of Indra
      • adjacency
        • ecology
        • Indra's net of jewels -translation
        • of Indra's Net story
        • “Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra,
          • there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer
          • in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions.
        • In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities,
          • the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each “eye” of the net,
          • and since the net itself is infinite in dimension,
            • the jewels are infinite in number.
        • There hang the jewels, glittering like stars in the first magnitude,
          • a wonderful sight to behold.
        • If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it,
          • we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number.
        • Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels,
          • so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring"
          • Author
            • Cook, F. H. (1977). Hua‐Yen Buddhism: The jewel net of Indra. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. [Google Scholar]
    5. Abstract
      • The Buddha taught that everything is
        • connected and
        • constantly changing.
      • These fundamental observations of the world are shared by
        • ecology and
        • evolution.
      • We are living in a time of unprecedented rates of extinction.
      • Science provides us with the information that we need to address this extinction crisis.
      • However, the problems underlying extinction generally do not result from a lack of scientific understanding,
        • but they rather result from an unwillingness to take the needed action.
      • I present mindfulness and meditative aspects of Zen practice that provide the deeper “knowing,” or awareness that we need to inspire action on these problems.

      • comment

        • emptiness is interdependency and change
        • in Deep Humanity praxis, it is equivalent to
          • human INTERbeing and
          • human INTERbeCOMing
    6. My overall objective in this paper is to
      • My overall objective in this paper is to
        • unite the sciences of ecology and evolution
        • with the spiritual practice of Zen
          • in order to inspire actions to address the extinction crisis that we are currently facing.
        • I do this by addressing the following three points:
          • Zen and science are both based upon empirical observations of the world.
          • Zen and science both tell us that there is no separation between humans and the world around us.
        • Ecology and evolution provide the scientific background needed to address the biodiversity crisis;
          • Zen provides the deeper knowing that will motivate our action to address this problem
      • Title
        • Zen and deep evolution: The optical delusion of separation
      • Author
        • Fred W. Allendorf
      • Date
        • 2018
      • Source

      • Abstract

        • The Buddha taught that everything is connected and constantly changing.
      • These fundamental observations of the world are shared by ecology and evolution.
        • We are living in a time of unprecedented rates of extinction.
      • Science provides us with the information that we need to address this extinction crisis.
        • However, the problems underlying extinction generally do not result from a lack of scientific understanding, -but they rather result from an unwillingness to take the needed action.
        • I present mindfulness and meditative aspects of Zen practice
          • that provide the deeper “knowing,” or awareness that we need to inspire action on these problems.
  3. Apr 2023
    1. So what does a conscious universe have to do with AI and existential risk? It all comes back to whether our primary orientation is around quantity, or around quality. An understanding of reality that recognises consciousness as fundamental views the quality of your experience as equal to, or greater than, what can be quantified.Orienting toward quality, toward the experience of being alive, can radically change how we build technology, how we approach complex problems, and how we treat one another.

      Key finding Paraphrase - So what does a conscious universe have to do with AI and existential risk? - It all comes back to whether our primary orientation is around - quantity, or around - quality. - An understanding of reality - that recognises consciousness as fundamental - views the quality of your experience as - equal to, - or greater than, - what can be quantified.

      • Orienting toward quality,
        • toward the experience of being alive,
      • can radically change
        • how we build technology,
        • how we approach complex problems,
        • and how we treat one another.

      Quote - metaphysics of quality - would open the door for ways of knowing made secondary by physicalism

      Author - Robert Persig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance // - When we elevate the quality of each our experience - we elevate the life of each individual - and recognize each individual life as sacred - we each matter - The measurable is also the limited - whilst the immeasurable and directly felt is the infinite - Our finite world that all technology is built upon - is itself built on the raw material of the infinite

      //

  4. Feb 2023
    1. si conservò questo mio onanistico rapporto con i Pet Shop Boys.

      La lettura di questo articolo ha sancito la prima volta in cui mi sia mai imbattuto nel termine “onanistico” e più in generale nel concetto di onanismo. Da quel momento in poi, l’ho sempre utilizzato in questo senso, piuttosto che in quello letterale. Nel mio caso, prevalentemente avevo un rapporto onanistico con l’astronomia e lo ho tuttora con l’informatica.

  5. Jan 2023
    1. The wooden rakusu ring is a nod to how Chinese monks fasten their robes to keep their arms free for physical labor in the fields and kitchens. It is also reminiscent of the shoulder fasteners of the full-length robe called a kesa. The ring has no special meaning. It is just a fashion throwback to a nostalgic time.
  6. Oct 2022
    1. I'm afraid you missed the joke ;-) While you believe spaces are required on both sides of an em dash, there is no consensus on this point. For example, most (but not all) American authorities say /no/ spaces should be used. That's the joke. In writing a line about "only one way to do it", I used a device (em dash) for which at least two ways to do it (with spaces, without spaces) are commonly used, neither of which is obvious -- and deliberately picked a third way just to rub it in. This will never change ;-)
    2. This text has a line which has an ortographical typo in it. Please look at this line of text from the Zen of Python: There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

      first sighting: ortographical

    1. Beautiful is better than ugly. Explicit is better than implicit. Simple is better than complex. Complex is better than complicated. Flat is better than nested. Sparse is better than dense. Readability counts. Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules. Although practicality beats purity. Errors should never pass silently. Unless explicitly silenced. In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess. There should be one– and preferably only one –obvious way to do it.[a] Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch. Now is better than never. Although never is often better than right now.[b] If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea. If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea. Namespaces are one honking great idea – let's do more of those!
  7. Aug 2022
  8. Jul 2022
  9. Feb 2022
  10. Jul 2021
    1. Most of this is material I've seen or heard in other forms in the past. It's relatively well reviewed and summarized here though, but it's incredibly dense to try to pull out, unpack and actually use if one were coming to it as a something new.

      3 Productivity hacks

      • Zen Meditation (Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryū Suzuki
      • Research Process -- Annotations and notes, notecards
      • Rigorous exercise routine -- plateau effect

      The Zen meditation hack sounds much in the line of advice to often get away from what you're studing/researching and to let the ideas stew for a bit before coming back to them. It's the same principle as going for walks frequently heard from folks or being a flâneur. (cross reference Nassim Nicholas Taleb et al.) The other version of this that's similar are the diffuse modes of learning (compared with focused modes) described in learning theory. (Examples in work of Barbara Oakley and Terry Sejnowski in https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn)

      I've generally come to the idea that genius doesn't exist myself. Most of it distills down to use of tools like commonplace books.

      Perhaps worth looking into some of the following to see what, if anything, is different than prior version of the commonplace book tradition:

      The Ryan Holiday Notecard System @Intermittent Diversion - https://youtu.be/QoFZQOJ8aA0

      Article On Notecard System [1] https://medium.com/thrive-global/the-notecard-system-the-key-for-remembering-organizing-and-using-everything-you-read-4f48a82371b1 [2] https://www.writingroutines.com/notecard-system-ryan-holiday/ [3] https://www.gallaudet.edu/tutorial-and-instructional-programs/english-center/the-process-and-type-of-writing/pre-writing-writing-and-revising/the-note-card-system/

  11. Jan 2021
  12. Aug 2020
    1. From alex.flounder.online's journal entry for 08-17-2020

    2. Sometimes what we receive takes the form of understanding; sometimes what we receive takes the form of no-understanding.

      Is no-understanding/not-knowing a state, and therefore in the relative domain?

    3. Ultimately, shikantaza is absolute, radically nondual non-doing. It’s relying on no contrivance.

      The "do nothing" meditation as Leo put it

    4. not-two

      (而二)不二か?

  13. Jan 2020
  14. Oct 2019
    1. Suzuki interpreted the episodes of spiritual awakening depicted in Zen public cases as proof of humankind’s ability to suddenly break through the boundaries of common, everyday, logical thought to achieve a nondualistic, pure experience in which distinctions such as self/other and right/wrong disappear. He characterized this experience as an expression of the irrational intuition that underlies all religions and all acts of artistic creation, regardless of culture or historical period, and that achieved its highest expression in the secular arts of Japan. Suzuki, therefore, interpreted Zen not as a form of Buddhism but as a Japanese cultural value with universal relevance.

      Suzuki provides interesting insight. This demonstrates that Japan had their own unique take on the entire concept of Zen.

    2. When the Ming dynasty (1368–1661) in China began to collapse, many Chinese Zen monks sought refuge in Japan.

      This provides a sound reasoning for the spread to Japan.

    3. Although Zen Buddhism in China is traditionally dated to the 5th century, it actually first came to prominence in the early 8th century, when Wuhou (625–705), who seized power from the ruling Tang dynasty (618–907) to become empress of the short-lived Zhou dynasty (690–705), patronized Zen teachers as her court priests. After Empress Wuhou died and the Tang dynasty was restored to power, rival sects of Zen appeared whose members claimed to be more legitimate and more orthodox than the Zen teachers who had been associated with the discredited empress. These sectarian rivalries continued until the Song dynasty, when a more inclusive form of Zen became associated with almost all of the official state-sponsored Buddhist monasteries. As the official form of Chinese Buddhism, the Song dynasty version of Zen subsequently spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

      The exact time that Zen was introduced into China is not exact. It appears to have formed over a series of years and involved many different people. This is in contrast with the common myth that Bodhidharma introduced it a one specific moment in time.

    4. Zen, Chinese Chan, Korean Sŏn, also spelled Seon, Vietnamese Thien, important school of East Asian Buddhism that constitutes the mainstream monastic form of Mahayana Buddhism in China, Korea, and Vietnam and accounts for approximately 20 percent of the Buddhist temples in Japan.

      China, Japan, Vietnam, and Korea are areas where zen was traditionally found.

    1. NOW, WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? Well, the consensus, I believe, among most Zen teachers and students who have looked at the topic is ... even if the lineage is not literal, it is the something beyond words that matters. It is our practice here and now that is most vital. It stands for something beyond time, so it is not so important that these people really existed or not. It is rather like Moses may have not been a historical personage ... but, still, in our hearts we can feel "Let My People Go!".

      This makes a great point. With so much confusion and contradictory information, one has to assume dharma transmission exceeded and circumvented the narrow pathways outlined in various lineages.As everyone has Buddha nature, everyone can be a pathway.

  15. Jun 2019
  16. Apr 2019
    1. “The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening; the smaller the doubt, the smaller the awakening. No doubt, no awakening. —C.-C. Chang, The Practice of Zen”
  17. Nov 2018
    1. Meditation can not only provide a welcome counterweight to this work with abstractions, it also cultives 10 qualities of character (Pali: paramis) that are useful during the practice of programming.

      Generosity Morality Renunciation Understanding Effort Patience/tolerance Truthfulness Loving-kindness Equanimity

  18. Nov 2017
    1. In hypo-egoic states, people have minimal thoughts about themselves, their reputations, and how people perceive them. They are more focused on concrete present-moment situations and outcomes in which they are not ego-involved or personally invested. Hypo-egoic states can include flow, loss of self-consciousness, and transcendence.
    1. This is the indirect pursuit of the golden rule that focuses on ideally good means to ideally good ends. “Love the good with your whole mind, your whole heart and your whole strength,” then you will love your neighbor as yourself, and also treat her as you’d wish to be treated by her. The differential diagnosis here identifies devotion that leads to embodiment as the cause of golden rule effect. And this devotion need not include any following or practicing rules of thumb like the golden rule, purposely fulfilling duties, or practicing those conventional activities associated with being morally upright. It can be as spiritual and abstract an activity as concentrated rational intuition ever-intent on an imagined Platonic form of good, which presumably would direct one’s perception of every reflection of the Form, in every ethical matter one dealt with in life.
    2. Getting some perspective, the second and third avenues or “ways of embodiment” above are analogous to the two main schools of Zen Buddhism—Rinzai and Soto. In the first, one experiences satori or enlightened awakening in a sudden flash. It is not known how, even a non-devotee may be blessed by this occurrence. One smiles, or laughs as a result, at the contrast in consciousness, then goes back to one’s daily life with no self-awareness of the whole new sense of reality and living it creates. Those around cannot help but notice the whole new range of behaviors that come out, filled with the compassion of a bodhisattva. To the master, it is daily life and interaction: “I eat when I am hungry, I sleep when I am tired.” The third way is that of gradual enlightenment. One meditates for its own sake, with no special aim in mind—no awaited lightning strike from the blue. “Over time, as one constantly “polishes one’s mirror,” Zen consciousness continually grows until normal consciousness and ego fade out, akin to the Hindu version of enlightenment or moksha. Compassion grows beside it, imperceptibly, until one is bodhisattva. To the recipient, Zen-mind seems ordinary mind.
  19. Jul 2017
    1. I was very stressed out. I wasn't a very happy person. It wasn't like, "Oh, I'm cured, I got here, everything's wonderful," but I knew the second I got here—I felt more calmness. So I just wanted to stay here. I thought I could go to graduate school, and come back and do work here, and then I thought "Wait a minute, I'm already here.”
  20. Feb 2016
    1. unstrategy

      I unschooled all my kids. Is that akin to unstrategizing? Is unstrategizing the same as doing nothing, the same as one hand clapping, the same as that damned finger's silent pointing at the moon?

  21. Jan 2015
    1. Batı'da olduğu gibi Türkiye'de de Zen, seküler hümanizm, entelektüel anarşizm ve hippilik ile birbirine karıştırılmış ve bu kavramlar adeta birbiri yerine kullanılabilirmiş gibi okuyuculara sunulmuştur. Herhangi bir kural ve ilke yerine içgüdülere dönük bir yaşam süren kimselerin de Zen'in gerçeğine varmış aydınlanmış kişiler gibi görülebileceği bile iddia edilmiştir. Oysa Bodhidharma'nın Kanakışı Vaazı'nda (Bloodstream Sermon) söylediği "Buddhalar ilkeleri tutmazlar. Ve Buddhalar ilkeleri çiğnemezler. Buddhalar herhangi bir şeyi tutmaz veya çiğnemezler." ifadesi ile aynı yerde geçen şu ifadeler herhangi bir disiplin dışında kalarak Buddha doğasından bahsetmenin çelişkisini göstermektedir: