Plato was discoursing on his theory of ideas and, pointing to the cups on the table before him, said while there are many cups in the world, there is only one 'idea' of a cup, and this cupness precedes the existence of all particular cups.
“I can see the cups on the table,” said Diogenes, “but I can’t see the 'cupness'”.
“That’s because you have the eyes to see the cup,” said Plato, “but”, tapping his head with his forefinger, “you don’t have the intellect with which to comprehend 'cupness’.”
Diogenes walked up to the table, examined a cup and, looking inside, asked, “Is it empty?” Plato nodded.
“Where is the 'emptiness' which precedes this empty cup?” asked Diogenes.
Plato allowed himself a few moments to collect his thoughts, but Diogenes reached over and, tapping Plato’s head with his finger, said “I think you will find here is the `emptiness’.
I honestly think 'cupness' includes all functions of 'cupness' which would include empty or full so Plato was definitely right. It's still pretty funny and coincidental in the scope of Zen Buddhism when he taps his mind.
This also seemed to have the same kind of flavor I've experienced when reading about Zen Masters.
A story is told about a philosopher of Ancient Greece, Diogenes of Synope. A religious man tried to convince Diogones that Poseidon was the great god of the sea by telling him miracle stores about the sailors who prayed to Poseidon and were saved from drowning. “Their pictures and stories are kept in the temple of Poseidon where everyone can see them,” the religious man added.
“And where,” asked Diogones, “do they keep the pictures of the sailors who prayed to Poseidon and drowned?”
Submitted July 31, 2017 at 09:50AM by ohmanchild http://ift.tt/2vavNG2
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