Reason is ultimately a subset of pretend. Sure, it has its place, but does it pass the gateless gate?

Are we to assume the same constructs upon which reason is based apply to the world? If I take one pound of flax away from three, I am left with two pounds, but how does that apply to a world where there is no merit, a world where there is no attainment, a world where there never was an issue with not two or not one except in the same head that invented reason?

Are we going to project reason on the world now, are we going to claim that the world operates on certain fixed rules, are we going to pick and chose a set of philosophical or scientific or religious principles upon which we place our faith? Do we still harbor a set of constructs upon which we test for the difference between shit and Shinola?

This is an old debate that goes back to Zongmi calling Mazu a slacker (poetic license suspended!). Because, reasonably thinking, if you don't have a plan, a clearly marked path, a set of criteria upon which to differentiate enlightenment from delusion, then your hangout under the oak tree is a place where slackers can pretend to be enlightened.

But Mazu did not have the issues that Zongmi wanted to ascribe to him. There was in fact a criteria by which Mazu could tell shit from Shinola. It just wasn't a linear extension of anything that Zongmi had an appreciation for. Mazu had not built a nest, but nor was he unbalanced. He had simply realized that he had never left home and didn't need to pretend otherwise, or unwittingly count on a set of preconceptions that he couldn't be bothered to check out. Not a reasonable man. Those slaps and sticks aren't some invented prop for a quaint set of so called iconoclasts. They aren't even expedient means. They are plain expression for where other expressions cannot go, but they are still drenched in non-verbal clues. On social media, in the absence of the old ways with the non-verbal content, we watch people get whipsawed with the anguish of identity and butt hurt with insults, outrage, character assassinations, disillusionment, and taking offense. Who said zen wasn't ornery :)

Submitted September 30, 2020 at 06:07AM by rockytimber https://ift.tt/33c0kDA