"As more rain cannot wash away the flood,
we cannot think our way out of trouble
that thinking got us into.”
(From: The Tzayings of Tzu © by C.W. Tzu)
Despite this internal wisdom, which arose after meditation several months ago, I continue to find the process of "thinking" an intrigue; one of the more eclectic thinkers of our age is Douglas Hofstadtner whose Pulitzer Prize winning Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid: A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll, recast every notion I held for the first forty years of my life. I recently re-read it in the 1999, 20th Anniversary edition. A few quotes here from the author regarding what I consider to be a pollination of the Lotus Sutra having taken root in oddly fertile soil.
As the author states: "I realized that to me, Gödel and Escher and Bach were only shadows cast in different directions by some central solid essence. I tried to reconstruct the central object, and came up with this book."
"GEB is a very personal attempt to say how it is that animate beings can come out of inanimate matter. What is a self, and how can a self come out of stuff that is as selfless as a stone or a puddle?"
"What is a self...?" Worthy contemplation for anyone seeking to achieve non-dual awareness.
Seeking commentary, I remain,
Absurdly connected to Mynd
C.W. Tzu
Dear Person:
I am considering the fact that your post on my most recent contribution to Fraught With Peril appears not to include hieroglyphs of any kind: this could be a most profound comment upon “self”; or, it could be a simple malfunction of technology.
Respectfully,
C.W. Tzu
"Now I am experiencing the Clear Light of objective reality. Nothing is happening, nothing ever has happened or ever will happen. My present sense of self, the voyager, is in reality the void itself, having no qualities or characteristics. I remember myself as the voyager, whose deepest nature is the Clear Light itself; I am one; there is no other. I am the voidness of the void, the eternal unborn, the uncreated, neither real nor unreal. All that I have been conscious of is my own play of consciousness, a dance of light, the swirling patterns of light in infinite extension, endless endlessness, the Absolute beyond change, existence, reality. I, the voyager, am inseparable from the Clear Light; I cannot be born, die, exist, or change. I know now that this is my true nature."
- American Book of the Dead
Barry:
...and a brilliant comment it is, which leads me back to another Tzuism which arose a few weeks ago...
"About consciousness:
( )
See?”
(From: The Tzayings of Tzu © by C.W. Tzu)
Posted by: C.W. Tzu at May 9, 2007 08:43 PMClown Hidden:
Worthy of Jed McKenna, from whose book "Spiritual Enlightenment--The Damnedest Thing" I abort here from memory:
"Well, there's Pretty Zen and Ugly Zen. Pretty Zen sells little, tabletop rock gardens with tiny rakes, and lovely booklets with flowered pages and pithy sayings. Ugly Zen hurts, and it burns the ego to ashes."
Posted by: C.W. Tzu at May 9, 2007 08:49 PMAh, but we need both the Pretty and the Ugly, don't we? If I practice Ugly Zen and my partner practices Pretty Zen, he can keep my ego ashes in a lovely little incense bowl adorned with cherry blossoms as additional altar adornment.
Posted by: Queen Lolo at May 10, 2007 08:25 AMMy Dear Queen Lolo:
if you practice Ugly Zen, the only partner you have is an old monk who comes in once a week to whack you on the head because you're still in the cave. The ashes of "I" are blown away when Autolysis is complete, and altars are unnecessary as you will be wandering the world emanating peace.
To Sonia--dated May 17, 2007...
If you are referring to the Fraught with Peril site, I am a humble member and had nothing to do with the design. If you mean my personal website at cwmetcalf.com, I would welcome any resources you might be willing to share.
Tzu
Posted by: C.W. Tzu at May 19, 2007 02:58 AMFor ygobradme qcoaz, posted on May 21, 2007
Tzu Tzes:
Ah, another cryptographer. Devised and written well but lacking in originality. May your thoughts truly belong only to you, for in the minds of others they might be called by psychiatric terms best left to your vivid imagination.
With Respect,
Tzu........(hdxwvkrts to you too).
You rose from meditation, thinking about thinking, isn't that a contradiction of sorts? You can't think about thinking, and you can't even think about it. What is outside of thinking, what is not-thinking, even asleep you are thinking, so did you really rise from meditation or did you think you were in mediation but actually were just in another thinking mode. Round and round she goes, where she stop no one knows or cares..
About the Lotus Sutra, don't make such a big tah dah , the whole concept is the secret, the Life Span of Buddha, the life span inherent in all life, that is what the Lotus Sutra is all about, its all it is about and I will debate anyone anywhere anyplace anytime about time, and there is no religious inference at all.
xxxxvccccetersdsdsxz
Maltz
To Elvis Maltz:
...thinking that brings Tzu to mind arises only after this little "i" returns to the world of senses, and yet, of course, you are right, it is all a monte carlo computer run....where she stops, nobody knows...
re: the lotus sutra: it is not the way of Tzu to debate, for such is the path of fools...one unlearns as one needs...may your needs never be met or met one morning when you slam your hand in a car door and come to know
no
thing....
Tzinzerely yourz
Tzu
To Chinese WonTon Tsu You,
I guess you missed my point because our thinking is not tuned to the same key, I am in the Florida Key and you are in the Spanish Key of C. It Sounded to me like you were stressing and amping out on the Lotus Sutra but excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, and accept my deepest and shallowest apologies,
Don't Be Cruel,
XXZZRIRUTUFHFHFHFHF
Maltz
Elviz...
we are in the same ci using different ears...
we amuze me and amuzement is as irreverent az it getz...zi?
NMRGK
Tzu is You 2
To MSG Tzu
I think they are putting some wacky tabacky in your Chinese food Mr T.. or you are just a legend in your own mind, that is if you can find it..
Suspicious Minds,
Maltz
ELVIZ!
Old Tzu been clean and sober for 25 years...guess we just have to go with "still crazy after all these years...?" Ooops, forgot I was talking with The King...wrong zong...mmmmm....I ain't nothin' but a pound dawg!
Truly enjoy your slip sliding away humor/sarcasm. Oh, and to help you out, sarcasm comes from the old Latin, meaning "to tear at flesh like a dog..." so, keep it light, Mr Sequin Pants....thanks for keeping my days light with your verbal flight...I offer three deep bows in your direction, and maybe a pie in the faze...
With Great Compassion and Respect,
Tzu
DUCK DUCK.. yes, when I hear a bow, I know someone just wants to raise their butt and shoot a pie, nice try but the bow goddess takes the form of a young woman. She is inhumanly tall and has an angular build, has no hair, but instead her head is covered in spines. Her droopy eyes are chalk-white. She has ruddy skin. She is usually portrayed as wearing an uncomplicated suit of armor that is mostly yellow in color, and which incorporates line-like designs. She carries a boomerang. She manifests in the hearts of would-be-heroes and warned me to move quickly from your bow, and close my nose.
Love Me Tender
xoxoxzzzz222000999666
Maltz
Oh, Tzhit...who would have thought you would be so well informed...all this stink for nothing. I am headed for heartbreak hotel...
Tzu loves you
po boy
Ahhhh within every stink is a Compassionate Human's Rune of Cleverness and an Insane Titan's Rune of Falling therefore I suggest before you take another bow and shoot a pie you don't forget the Buddha Buffer. I am afraid you lost your reservation at the Heartbreak Hotel, because you lost your heart.
Too Much
xxXX666XXxx
Maltz
Ah, Elviz...
seeking other zongz i ponder what you doing with that velvet hammer, rocky?
Tzu seekz only a calm passionate Möbius strip with thee and askz:
what are you doing wearing those steel-tipped blue suede boots which have dented my ancient ass?
Is it just that an eazy target beckons thee, and thou dost kick before you look?
Tzu
Posted by: C.W. Tzu at May 25, 2007 11:26 PMAh Tzu and Bless You,
Tzu actually means Bleu Tzu'ayed by the Environment Shu's. The Maltz gets gets no kick from you or champagne, but when I read your notes (except b flat) I am on the look out for a Karate Kick, Karate Chop, Lamb Chop or other Chinese take out.
Keep Wok'in your Beef Tzu,
copyleft the year of the Maltz
Happily the Schmaltz of Maltz and C.W. reminds me more of a Tom Robbins novel than a dialogue/jousting session on the Lotus Sutra or anything related. Although the Lamb Chop reference brought Sheri Lewis to mind, which if you ever watched her show in the early 90s will unfortunately remind you "This is a song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend, some people starting singing not knowing what it was, and we'll continue singing it because... because... because... This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend..."
Posted by: queen lolo at May 26, 2007 04:48 PMSWEET LOLO:
WELL, IF THE SCHMALTZ DOES NOT SEEM TO GET THE TOM ROBBINS ANGLE, AT LEAST YOU DO...EVEN TZU GIRLS GET THE BLUES...
(OH, HOW DEARLY I RECALL LAMBCHOP....THAT LITTLE HAND PUPPET MADE ME AN EARLY VEGITARIAN! (Ah, but then turkey bacon came along, and it's been downhill from there).
Tzu lovz You Queen Lolo
Posted by: C.W. Tzu at May 26, 2007 07:15 PMTZU TO ALL
WHO IS THIS PETER, PETER, PUMPKIN BEATER AND HOW DID HE GET HERE WITH HIS OFFERING OF ALMS BEARING INTEREST?
ANYONE HELP ME TO FORGIVE HIM/IT?
AH TZU
BLESSESS YOU
C.W.:
Farewell, my old friend. I hope the "bus to lightland" is the scenic route.
Charles
Posted by: Charles at June 8, 2007 07:00 AM