Karcher Pressure Washer

Hagar

I was pressure washing a wall today with a Karcher when a story about a monk washing a bowl came into my head unexpectedly. The monk said it was important when washing the bowl to only wash the bowl and not to anticipate the tea you would have later. He said it took him longer to do it this way. He was right, it does take longer but to only pressure wash a wall is very cathartic for both the person and the wall. I have never cleaned a wall so well nor felt so relaxed.

RossFixxxed

You are the LAST person I expected to see that from! :P

Seriously though its something I have to keep on reminding myself of time and time again! It's too easy to perform tasks without just focusing, one thing at a time, no looking forward.

r

Hagar

RossFixxxed wrote: »

You are the LAST person I expected to see that from! :P

Seriously though its something I have to keep on reminding myself of time and time again! It's too easy to perform tasks without just focusing, one thing at a time, no looking forward.

r

Humour is a fine tool to expose the ridiculousness of the transient things that people take so seriously. Sometimes the only way is to have an inner self and an outer self and only reveal glimpses of one. One side of me cultivates Atihasita for my fellows but the other more subtle side slips in Sita now and again so that Buddha might smile also. If he can hear my prayers he can hear my quips, at least I imagine he can.

D. T. Suzuki once said, "Zen is the only religion or teaching that finds room for laughter." R.H. Blyth also said, "the essence of Zen is humour." From a Western standpoint, and even from a traditional Buddhist standpoint, attributing the comic with the sacred seems sacrilegious. G. F. Meier, a German philosopher, warned that we should not jest about things that are serious. Thus, associating a religion like Zen with laughter is a definite problem for some. In no other major religion do we see such a reliance on humor. As Christmas Humphreys remarked, "There is more honest 'belly-laugher' in a Zen monastery than surely in any other religious institution on earth."
Associating laughter with religion was even a problem for early Buddhist scholastics. Laughter was thought to be something common, even vulgar. Some see the comic as a distraction from the seriousness of religion, while others view it as adding "spice to the rice," so to speak. Thus, Buddhist scholastics preferred to disassociate the Buddha's teachings from laughter. However, there was a problem: many sutras say or imply that the Buddha would laugh on occassion. How could this discrepancy be resolved? Bharata, during the fourth century in India, wrote a theatrical treatise that remedied this by differentiating between the different types of laughter, as diagrammed below:

Sita - highest and noblest form, a faint smile - High castes, authority figures

Hasita - next highest form, a smile which barely reveals the tips of the teeth - High castes, authority figures

Vihasita - an even larger smile accompanied by some laughter - Middle ranks

Upahasita - a more pronounced laughter, marked by shaking of the head, shoulders, and arms - Middle ranks

Apahasita - loud laughter that makes one teary-eyed - Lower castes, people of unruly or uncouth behaviour

Atihasita - uproarious laughter that makes one double over, slap the thighs, or roll around - Lower castes, people of unruly or uncouth behaviour


I hope my posts are acceptable. If not point me on the right path, if you know it.

bou

<Singing> Always look on the bright side of life...

RossFixxxed

Ah man I've been years at this and it's really 1 step forward 400 backwards. And sometimes backwards is the right way to go.

It's all very simple yet so complicated.

I get into the moment but sometimes the 'ego', 'I' etc bounces right back 10 times harder! It's disconcerting.

One thing at a time, full awareness to each task. I need to staple that to my forehead!

I'm definitely the last person to give advice I'm afraid! R

Hagar

Simple but complicated is a great explanation.

Does any one else have this problem with the Sanskrit names? The names put me off, When I'm reading something and come up against Cakkavatti Sutta, Patika Vagga, Dighanikaya I loose the train of thought I had trying pronounce the name. I can't skip the words because I feel bound to read them somehow. Sounds stupid I know, but it has a real impact on my reading. If only I could find some books that just gave you the texts without author references it would make for easier reading.

RossFixxxed

Like any area it ends up shrouded in jargon. It can be very frustrating to plough through, especially unpronouncable. In Nepal a sherpa told me to ignore any language that gets in the way of the message. Seems good advice! It's oh you need an RS232, rather than oh you need a printer cable really!

I find I need to read it written by a few different people to find someone that writes it in a way that *I* can understand!

R

Hagar

RossFixxxed wrote: »

I find I need to read it written by a few different people to find someone that writes it in a way that *I* can understand!

That's what I try to do, but sometimes I wonder am I picking a particular script because it agrees with a pre-concieved notion I have.

RossFixxxed

I'd say in my case about 60% is preconceived notions. But there are passages/books etc that just ring true to me sometimes, the hairs on your neck stand up and you know there is something in there... .following it is a very different story though!

r

Asiaprod

Hagar wrote: »

That's what I try to do, but sometimes I wonder am I picking a particular script because it agrees with a pre-concieved notion I have.

You may be picking up a particular script because you resonate with it, or it with you. Or that script may be special to you at that time. In relation to remembering all the name, I have been at this for 24 year and I never remember the names. But then I don't feel I need to, I need to remember the message;)

Oh, and welcome to our neck of the woods.