Roshi Philip Kapleau | Zen Bow | Winter 2018, Vol. XL, No. 4, rzc.org
Shōkei (Andreas Praefcke/Wiki)
Here is a vintage koan ("public case") commentary by the Rochester Zen Center’s founder, the late American Roshi Philip Kapleau.
Mumonkan, Number 14. [Itpresages countless college discussions about Schrodinger's cat below.]
The Case
Once the monks of the Western and Eastern Halls were arguing about a cat. Nansen, holding up the cat, said: “You monks! If you can say a word of Zen, I will spare the cat. Otherwise, I will kill it!”
No one could answer, so Nansen cut the cat in two. That evening, when Joshu returned, Nansen told him of the incident. Joshu thereupon took off his sandal, put it on his head, and walked off.
Nansen said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been saved!”
The Commentary
Just say, what is the real meaning of Joshu’s putting his sandal on his head? If you can give a turning word on this point, you will see that Nansen’s action was not in vain. But if not, beware!
The Verse
Had Joshu only been there,
he would have taken charge.
He would have snatched away the sword,
and Nansen would have begged for his life.
Roshi Kapleau: The two protagonists of this koan, Nansen (748-835) and Joshu, are two of the great masters in Zen. Nansen (Chinese Nanchuan) was the teacher of Joshu (Chinese Zhaozhou). Nansen in turn was a disciple of the great Baso (Chinese Mazu). More: rzc.org
In this thought experiment, a hypothetical cat (and not the precious companion of Wisdom Quarterly's companion fish, Captain Shiny Sides, no relation to Hecklefish Moriarty of The Why Files) in a closed box may be considered to be simultaneously both alive and dead until it is observed, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. The thought experiment, viewed this way, is described as a paradox.
It is not alive but not quite dead?
It was devised by physicist Dr. Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 [1] in a discussion with Albert Einstein [2] to illustrate what Schrödinger saw as the problems (inconsistencies and contradictions) of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.
In Schrödinger's original formulation, a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box.
If an internal radiation monitor, such as a Geiger counter, detects radioactivity (a single atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the poison, which kills the cat.
But if no decaying atom triggers the monitor, the cat remains alive.
The Copenhagen interpretation implies that the cat is therefore simultaneously both alive and dead.
Yet, when one finally looks in the box, one sees that the cat is either alive or dead, not both alive and dead.
This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality resolves into one possibility or the other. More
Most people don't get Schrodinger's Cat (including you?)
Looking Glass Universe, Nov. 7, 2024; Roshi Kapleau, Rochester Zen Center (rzc.org); Brian Cox via Explainify; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Schrödinger's cat: A thought experiment in quantum mechanics
(TED-Ed) Oct. 14, 2014: View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/schrodinger... Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, posed this famous question: "If you put a cat in a sealed box with a [radioactive] device that has a 50% chance of killing the cat in the next hour, what will be the state of the cat when that time is up? Chad Orzel investigates this thought experiment. Lesson by Chad Orzel. Animation by Agota Vegso.
I misunderstood Schrödinger's cat thought experiment for years (Now, I finally get it!)
When will cat lovers strike back?
(FloatHeadPhysics) Why is Schrödinger's cat both dead and alive? It's not! This video looks at what quantum superposition is (and is not). How many mental cats must be mutilated and die in these gruesome thought experiments, which lead to real-life desensitization, vivisection (painful experiments and mutilation of living animals, just as dissection is the cutting up of dead ones), and the "sacrificing" (a euphemism for execution of living subjects after an experiment is concluded and every participant must be murdered to clean up). Though scientists go home and pet their spouse's kitties, at work, dressed in white (lab coats) like a priestly class, they callously commit excruciating atrocities in the name of research and their religion, Science (Scientism).
This is not limited to science. There is a shocking Japanese Buddhist koan (riddle, paradox, lit. "case") about a cat.
Nansen Kills the Cat: a vintage koan
Roshi Philip Kapleau (Zen Bow | Winter 2018, Vol. XL, No. 4, a vintage koan commentary by the Rochester Zen Center’s late founder) edited by Wisdom Quarterly
(Shōkei Andreas Praefcke/Wiki)
Mumonkan Number 14: THE CASE: Once the monks of the Western and Eastern Halls were arguing about a cat. Nansen, holding up the cat, said, “You monks, if you can say a word of Zen, I will spare the cat. Otherwise, I will kill it!”
No one could answer, so Nansen sliced the cat in two.
That evening, when Joshu returned, Nansen told him of the incident. Joshu thereupon took off his sandal, put it on his head, and walked off.
Nansen said, “If you had been there, the cat would have been saved!”
Only riddles and koans. No answers anywhere!
THE COMMENTARY: Just say, what is the real meaning of Joshu’s putting his sandal on his head? If you can give a turning word on this point, you will see that Nansen’s action was not in vain. But if not, beware!
THE VERSE: Had Joshu only been there, he would have taken charge. He would have snatched away the sword, and Nansen would have begged for his life. The two protagonists of this koan, Nansen and Joshu, are two of the great masters in Zen.
Nansen was the teacher of Joshu (Chinese Zhaozhou). Nansen (Chinese Nanchuan) in turn was a disciple of the great Baso (Chinese Mazu).
Nansen’s dates are 748 to 835. He had his head shaved at the age of 9, and at 30 took full ordination vows and devoted himself to Buddhist study for several years.
Finally, he knocked on the door of Zen Master Baso and “forgot all that he had previously learned.” At 47, in the year 795, Nansen built with his own hands a retreat hut on Mount Nansen, from which he took his name.
One of his disciples was the governor of the province, and there’s an intriguing mondo between the two. After the governor had had dokusan with Nansen, Nansen said to him, “When you return to your office in the city, how will you rule the people?”
The answer was, “I will use wisdom to govern them.”
Nansen said, “In that case, every last one of them will suffer.”
What we see here is a sense of self-intentionality which, on the face of it, seems to be a very fine thing: to endeavor to govern with wisdom, compassion. But once you talk about it, it’s already gone. You’re already assured that there won’t be any wisdom or compassion.
You don’t need to set about to govern with wisdom or compassion if you just govern fully, put yourself wholly into any activity: nothing held back, without any notions of being wise or being this or being that. The action will be a true action.
We all have this compassion and innate wisdom, this prajna wisdom, that will emerge once we remove the obstacles to its functioning. More: Rochester Zen Center (rzc.org)
CHAPTERS
00:00 The big misconception about Schrödinger's cat
02:24 A deep perspective on the electron double slit experiment
09:12 An inconceivable tool of the 21st century
10:48 What is quantum superposition (not)?
12:52 Are probability waves real?
14:14 Quantum superposition and measurement
16:42 Electron spin quantum superposition
17:37 The real meaning of Schrödinger's cat!
18:54 How quantum superposition gives us life [because the covalent bonds to form H20 are in superposition and not otherwise interacting]
SPONSOR: This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Head to squarespace.com/floatheadphysics to save 10% off first purchase of a website or domain using code FLOATHEADPHYSICS
Float Head (FloatHeadPhysics, YouTube, Aug. 23, 2024); Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The Simpsons; Kat Tenbarge, NBC News; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Mickey Mouse copyright expiration inspires horror movies, video games, and memes
Don't touch my patent or I'll sue.
The cartoon rat "Mickey Mouse" will finally appear in new, non-Disney creative works after 95 years of copyright protection of the character expired on Jan. 1, 2024.
With this, early versions of Mickey Mouse are now part of the public domain and non-Disney creators can use them in their own for-profit works (like that time The Simpsons made a Steamboat Willie knockoff segment).
Just in the last two days, independent video game creators and film directors have announced two horror movies and a video game featuring the character, while memes are spreading online showing Mickey in absurd and inappropriate scenes, including nautical accidents and terrorist attacks.
Mickey Hitler fights for Israel, and Donald Hamas gets slaughtered and eaten? The quick capitalization on Mickey’s updated copyright status is the most recent example of how iconic pieces of intellectual property can be quickly remixed and recycled in the digital age for art and profit. Let's hope that rappers don't start drawing comic strips or else it may invent a whole new genre of cartooning that takes over the world.
1928’s “Steamboat Willie” and “Plane Crazy” were the first two Walt Disney Animation releases to feature Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and the former was the first moving picture synced to sound.
The characters were first protected under U.S. copyright law for 50 years, then Disney campaigned for and received extensions to further capitalize on the invention against the interests of everyone else.
As Disney’s grip on the intellectual property rights surrounding the earliest versions of Mickey Mouse have come to an end, creators have poked fun at the numerous possibilities that could come from the change. More
My Life Online, May 23, 2021; Pat Macpherson, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Cult or Commune: Inside "The Garden" | My Life Online
(VICE) In this episode of My Life Online, VICE dives into the world of “CultTok" -- Tiktok’s obsession with cults.
After more than a decade of operating as a small off-the-grid farm, The Garden decided to try to attract more people to their commune by using TikTok, and they went viral.
A few days later, TikTok is filled with amateur detectives dedicated to exposing The Garden as a dangerous cult. But was The Garden a cult? Or was it just an online witch hunt? VICE takes a close look behind the hysteria. Read more: vice.com/en/article/5db35...
ABOUT: VICE is the Definitive Guide to Enlightening Information. From every corner of the planet, our immersive, caustic, ground-breaking, and often bizarre stories have changed the way people think about culture, crime, art, parties, fashion, protest, the internet, and other subjects that don't even have names yet. Browse the growing library and discover corners of the world one never knew existed. Welcome to VICE.
Connect with VICE:
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What young women believe about their own sexual pleasure | Peggy Orenstein
"I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world," says plastic surgery-loving Valeria Lukyanova, Ukraine.
.
(TED) Why do girls feel empowered to engage in sexual activity but not to enjoy it? For three years, author Peggy Orenstein interviewed American girls ages 15 to 20 about their attitudes toward and experiences of sex.
It's a Barbie world so I'm a Barbie girl.
She discusses the pleasure that's largely missing from their sexual encounters and calls on us to close the "orgasm gap" by talking candidly with our girls from an early age about sex, bodies, pleasure, and intimacy.
NOTE: Comments are disabled for this video because YouTube's comment moderation tools are not up to the task of maintaining a quality discourse here. All are welcome and invited to comment on the talk at TED.com (go.ted.com/Cy26).
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment, and Design (T.E.D.) -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts, and more. Twitter, Facebook, subscribe to channel: TED.
(V Movies) UFOs are real. Governmental and military forces on Earth know it. Explore hidden and suppressed information about the strangest and most fantastic UFO incidents in history. Be amazed and bewildered by countless UFO sightings by highly credible witnesses that defy explanation. UFOs are here whether we like it or not, and their technology far exceeds our own. If they decide to take over the human race, there is little governments and militarys can do about it. Learn about the deception and cover-up of UFOs. Everything we've been told about space aliens and UFOs is a LIE. Learn facts they DON'T want us to know.
ABOUT: Welcome to V Movies, the fastest growing YouTube channel for new, full-length movies, posted every day: action, thrillers, horror, sci-fi, and much more. All movies on this channel have been legally licensed to V Movies from distributors, filmmakers, and content owners. For copyright concerns, please write: info@vchannelsmedia.com.
V Movies is part of the V Channels Media Group. If you are a filmmaker and want your movie to be featured on V Movies and earn money, too? Drop them an email: distribution@vchannelsmedia.com today. V Movies is part of Greater Fool Network creators.greaterfool.tv.
Cattle mutilations and beyond: John Lear and "the grand deception" - Part 3
(8 News NOW Las Vegas) Nov. 11, 2019. Investigative journalist George Knapp sits down with the great whistleblower John Lear (who flew for the CIA and lived to tell about it). Their discussion is about the UFO-related phenomenon of cattle mutilations and beyond: John Lear and 'the grand deception' - Part 3.
We'd like to believe Dr. Steven Greer, MD, that all or even the majority of our space relatives are benign and even beneficent. They made us -- sort of, not in an ultimate sense, but these bodies we walk around in on this planet in this evolutionary process. We existed long before in other forms, in the vastness of vastness of what the Dharmic religions call samsara, the endless Wheel of Rebirth. With no discernible beginning and no "end" in sight other than spiritual liberation (moksha), we will carry on, suffering (always dissatisfied and unfulfilled), craving this and that experience, searching for it here and there, through sensual planes like the one we're on, through more sensual fine-material planes (heavenly paradises), and even through supersensual/immaterial worlds, which exist above the tangible and ethereal worlds. (See the 31 Planes of Existence for the simple categorization of innumerable worlds the Buddha spoke about).
Missing 411: UFO connection
Last night on Coast to Coast, former police detective and current paranormal investigator Dave Paulides was on talking about his Missing 411 series. He's come to a conclusion about who or what has been abducting victims in the national parks and around the world in the woods and wildernesses. Rather than a serial killer or Sasquatch (Bigfoot), which may account for a small fraction of the cases, it has been UFOs/ETs. Hear the show at Coast to Coast's website (coasttocoastam.com) or on YouTube at their official page. This sounds like a crackpot conclusion, but if readers know anything about Paulides, he's anything but a crackpot. He has very compelling evidence for finally concluding what has been going on and what's behind the abductions and missing person reports he and his team have compiled.
Al Jazeera English, Head to Head, 5/16/16; Ashley Wells, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Do Arab men hate women?
(AJ English) "Why do they hate us?" With these five words in a controversial magazine article for Foreign Policy, Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy shot to fame, unleashing a devastating critique of women’s rights in the Arab world.
In the season premiere of Head to Head, interviewer Mehdi Hasan challenges Eltahawy on her views regarding the status of women in Arab states.
Are Arab or Muslim societies inherently patriarchal an sexist? And how does the narrative of Islam as sexist play into geo-politics and Western stereotypes of the Middle East?
Joining the discussion is Dr. Aitemad Muhanna of the London School of Economics’ Middle East Centre; self-proclaimed progressive Imam Dr. Taj Hargey; and Dr. Shuruq Naguib, a British-Egyptian academic from Lancaster University.
Don't mutilate me: "I'm not a vagina!" (sign photographed at npa2009.org)
.
Ruling in female genital mutilation case shocks women's advocates
MINNEAPOLIS, USA - Women's
rights advocates said they were shocked when a federal judge in Michigan
ruled this week that a law protecting girls from female genital mutilation (FGM/C) was
unconstitutional.
They called his decision a serious blow to girls'
rights. Legal experts said the judge made clear that U.S. states have
authority to ban the practice, though only about half do.
[Meanwhile, male genital mutilation, which removes the most sensitive part of the male body, is glorified under the label "medical procedure," "circumcision," barbaric Jewish religious practice, and "cosmetic improvement," even though the ancient Greeks, whose beauty was made famous in classic Western sculpture, did no such thing to their males. Make the practice illegal!]
FBI agents leave the office of Dr. Fakhruddin Attar at the Burhani
Clinic in Livonia, Michigan, after completing a search for documents. A
federal judge dismissed some charges Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, against
eight people, including two doctors, in the genital mutilation of nine
girls at the suburban Detroit clinic, finding it's up to states rather
than Congress to regulate the practice (Clarence Tabb Jr. /Detroit News
via AP, File).
Here is a look at the ruling, which dismissed
several charges against a doctor accused of cutting nine girls in three
states as part of a religious custom, and what could happen next.
THE
RULING, SIMPLIFIED
Naked protest in public: egg plop red paint vaginal art, Milo Moire (onesmallseed.com)
.
What the!?!
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala was among eight people charged
in federal court in Michigan in connection with the genital mutilation
of nine girls from Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois between 2015 and
2017.
Authorities alleged that mothers brought their girls to Dr. Nagarwala
when they were roughly 7 years old for the procedure.
Dr. Nagarwala has denied any crime was committed and
said she performed a religious custom on girls from her Muslim sect, the
India-based Dawoodi Bohra.
On Tuesday (Nov. 20, 2018), [male] U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman threw out mutilation and conspiracy charges against all the
defendants.
He ruled that a 1996 federal law that bans female genital
mutilation was unconstitutional because Congress didn't have the power
to regulate the behavior in the first place. More
Global Citizen; Julia Lalla-Maharajh (TEDx); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit
This can't be real for 200 million females!
Female genital mutilation or FGM/c is also called "female circumcision" and "female genital cutting."
It is the ritual of cutting (actually mutilating) or removing (excising) all or part of the external female genitalia including the most sensitive -- and arguably the most precious -- part of the female body responsible for most orgasms: the clitoris.
This barbaric practice is found in the USA, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and within communities from countries in which FGM/c is common. UNICEF estimated in 2016 that 200 million women living today in 30 countries -- 27 African countries, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Yemen -- have undergone the procedures.
Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade, FGM/c is conducted from days after birth to puberty and beyond.
How to end FGM/c in our lifetime
(TEDx Talks) How to end female genital cutting in our lifetime by Julia Lalla-Maharajh, TEDx London Business School, May 31, 2016. By sharing her passionate fight to end this taboo, Julia lifts the lid on how social change happens and explores how radical shifts can lead to extraordinary results. Through her time spent volunteering in Ethiopia, Julia Lalla-Maharajh had a first-hand glimpse into the devastating practice of female genital cutting. Deeply affected, Julia founded the Orchid Project, where she worked on the ground in Senegal and The Gambia and witnessed an incredible grassroots movement of communities choosing not to cut their daughters. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
In half the countries for which national figures are available, most girls are cut before the age of 5. Procedures differ according to the country or ethnic group.
In this last procedure, known as "infibulation," a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid. Later, the vagina is further mutilated by being cut open for intercourse and opened further for childbirth.
It is usually initiated and carried out by women, who see it as a source of honor and fear that failing to have their daughters and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion. More
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In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment (just as koans are like more shocking than historical reporting) concerning quantum superposition.%20dead%20cat.jpg)
