Zen: ordering life Taoist way (Lao Tzu)

(Flowing Void) The simple path to put our life in order again | Taoist Wisdom

Zen Comics (Ioanna Salajan)

The root of Zen "Buddhism": Taoism is a philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao 道, the way of non-interference, going with the flow.

With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, Tao has been translated as "way," "road," "path," "technique," generally understood as "natural," an enigmatic process of transformation underlying ultimate reality [2, 3].

Where Chinese came from: DNA evidence

(Asian Ancestry) Scientists compared Chinese DNA to every ancient civilization -- one matched!

Zen Comics (I. Salajan)

Taoist thought and tradition have informed the development of various practices like Zen, including forms of meditation (cultivation), astrology, qigong (moving chi), feng shui (arrangement of our environment), and internal alchemy [4].

A common goal of Taoist practice is self-cultivation, a deeper appreciation of the Tao (akin to the Vedic concept of Brahman, GOD, or Nature), and a more harmonious existence.

Taoist ethics generally emphasize virtues of effortless action (wu wei), naturalness (ziran), simplicity, and the three treasures of compassion, frugality, and humility. [It seems that most of what Western practitioners is Zen Buddhism is actually rooted in Taoism and Confucianism.] More

• Yellow River Civilization
• Yellow River, China

Chinese Buddhism is a blend of three traditions

The Yellow River Civilization (黃河文明 or Huanghe Valley Civilization): Hwan‐huou Civilization is an ancient [proto-] Chinese civilization that prospered in the middle and lower basin of the Yellow River [1]. Agriculture (particularly millet cultivation) was started in the flood plain of the Yellow River, and before long, through flood control and the irrigation of the Yellow River, cities were developed and political power found reinforcement. One of the "four major civilizations of the ancient world," it is often included in textbooks of East Asian history. But the idea of including only the Yellow River Civilization as one of the four biggest ancient civilizations has become outdated as a result of the discovery of other early cultures in China, such as the Yangtze and Liao civilizations. The area saw the Yangshao and Longshan cultures of the Neolithic era and developed into the bronze ware culture of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. More

• Meditation traditional photos - download free high-quality pictures | Magnific (formerly Freepik)

What's wrong with Alan Watts?

(T&H - Inspiration & Motivation) Who are you? - Alan Watts on the illusion of thoughts

(Frank Philosophy) The problem with Alan Watts

• Divine play/drama: lila (Hinduism)
• The cosmic illusion: maya (religion)
• The True GOD: Brahman (Monad)
• Syncretism: mish mash smorgasbord
• Voice of Zen Buddhism Alan Watts is wrong?

This yin yang is Taoist, useful in Zen ideas

Q: Wisdom Quarterly, what religion was Alan Watts?

A: While he speaks like a Hindu professing Advaita Vedanta at every turn, and often explains Zen and Mahayana concepts quite nicely, with a grasp of Theravada, by his own admission he seemed to love Taoism best of all, although born Christian and ordained as an Episcopalian priest rather than a Buddhist monk as was his early ambition in the Buddhist Society of London with Christmas Humphreys and other prominent Western Buddhists. He was an early voice in the West for explaining and interpreting Eastern philosophy for Western ears, particularly those of Beats and Hippies, remarkably ahead of his time, openminded, and quite a New Ager. We love him because he has been with us all of our adult lives through Berkeley's KPFA FM, KQED (TV), and he continues to inspire through KPFK FM in Los Angeles (Sunday mornings at 8:00 am and Thursdays at midnight) and the invaluable preservation work of Roy of Hollywood Tuckman.

(Simply Art - Inspire) Alan Watts: What if I am God but only pretending to be a human?

Who's my true SELF, false self? (Alan Watts)

Duncan Trussell deleted himself (ego death) from existence on 5-MeO-DMT (Tales From the Trip)

(Occaro Wisdom) The Hidden Cost of Esoteric Knowledge

• WARNING: "A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow thoughts intoxicate the brain" - the Great Alexander Pope (reddit)

O, those Greeks of Macedonia were something

This is in reference to the spring in the Pierian Mountains in Macedonia, sacred to the Muses. The first line of this couplet is often misquoted as "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

In Greek mythology, the "Pierian Spring" of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia was sacred to the mythological Pierides and the Muses. As the metaphorical source of knowledge of art and science, it was popularized by a couplet in Pope's 1711 poem An Essay on Criticism:

Alexander Pope "high" on his Muse

A little learning is a dang'rous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts [sips] intoxicate the brain,

And drinking [more medicine] largely sobers us again.

Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts,

In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts;

While from the bounded level of our mind

Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind,

But, more advanced, behold with strange surprise

New distant scenes of endless science rise!

So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,

Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky;

The eternal snows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last;

But those attained, we tremble to survey

The growing labors of the lengthened way;

The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,

Hills peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

(After Skool)

I don't know what I'm supposed to think.

Alan Watts, what is The Self (Ego), the True Self, False Self, Higher Self, Eternal Atman, Soul, Invisible Spirit (Prana, the Pneuma, Holy Spirit), Immortal Essence, Sine Qua Non of Me, Myself, and I?

Who am "I"?

• Wisdom Quarterly says there is "NO self."
• WQ says no such thing. What we say is that, in an ultimate sense, "self" (soul, ego, atman, atta, spirit) is impersonal.
• So there IS a "self"?
• In a conventional sense, of course there is! How else would we live in a squiggly universe without a sense of our boundaries demarcating where we end and others start?
• Oh, so I don't have to give everything away, join a commune, and do whatevers my Guru tells me to?
• Ugh, no, you do not. Be yourself. Think. Practice. Buddhism only makes sense for those who practice the Dhamma, not the debaters or scholars of it.

Joe Rogan: some "drugs" are not drugs

Catholic Joe Rogan's epic rant on psychedelics (After Skool animation)

Been Dazed 'n Confused for so long it's not true

Led Zeppelin "Dazed and Confused" live on tour in USA (The Song Remains the Same)

DMT on LSD: Reptilian transformation

(Animated) Psyched Substance smoked DMT while on LSD

(Acid) and found his "True Self" | Tales From the Trip

Ego death is good?

Wait, then, so I'm as "real" as this chair? - Yes.

EGO DEATH is a "complete loss of subjective self-identity" [1]. The term is used in various contexts, with related meanings.

The 19th-century psychologist and philosopher William James uses the synonymous term "self-surrender." Jungian psychology uses the synonymous term "psychic death," referring to a fundamental transformation of the psyche (soul) [2].

So I can be responsible with a career? - Yes.

In death and rebirth explanations, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition [3, 4, 5, 6] as described by mythologist Joseph Campbell in his research on the "Hero's Journey" [3].

It is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary Western thinking [6].

• The Default Mode Network: Ego Death and Psychedelic States | Neural Ego – Nicole's ritual universe

What if I can't get it to stop?

In descriptions of drugs, the term is used synonymously with "ego loss" [7, 8, 1, 9] to refer to temporary loss of one's sense of having a self due to the use or abuse of drugs [10, 11, 1], be they negative (deluded) hallucinogens or positive (pro-realization) entheogens.

The term was used as such by Harvard Dr. Timothy Leary and others [1] to describe the death of the ego [12] in the first phase of an LSD trip, in which a "complete transcendence" of the self [Note 1] occurs.

Did the Grateful Dead know about this?

The concept is also used in contemporary New Age spirituality and in the modern understanding of ancient Eastern religions (such as Nondualism/Advaita/Oneness) to describe a permanent loss of "attachment to a separate sense of self" [Web 1] and self-centeredness [13] (egoism, egotism, selfishness, conceit).

This kind of conception is a part of Eckhart Tolle's Buddhist-like teachings, where Ego is presented as an accumulation of thoughts and emotions, continuously identified with [and clung to], which creates the idea and feeling of being a separate entity from one's self, and only by disidentifying one's consciousness from it can one truly be free from suffering [14]. More

Life: break us to wake us? DRUNK

(T&H Inspiration & Motivation) I was disgusted, busted, and not to be trusted. I was a drunkard, an alcoholic. I wasted 33 years of my life in my head before Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins explained this

I'm going to go divinely mad: LOVE

Is this song real? First reaction to Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused"

Alan Watts: DIVINE MADNESS love, surrender, and sanity of insanity

The incessant chatter of the Self

(Alan Watts Echoes) The one idea that ends anxiety forever

Alan Watts: self, no-self, who controls me?

Alan Watts: Myth of Myself (full lecture), Part 1

Can I choose to sit and see for myself?

(Alan Watts Organization Official) Jan. 23, 2020) Purchase talks and lectures by Alan Watts: "The Works." THE WORKS OF ALAN WATTS AUDIO: alanwatts.com/products/the-works. Thanks for supporting the Alan Watts Organization. Please consider subscribing and turning on notifications for future publications. More about "The Works": The Works includes the following recordings: Essential Lectures Collection... (Official Alan Watts Org) Myth of Myself full lecture, Pt. 1

Choosing self over others is not selfish

(Alan Watts Echoes) Skin encapsulated ego

(Wiara) Let go of trying to control everything. Why?

Wabi-sabi: Perfection of Imperfections

(T&H Inspiration & Motivation) What is the most skillful art? Noninterference, flowing, surfing

The art of golden joinery

More beautiful for being broken? (Etsy)

Kintsugi (Japanese 金継ぎ, lit. "golden joinery," also known as kintsukuroi, 金繕い, "golden repair" [1]) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with golden urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with actual powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

• A crack in a vessel is not a mistake, not an error, but rather a means of allowing light in.
• "NO-MIND" (Japanese mushin, Chinese 無心, wúxīn, Sanskrit acitta, acittika, acintya, nirvikalpa) is a mental state that is important in East Asian religions, Asian culture, and the arts. The idea is discussed in classic Zen (Chan) Buddhist texts, described as "the experience of an instantaneous severing of thought that occurs in the course of a thoroughgoing pursuit of a Buddhist meditative exercise" [1, 2].
• It is not necessarily a total absence of thinking, however. Instead, it can refer to an absence of clinging, conceptual proliferation (cycling through an endless hamster wheel), or being stuck in thought [1].
• Chinese Buddhist texts also link this experience with Buddhist metaphysical concepts, like Buddha-nature and Dharmakaya. The term is also found in Taoist literature, including the Zhuangzi. This idea eventually influenced other aspects of Asian culture and the arts. Thus, the effortless state of "no mind" (flow state) is one cultivated by poets, artists, craftspeople, performers, and trained martial artists, who may not even think it is associated with Buddhism or Taoism [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. More: No-mind

The method is similar to the maki-e technique [2, 3, 4]. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something to disguise [5] or hide.

History

Let's have a tea party with fine China, not wood

Kintsugi became closely associated with ceramic vessels used for chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) [3].

On the one hand, one theory is that kintsugi may have originated when Japanese shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs in the late 15th century.

When it was returned, repaired with crude metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetically pleasing means of repair [2].

On the other hand, according to Bakōhan Saōki (record of tea-bowl with a "large-locust" clamp), such "ugliness" was considered inspirational and Zen-like, as it connoted beauty in broken things.

Goryeo ewer with gold repair spout/handle (20th cent)

The bowl thus became highly valued due to the large metal staples, which looked like a locust, and the bowl was named 'bakōhan ("large-locust clamp") [6]. Collectors became so enamored of the new art that some were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the gold seams of kintsugi.

It is also possible that a pottery piece was chosen for deformities it had acquired during production, then deliberately broken and repaired, instead of being discarded [2].

The technique of kintsugi was also applied to ceramic pieces with origins outside of Japan, including China, Vietnam, and Korea [7].

 

Wabi-sabi, philosophy of embracing flaws and imperfections

As a philosophy, kintsugi is similar to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect [8, 9]. Japanese aesthetics values marks of wear from the use of an object.

• WABI-SABI (侘び寂び) in traditional Japanese aesthetics centers on the Buddhist acceptance of transience and imperfection [2]. It is often described as the appreciation of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" [3]. It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art [4, 5]. Wabi-sabi combines two interrelated concepts, wabi (侘) and sabi (寂). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wabi may be translated as "subdued, austere beauty," and sabi as "rustic patina" [6]. Wabi-sabi derives from the Buddhist teaching of the Three Marks of Existence (三法印, sanbōin), which states that ALL things are impermanent (無常, mujō), unsatisfactory (苦, ku), and impersonal (or empty, shunyata, devoid of self-nature, 空, kū) [7].

Maybe tai chi exercise would be good

This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken. It can also be understood as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage [10].

The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage: "Waste not, want not" [11].

Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of "no-mind" (mushin, 無心), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life [12].

Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated...a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin....often literally translated as "no mind," but carr[ying] connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.

— Christy Bartlett, Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics

Materials and types of joinery: There are a few major styles or types of kintsugi:

• "Crack" (ひび), the use of gold dust and resin or lacquer to attach broken pieces with minimal overlap or fill-in from missing pieces
• "Piece method" (欠けの金継ぎ例), if a replacement ceramic fragment is not available and the entirety of the addition is gold or gold/lacquer compound
• "Joint call" (呼び継ぎ), the use of a similarly shaped but non-matching fragment to replace a missing piece from the original vessel creating a patchwork effect [13]. More: kintsugi
• CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

I don't want to drown in American society

(After Skool) Alan Watts on the MYTHS [social conventions] that keep us trapped

(Eddie and the Subtitles) "I Don't Want to Drown in American Society"

(LA's Wasted Youth) "We Were On Heroin" [or what we now call mega-dopamine]

What kind of addictive substance do you mean by "heroin," boys? - C&H White Processed Sugar.

.

Danger, Will Robbing Son, danger!

Yeah, sure, Eddie, but what is "American" society? At least with LA punkers Wasted Youth, they get right to the point, claiming to be as addicted to all-American stuff (junk food, junk TV, junk relationships, etc.) as "heroin" addicts are to heroin. Pretty sure they didn't mean actual opioid, morphine, poppy plant extract from Afghanistan. - You know, "American" society, it's like "whatever." - Okay, well, then, in that case, let's ask Dr. Robert Lustig.

The Hacking of American Mind: Science Behind Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

Author and narrator Dr. Robert H. Lustig, MD, has 4.6 out of 5 stars (with 1,159 ratings). This unabridged audiobook "explores how industry has manipulated our most deep-seated survival instincts," says Dr. David Perlmutter, MD, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Grain Brain and Brain Maker.

Dr. Lustig, the New York Times-bestselling author of Fat Chance, reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of

• addiction,
• depression,
• chronic disease.

Metabolical: Lure and Lies of Processed Food

While researching the toxic and addictive properties of white sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Dr. Lustig made an alarming discovery: Our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover.

Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet, every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction.

Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet, its deficiency leads to depression.

Idiocracy was prophecy not comedy

(After the Credits) Idiocracy wasn't a comedy, it was a prophecy!

• VIDEO: Dr. Lustig: The Science of Happiness
• VIDEO: Science: Pleasure versus Happiness
• Dr. Lustig: lust, pleasure, craving, addiction
• VIDEO: Idiocracy: Wisdom is Disappearing
• Happiness and Hugging Meditation (Nov. 29)
• Dinah Cancer? Vaccines? iPhones (TJDS)
• "Sugar is TOXIC...like alcohol" (addictive as coke)

Fat Chance; Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity

Ideally, both are in optimal supply in our bodies.

But dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated. The result has been that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction.

In the last 40 years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (porn, sugar, illegal drugs, social media) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, internet).

The end result is an unprecedented epidemic of mental addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic physical diseases.

We can hack this cave, build fires, project images

With the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape.

With his customary wit and incisiveness, Dr. Lustig not only reveals the science that drives these states of mind, he points his finger directly at the corporations that created this mess and the government actors who facilitated it.

Fast version: "I Don't Want to Drown in American Society"

And he offers solutions we can all use in the pursuit of happiness, even in the face of overwhelming opposition.

Always fearless and provocative, Dr. Lustig marshals a call to action, with seminal implications for our health, our well-being, and our culture. More

On the Myth of Mahayana (Alan Watts)

(Alan Watts) Buddhism Net of Jewels

Mind-Only Consciousness

(Alan Watts) Mahayana's Yogachara and Madhyamaka philosophies

Voice of Zen Buddhism Alan Watts wrong?

(Buddha's Wisdom) Was Alan Watts wrong about Buddhism? The truth behind the "Voice of Zen"

• When Buddhism met Taoism: The hidden birth of Zen

Alan Watts: Zen means jhana (absorption, dhyana) - Zen (Tao) of effortlessness, soft power

Becoming interested in Zen: Alan Watts - Alan Watts: wu wei, with the Way (Taoist)

How can I effortlessly go with the flow?

Wu wei (無為, 无为, wúwéi) is a concept from ancient pre-Buddhist Chinese philosophy that literally means "not-acting" or "non-doing," variously interpreted and translated as "noninterference," "action-lessness," "inaction," or "effortless action" [1, 2].

In Taoism, it denotes the nature of Tao, meaning that while Tao (the Way, Path, or flow of nature, acting in accordance with the natural course of things), is the source of all existence and the manifestation of all phenomena, its intrinsic formless essence is that it acts or moves in a silent, invisible, ineffable, often-unnoticed manner that may even seem motionless and effortless [3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

It's all a matter of seeing the Suchness!

Accordingly, Taoists (and subsequently Zen Buddhist practitioners) aspire to live their lives in alignment with such a harmonious state of free flowing and unforced activity. In a political context, it also refers to an ideal form or principle of spontaneous and non-aggressive form of governing [8]. More

Zen Reconsidered: It's all "Suchness"

(Alan Watts) Zen Reconsidered: Suchness (full lecture by Alan Watts on Buddhism)

• 50 years without Alan Watts: A timeless echo in today’s culture (The Brussels Times, 2023)

What is "suchness"?

What is Suchness? All is Suchness.

Tathātā (Sanskrit तथाता, Pali tathatā) is a Buddhist term variously translated as "Suchness," "Thusness," "True Thusness," or "True Suchness," referring to the Ultimate Reality, the intrinsic and essential nature of all existence, free of dualistic thinking, conceptualization, subject–object distinctions [1].

It is formless, uncreated, eternal, perfect, unchanging, indestructible, and is the true nature of all phenomena. It represents the genuine reality of existence, which transcends physical forms, physical senses, and intellectual comprehension, indicating a profound insight into the nature of things as they truly are [2, 3, 4].

Tathātā has a large number of synonyms found in different Buddhist schools, traditions, and scriptures, such as:

• Emptiness (śūnyatā 空),
• Reality Realm (bhūta-koṭi 實際、實相),
• True Suchness (bhūta-tathatā 真如),
• Dharma Nature (Dharmatā 法爾、法然、法性),
• Dharma Realm (Dharma-dhātu 法界),
• Dharma Body (Dharma-kāya 法身),
• Nirvana (Nirvāṇa 涅槃),
• Vajra (金剛),
• Actionlessness (無爲),
• Dharma Intrinsic Nature (Dharma-svabhāva 法自性、法自然),
• Buddha-nature (Buddhatā, Buddha-svabhāva 佛性),
• Tathagata-Treasure (Tathāgata-garbha 如來藏),
• The True Reality of all phenomena (sarva-dharma-tathatā 諸法實相), and so on [3, 5, 6].

Although it is a significant concept in Mahayana Buddhism, it is also used in the Theravada tradition [7, 8]. More

The Life of Zen with Alan Watts - “Do what you like doing [rather than for money]”

Alan Watts on Buddhism and the word "Buddha" - Alan Watts, Who is the Buddha?

What to do? Go with the flow

Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow" (live on Leno in 2003)

• Queens of the Stone Age – "Go with the Flow" lyrics