tag > Mindful
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Digging a Hole in the Ocean Floor - Zhuangzi - Chapter 7 - Illustration by CC Tsai
Full text Translated by Burton Watson
Chien Wu went to see the madman Chieh Yu. Chieh Yu said, "What was Chung Shih telling you the other day?" 4 Chien Wu said, "He told me that the ruler of men should devise his own principles, standards, ceremonies, and regulations, and then there will be no one who will fail to obey him and be transformed by them."
The madman Chieh Yu said, "This is bogus virtue! To try to govern the world like this is like trying to walk the ocean, to drill through a river, or to make a mosquito shoulder a mountain! When the sage governs, does he govern what is on the outside? He makes sure of himself first, and then he acts. He makes absolutely certain that things can do what they are supposed to do, that is all. The bird flies high in the sky where it can escape the danger of stringed arrows. The field mouse burrows deep down under the sacred hill where it won't have to worry about men digging and smoking it out. Have you got less sense than these two little creatures?"
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"Don't be impressed by money, followers, degrees, and titles. Be impressed by kindness, integrity, humility, and generosity." - Richard Feynman
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"All Matter is Fossilised Thought" - Hans Peter Dürr
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Minimal Phenomenal Experience - presentation by Thomas Metzinger
#Comment: Metzinger is trying very diligently to approach the meditative/psychedelic/qi/zen/dao/dada/call-it-what-you-want space from a rational scientific perspective - even proposing ideas for a computational model. It's interesting and fascinating work for sure - but it tethers on semiotic masturbation and it conveniently ignores the elephants in the room !
During the Q&A Metzinger says the following:
"I am just trying to make progress on this phenomenology because, it has be reported for centuries in different cultural traditions - but now we have a very new interesting situation: We have all these tools of neuroscience, we have modern analytical philosophy of mind, and we have millions of meditators in the west that are pretty secular - and don't have a strong belief system in which they report their experiences."
The notion that "secular western (meditators) don't have a strong belief system" is ridicules on so many levels - yet indicative of the world view that permeates the emerging "WEIRD, male scientists trying to compute consciousness" field (Karl Friston, Christof Koch, Hartmut Neven, etc.). WEIRD ("Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich & Democratic") make up only 12% of global population. Much greater diversity (gender, cognitive, etc.) would certainty make this type of discussion much more interesting and fun.
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The primary effects of spending 10 min on Twitter:
Significant increase of stress, tension and confusion.The primary effects of spending 10 min doing Qigong:
Significant reduction of stress, tension and confusion. -
“All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact: Be — don´t try to become. Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained. Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.” - Osho
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McMindfulness: “Media Star Monk” Haemin Sunim to Return to Monastic Life in Korea
The well-known South Korean Seon (Zen) monk and best-selling author, Venerable Haemin Sunim, 46, has stated that he will step back from public life after his appearance on a reality TV program led to a public outcry. The strongest criticism of Haemin came from Krocadile Choi, singer for a South Korean heavy metal band: “He is the greediest person that I’ve ever known,” said Choi.
“His meditation app requires in-app purchases. He is making money by ripping off those who are emotionally hurt with sugarcoated words that are far from supportive. All the content in the app is very low quality.” Haemin’s mobile app, Kokkiri, was launched in August 2019 and quickly gained more than 330,000 subscribers.
Hyon Gak, an American monk who lived and studied in South Korea for a number of years before returning to the United States, said of Haemin that “He is merely an actor . . . a parasite who will end up in hell for selling Buddha’s teachings for profits.”
Related: Teaching Mindfulness to McDonalds, The Latest in Military Strategy: Mindfulness
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3 Types & Levels of Tranquillity - Art by Anthony Cheung
Putting Effort... in the Mind
Be like Water My Friend...
Tai Chi Principles
More in less
For qi to flow we need to relax.
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Inhale and Exhale my dear friend - Why so serious and tense? Celebrate and laugh - for life is truly a wonderfully mysterious and equally comedic situation! Beyond words and other forms of symbolic reasoning and semiotic shadow-boxing, lies a vast ocean of direct experience. The fiction created by the spell of words people weave around them, can lead to great distortions of meaning. While being "right" can be fun - being "effective" - "kind, receptive and present" is essential. Hence, "Chill out. Do less. Enjoy more" remains a timeless mantra - and true sophistication is signified by its tendency toward simplicity, love and peace.
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The Diamond Sutra - "for universal free distribution"
"The oldest known printed book and first known creative work with an explicit public domain dedication, as its colophon at the end states that it was created "for universal free distribution."
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"Throughout the training there is an implicit understanding that words often get in the way. The realities of direct experience, and the fiction created by the spell of words people weave around them, can lead to great distortions of meaning."
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Book of the Month: The Art of Peace - by Morihei Ueshiba
