On Apr 19, 2012, at 5:20 PM, Moose wrote:
> <snip>
> "ZEN SAYS: Think of all the great words and great teachings as your deadly
> enemy. Avoid them, because you have to find
> your own source.
> You have not to be a follower, an imitator. You have to be an original
> individual; you have to find your innermost core
> on your own, with no guide, no guiding scriptures. It is a dark night, but
> with the intense fire of inquiry you are
> bound to come to the sunrise. Every body who has burned with intense inquiry
> has found the sunrise."
> Ohso, Zen: Turning In, Chapter 10
This reminds me of the old Zen saying, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill
Him. At first sounds a little severe, until you realize it's all symbolism and
metaphor. It's your road and if you meet some notion of perfection, kill it and
move along. Otherwise, you wind up grasping at permanence. Something like that.
I wonder if Ohso's quote is similarly metaphorical--not so much that great
words and teachings are enemies, but that you cannot grasp them and hold onto
them as though they are permanent. You must let them flow through you and flow
away as you continue your journey toward your own metaphorical sunrise.
>> So did I, as sleep began to take me, stumble onto something? Is there a
>> place for interpretation here that is not aimed specifically at separating
>> tourists from their money, but rather making work accessible through the
>> gallery so that they can run screaming or purchase as their hearts and heads
>> dictate? I really don't know.
>
> Yes, I believe so. Don't limit your possibilities by imagining the gallery,
> what has been and is, but may not be the
> future, as a necessary part of the process. The key is already there, " ...
> it did come up from some deeper spot that
> guided me as I worked without my being able to see exactly which hands were
> on the controls, or even where the controls
> were."
>
> "Trust the Navigator."
> - Carol Anne Fusco
Carole Anne has a way of cutting through the noise, doesn't she? <g> I have
never been very good at trusting the navigator. I'm one of those people who's
always getting in his own way. It was through photography, when I took it up
again 12 years ago, that I finally learned how to stay out of my own way. But
apparently that wasn't a permanent condition. <g> I do know enough now to
recognize the dissatisfaction as, well, dissatisfaction, and let it run its
course. I know it's not permanent, nor is it some kind of cosmic judgment on my
choices. It's just a temporary state that will shift as everything shifts
eventually. Also, I suspect it's a necessary part of the process. While I'm
flailing away in my own mind, something is percolating at the subconscious
level.
I did manage to take the opportunity to lighten my load, though. Sold some gear
through the Nikonian web site and now have a leaner, meaner camera bag. I don't
need to lug around 30 pounds worth of gear anymore. Maybe that will help break
the logjam. <g> And no, I don't think I'm going to use the gains to buy a D800,
tempting as that is. Don't really think for my purposes anything more than the
D3 will offer any substantial improvement. Maybe when the D900 comes along.
> It may be useful to recognize that the painful drama of Ben's health crises,
> the rather pleasant drama of rediscovering
> photography and riding its wave for a few years, every thing you have done or
> that has happened to you - are all steps
> along the mysterious path.
>
> "It is said, I think in the Lankavatara Sutra, that unskilled farmers throw
> away their rubbish and buy manure from other
> farmers, but those who are skilled go on collecting their own rubbish, in
> spite of the bad smell and the unclean work,
> and when it is ready to be used they spread it on their land, and out of this
> they grow their crops. That is the skilled
> way.
Actually, Ben's drama has less to do with this than a personal health crisis I
underwent the week before my oldest son's wedding. I'm not sure I ever said
anything about that here, but it appeared to be something quite serious that
eventually turned out to be a somewhat rare but completely benign event. Still,
it wobbled me on my axis and started all this questioning. Ben's crisis only
added to the confusion. The above quote strikes me as another metaphor, not
unlike the Christian parables, wherein we are instructed that what we think of
as rubbish has it's uses and should not be summarily dismissed. Our messy
little minds can produce wonderful things if fertilized with the messy thinking
that precede the wonderment. <g>
> Take two sutras and call yourself in the morning.
Ayuh, Almost as good as aspirin. <g>
--Bob
--
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