Zenfully Quool Quotes
By Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
FIFTH BODY: THE BODY OUTSIDE THE BODY
Each one of us can be present in many places in the world.
We can be here and at the same time in a prison.
We can be here and also in a distant country
where the children suffer from malnutrition.
We don’t have to be present with our physical body.
When I write a book,
I transform myself into thousands of me
that can go a little bit everywhere.
Every book becomes my body outside the body.
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Zenfully Quool Quotes Quommentary
by rog
I can relate to this perspective as well.
Often in my life I have been inspired to write.
It is like having the opportunity to be the body or person
that gets to fulfill their creative side
while expressing their ‘inner’
thoughts, feelings, phycology, and philosophies.
Which also helps immensely to help me sort out the oddities of life.
In the very deep end of Spiritual philosophy:
of two Sanskrit doctrines that we find In classical
Advaita namely Ajātivāda and Vivartavāda.
Ajātivāda is the very very highest nondual understanding
and it is very rarely spoken of.
There are hints of it in some traditional literature
and Vivartavāda is simply this:
the the idea that there is no creation, no world, no universe…
that nothing exists.
and I’m afraid it’s even worse than that …
there is not even the appearance of World
from this point of view.
so
these conflicts seems to conflict so profoundly with our experience
that it is considered too profound even to speak of.
So,
what is traditionally referred to as
Vivartavāda…
Ajātivāda takes one step down
and this is already an extremely high understanding
namely that:
there is no world or universe as it appears to be
a multiplicity and diversity of objects made out of matter
but
there is at least the appearance of such a world
in other words
the world is an illusion,
an illusion is not something that is not real,
it is something that is real
but
is not what it appears to be.
So,
I often write about the ineffable nature of life
that lies just beyond the bend of our perception.
Consider the popular phrase:
“You cannot have your cake….
And eat it too.”
Which means…
You can’t have it both ways.
We either know something
or
we are that thing.
We cannot know something and be something at the same time.
In order to know something
we must stand apart from that thing
as a separate subject of that thing
as the knower of that thing.
In a conventional sense:
In order to see a tree,
we must stand at a distance from the tree,
we must view it from a separate point of view.
We are … ether the tree…
Or
We can know the tree from a distance.
Having a ‘tree Samadhi’…
You could ‘have your cake and eat it too’…
In that:
While at a distance, you can see the tree…
But through Samadhi… during that state:
You become the Tree...
in an inseparable union…but…
will naturally return to our original perspective…
which proves that ultimately…
We cannot have our cake and eat it too… (at the same time)
We can only Be the tree… or Know of the tree.
Even experienced in Samadhi…
We can only experience one at a time.
~
These simple sounding concepts about cake…
Integrate with our experience of life and…
Of ourselves.
When taken to intellectual and spiritual depths…
Profound Insights are revealed in conventional contemplations
moments, to hours, to days after the Samadhi.
Writing helps me put those ineffable experiences into words
that may someday shine a light on how this illumination Enlightens us
while in the darkness of our challenges.
Often in our busy lives,
the people we try to express a thought to
doesn’t have enough time to hear out our whole story…
Then later, upon reflection,
we realize that we didn’t have the chance to fully express ourselves…
like it’s still ‘unfinished business’.
Whether one writes articles or songs…
or composes music or paints a picture, or tends to a garden…
or
any way that they are free to fully express their creative inspirations …
These are all ways that make life just a wee bit more…
palatable
and even rewarding… for those that still require such ‘reinforcements’.
It’s even more rewarding when know “you” are …
‘Always Already Alright’…
abiding the the truest embodiment of Equanimity…
The Liberating aspect is…
that you require from ‘reality’…
absolutely nothing.
Because,
You are pre-disposed to love reality and all that ‘Is’.
Therefore…
You are never dissatisfied.
This is Spirituality.
