9209.15 e.v.


Roger Adams quotes Tom, then writes, I respond:

In article <1992Sep12.002227.22836@cco.caltech.edu>, 
mcfarlan@corona.math.washington.edu (Thomas J. McFarlane) writes:

Referring to quote of Buddha:

> This quote does not, in itself, reify anything.  If anything is reified, it
> is reified in the mind of the reader when clinging to the conceptions of
> "Unborn," "Uncreated," and so on.  


Roger:

This concept of 'non-clinging' is a concept which many people cling to.  For
example, I could think that I am going to practice non-clinging so that I
can be enlightened. I would then be clinging to non-clinging. If you practice
any philosophy or religion, this is clinging. Even embracing the philosophy
of rejecting all philosophies and authority is clinging to that authority and
philosophy which says so. You cannot escape clinging because to do so is
another clinging (like a dog chasing its tail). 


Response:

I enjoyed this paragraph very much.  'Clinging' in modern 'eastern tradition'
is often portrayed in much the same way that 'the world' is portrayed in
some Gnostic traditions.  We must 'avoid it', we must 'seek a way to escape
it', we must 'transcend it', 'leave it behind'.  These are all very
important concepts.

In Tantra I am taught to play with clingingness.  I feel like I wish to
cling.  I choose to do so or no.  There is no compulsion, there is no
imperative, there is no wrong or right.  Clingingness is the pearl and
I am the Dragon.  I play with ignoring/eschewing the pearl, batting the
pearl about, grasping the pearl tightly.  I'm told that eventually I'll
get bored with the pearl or that I'll cease to distinguish between the
pearl and myself, but even these are foolish concepts.


Roger:

So why not cling to Truth so 
as to be free of what is temporal. If I am having a bad dream, I hold on to 
the thought (cling) of waking until I wake up but once I am awake, I don't 
need to cling anymore to wakefulness because I am already awake. Of course, I 
could have just let the bad dream play out to the end until I naturally awaken
but that takes too long!  The true meaning of non-clinging IMHO is to be
non-attached to temporal things such as all the things of the world and seek
That which is non-temporal.


Response:

Temporal/non-temporal; dream/wakefulness; clingingness/non-attachedness.

I see a pattern here. :>


Tyagi
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Did you cling to this post long enough to see this sentence?