Horatio: O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

Hamlet:  And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

   — Shakespeare,
       Hamlet

 
Logo for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
 How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

   — Donald Menzuel
       quoting Sherlock
       Holmes (1953)

LEFT NAVBAR

GENERAL MENU

 

Mysteries of the World TV - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

 
>>> zen.html <<<
Breadcrumbs:
Home [Tier 1]  →  
Zen & Its Mysteries [Tier 2]

   Zen & Its Mysteries   

Mysteries of the World (MOTW)

Version 0.1

 

Mysteries of the World TV - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com


Powered by SBI — for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Taglines: 
Zen is a real mystery to many Westerners — and to Easteners, including Orientals, as well!

Are Zen Masters for real???!!! Did they — do they — really achieve 'enlightenment'?

by Paul Quek, from Singapore
MAppSci (CompSci), BBA (Hons)

[Master of Applied Science, Computing Science]
[Bachelor of Business Administration, Honours]

Discover Mysteries of the World — for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Powered by SBI — for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Incept Date: 22 May 2009
Rev'd Date: 20 November 2009

Latest Updates! - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
Latest Updates!
(New window opens)
 

 Notes on Browsers - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
Browsers Notes
(New window opens)
Announcement! - Roswell Rock - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
Announcement! - Roswell Rock
(New window opens)

Check our Mysteries Blog to see the latest webpages and 'web articles' that have been UPDATED!
(Click on the Mysteries Blog button on the left NAVBAR.)


1.0   Preamble

This webpage is about Zen & Its Mysteries ...

Before we proceed, allow me to present the contents of a webpage — comprising book excerpts that I had presented under the title "From Buddha to Buddha" — that used to be part of a Tripod.com website with the URL "http://pq_zen.tripod.com/" and (later re-)named "Paul's ZEN Site (Sight?)":

"From Buddha to Buddha"

Here's the short version of what this webpage [http://pq_zen.tripod.com/buddha_dialogue.html] is about:


... the consistent teaching of Zen is that it has nothing to say and nothing to teach.

      -- Alan Watts, Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion ( 1995 )







Here's the long version of what this webpage is about:


Buddhism is unlike Western religions in that it does not tell you anything.

It does not require you to believe in anything.

It is a dialogue.

The teachings of Buddhism are nothing more than the opening phrases or exchanges in that dialogue.

Buddhism is a dialogue between a buddha and an ordinary man, or rather, between a buddha and another buddha who insists on defining himself as an ordinary man, thereby creating a problem.

There is a saying that "anybody who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined." In exactly the same way, in the Buddhist culture, anybody who goes to a guru, a spiritual teacher, a Zen master, or whatever, ought to have his head examined.

As the old Chinese [Zen/Ch'an] master Tokusan put it, "If you ask any question, you get thirty blows with my stick. If you don't ask any question, you get thirty blows just the same."



In other words, "What the hell are you doing here defining yourself as a student and me as a teacher?"

You raise a problem when you do that, and in the Zen way of training, this problem is very clearly emphasized [often with some form of physical abuse! - Paul Quek].



If you go to a Zen teacher and approach him in the traditional way, the first thing he will do is say, "I haven't anything to teach. Go away."

You may say, "What are these people doing around here? Aren't they your students?"

He will answer, "They are working with me. But unfortunately we are very poor these days. We don't have enough rice to go around. We can't make ends meet as it is. We cannot take on anybody else in this community."

So you have to insist on being taken in.

Every postulant for Zen training assumes immediately that the teacher has given him the brush-off in order to test his sincerity. In other words, "If you really want this thing, you have got to work for it."

That is not the real point.

The point is that you have got to make such a fuss to get in that you cannot withdraw gracefully after having made such a fuss.



You put yourself on the spot and define yourself as somebody needing help, or as somebody with a problem who needs a master in order to be helped out of the problem. ... "I insist on being admitted .... I insist on learning the secret of the master here."

The master has already told you that he does not have a secret and that he does not teach anything. But you insist that he does.

This is the situation of everyone who feels that life is a problem to be solved. Whether you seek to solve that problem through psychoanalysis, integration, salvation, or buddhahood, you define yourself in a certain way when you see life as a problem to be solved.

The real desire that everybody brings to these teachers can be stated in this way: "Teacher, I want to get one up on the universe. I feel I am a stranger in this world and that life is a problem. Having a body means that I am subject to disease and change and death. Having emotions and passions means that I am tormented by feelings I cannot help having, and yet it is not possible to act on those feelings without creating trouble. I feel trapped by this world and so I want to get the better of it. Is there some wise man around who is a master of life and who can teach me to cope with all this?"


This is what everybody is looking for in a teacher: a savior who can show you how to cope with life.

But the Zen teacher says, "I don't have any answers."

Nobody believes that because he seems to be so confident when you look at him.

You cannot believe that he has no answers, and yet the consistent teaching of Zen is that it has nothing to say and nothing to teach.

A great Chinese master of the Tang dynasty, called Linji in Chinese, or Rinzai in Japanese, said,

"Zen is like using a yellow leaf to stop a child crying. A child is crying for gold and the father takes an autumn leaf that is yellow and calls it gold."

He also said that it is like using an empty fist to deceive a child. You have a closed fist and you say to the child, "What have I got here?"

And the child says, "Let me see!"

You put your fist behind your back, and the child becomes more and more excited to know what the devil is inside that fist, and fights and fights and finally is practically in tears, and then suddenly you open the fist and there is nothing inside.



This is how it is for a person who is under the impression that life is a problem to be solved.

The secret is dressed up in a big way: to know it is to be a buddha; it is to know the answer, to solve the problem, to get the message, to get the word, to be in control of fate and the world.

Who wouldn't want that?

All these powers are projected on[to] the Zen master: he is a buddha, a master of life.

But if he is a master of life, the reason for that is that he has discovered the unreality of the whole problem of life.

There is not life on the one hand and you on the other.

You and life are the same.

But you cannot tell people that and just by telling it get them to see it.

People who know that the earth is flat cannot be reasoned with.

It is absolutely impossible to reason with people who believe that the Bible is the literal word of God.



In the same way, we tend to know that we are each a separate "poor little me," and that we are in need of salvation or something.

We know this is so, and if somebody says, "You are not really separate from life; your feeling of separateness is an illusion," that is all very nice — in theory — but we do not feel it.

So what will you do with a person who is convinced that the earth is flat? There is no reasoning with him. ... What you must do is make him persist in his folly.

That is the whole method of Zen: to make people become consistent, perfect egotists, and so explode the illusion of the separate ego.


When you finally convince the Zen master that you are stupid enough to be accepted as a student -- by persisting in defining yourself as someone with a problem that he can solve for you, even though he has warned you well in advance that he has nothing to teach -- he will then say, "I will now ask you a question."

There are many ways of asking this question, but they all boil down to one common question, which is,

"Who are you? You say you have a problem. You say you would like to get out of the sufferings of life and get one up on the universe. I want to know who is asking this question. Show me you."



The master may put the question like this: "Before your father and mother conceived you, what was your original nature?"



And they add, "I want to be shown. I do not want a lot of ideas from you about who you are. I do not want to know who you are in terms of a social role, college degrees, professional qualifications, your name, your family. All that is the past. I want to see the genuine you as you are right now."

This is like saying to a person, "Don't be self-conscious. I want you, right this minute, to be completely sincere." Nothing is better calculated to make a person incapable of sincerity. ...

The context in which a Zen master interviews his students is very formal; there he sits, sort of an enthroned tiger, definitely an authority figure. He is the last person you can be spontaneous with, because you feel that he knows you through and through. ...

The Zen teacher is well aware that he has played a trick on you, and now he is going to see how you will respond to that trick, what foolishness you will come up with, and then he will help you act consistently on that foolishness.

His trick has simply been to do, as if in an experiment, what society does to us all the time. The high cultures of the world, whether of the East or the West, play a game on every new child. ...

The game is called the double bind: you are required to do something that will be acceptable only if you do it voluntarily. ...


In Christianity it is said, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." These are all double binds.

Anybody who lives under the dominance of a double bind is living in a state of chronic frustration. He is devoting his life to solving a problem that is meaningless and nonsensical precisely because it has no solution. ...

The Zen teacher will be well aware of everything he is doing and what tricks he is playing on you, but he will play them anyway, because behind it all he has the compassionate intent of getting you into such a fierce double bind that you will see how stupid it is and let go of it. This is what he is doing when he commands, "Be genuine. Show me the real you." ...

There is NOTHING  you can do to be genuine.

The more you do, the phonier you become.

At the same time, you cannot give up trying to be genuine. The moment you do that, your abandonment of trying is itself an insidious form of trying. ...

The way of Buddhism is to let go of yourself, to see that you live in a universe in which nothing can be grasped, and therefore to stop grasping.

It is very simple, but here is the problem. You say to a teacher, "Teach me not to grasp." He will say, "Why do you want to know?" You will answer, "Non-attachment is good Buddhist doctrine." And he will show you that wanting to stop grasping is a new form of grasping.


You feel that you can get one up on the world by being unattached to it. Just breathing is painful when somebody you love dies, so maybe by being unattached to that person I can avoid grief. Maybe when life comes and bangs on me, by not having an ego I can avoid life's pain. That is why I want a non-ego state.

It is a phony desire, though, just a new way of safeguarding and protecting the ego.

This is an example of the manner in which the statements of Buddhism are not final teachings but are rather the opening strategies of a dialogue.

Going back to fundamental, primitive Buddhism, people said to the Buddha, "I want to escape from suffering." That is a perfectly honest statement.

All right, realize that suffering is caused by desire and try not to desire.

The student goes away and tries to eliminate desire by controlling his mind and practising yoga, and comes back to the teacher and says, "This is pretty difficult but I have managed to get rid of at least some desires."

The teacher says to him, "But you are still desiring to get rid of desire. What about that?"

Then the student sees that if he strives to stop desiring to get rid of desire, then he has got to stop desiring to get rid of not desiring to desire.

Suddenly he finds himself once more in a vicious circle.

He realizes there is nothing he can do about it and nothing he cannot do about it. ...


When there is nothing you can do about a given situation, and even doing nothing is doing something, that means that the ego, as something separate from the rest of the world, does not exist. Of course it cannot do anything, and equally it cannot not do something. It is completely phony.

The fiction of there being a separate ego — either to force its actions on the world or to have the actions of the world forced on it — has been exposed.

The ego does not exist except as a figment of the imagination, or as a player in the game of pretending that everybody is responsible, independent, and separate.

That is a great game, but it is only a game.

The whole object of the Zen dialogue between the teacher and the student is to carry the foolish game of being a separate ego to its logical conclusion, to its reductio ad absurdum, so that, finally, as Blake said, "The fool who persists in his folly will become wise."

   — Adapted from Alan Watts, Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion ( 1995 )


... an old Zen poem says:

If you do not get it from yourself,
Where will you go for it.
Fundamentally, this is in a sense the position of the whole Zen Buddhism tradition.

Strictly speaking, there are no Zen masters because Zen has nothing to teach.

From the earliest times those who have experienced Zen have always repulsed would-be disciples, not just to test their sincerity, but to give fair warning that the experience of awakening (satori) is not to be found by seeking, and is not in any case something that can be acquired or cultivated.

But seekers have persistently refused to take this "No!" for an answer, and to this the Zen sages have responded with a kind of judo.

Realizing the uselessness of just telling  the seeker that seeking will not find, they have replied with counterquestions (koans) which have the effect of exciting the effort of seeking until it explodes with its own force, so that the student realizes the folly of seeking for himself — not just verbally but through to the very marrow of his bones.

At this point the student "has" Zen.

He knows himself to be one with all, for he is no longer separating himself from the universe by seeking something from it.

     — Adapted from Alan Watts,
        This is IT and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience
         ( 1958, 1960, 1978 )

"Zen — The Best of Alan Watts"
Uploaded to Google Videos: Aug 11, 2007
Description: Alan Watts (1915-1973) who held both a master's degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity, is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He authored more than 20 excellent books on the philosophy and psychology of religion, and lectured extensively, leaving behind a vast audio archive. With characteristic lucidity and humor Watts unravels the most obscure ontological and epistemological knots with the greatest of ease.


2.0   Notes

Wikipedia Logo - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Wikipedia — the very useful, user-editable and free online encyclopedia — explains 'Zen' as follows ...

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Chán.

Chán is itself derived from the Sanskrit Dhyana, which means "meditation" ....

     — Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)

10 Minute Zen - Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

What is Zen? — "Liberation from Suffering"

A fundamental Zen principle is that liberation from suffering comes from perceiving with your own mind your true nature and the true nature of the universe, and then manifesting this deep understanding of reality in your daily life.

[...]

Zen is as simple and natural and as accessible and liberating as breathing.

[...]

Although meditation is integral and central to Zen, it's neither the all nor the end of Zen. ... Zen can be defined as a specific mind-body-spirit experience or essence ....

... In Zen, the exaltation of deep understanding, or enlightenment, is neither a natural high nor a supernatural state to be induced, acquired, or bequeathed — or denied — by some higher power, external force, or fickle finger of fate. This deep understanding — and the joy, peace, and liberation it enables — is already within you. It's your "Buddha-nature". You're born with it, and it never leaves you. It is you. And it's in every animate and inanimate thing around you. That, in a nutshell, is Zen.

[...]

     —  Adapted from 10 Minute Zen
           Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment
           By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts
           (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)

Wikipedia also states that ...

Zen emphasizes experiential Prajña [meaning "wisdom"] — particularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen — in the attainment of awakening, often simply called the path of enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of direct, experiential realization through meditation and dharma practice.

     — Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)

Prajña

Prajña (Sanskrit) or pañña (Pali) has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how."

In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, impermanence [transience], interdependent origination, non-self, emptiness, etc.

Prajña is the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about enlightenment.

     —  Adapted from Wikipedia ("Wisdom in Buddhism")
            (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajna)

Zazen

The heart of Zen — the key to deep understanding, which opens the gate to well-being [that is, nirvana; awakening; enlightenment; liberation; satori] — is zazen, quiet sitting.

Yet, zazen can be done while sitting, standing, reclining, moving, playing, or working — in silence and solitude or with dialogue, mantras, chants, rituals, music, symbols, teachers, or loved ones.

In every aspect and in every moment of life, there is zazen; there is Zen.

Zen is divine reality; divine reality is you.

You are Zen.

     —  Adapted from 10 Minute Zen
           Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment
           By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts
           (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)

Continues Wikipedia ...

The establishment of Zen is traditionally credited to the Southern Indian Pallava prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma, who is recorded as having come to China to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words".

     — Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)

"Beyond Doctrine, Beyond Words"

Zen is said to be "beyond doctrine, beyond words".

Yet, all branches of Buddhism, including Zen, trace back to some ten thousand scriptures (sutras) that are regarded as the written record of the teachings of Buddha, the founding father of Buddhism.

Zen claims no symbols, no icons, no formal religious dogma, no metaphysics.

Yet, ritual, ceremony, and symbolism — from light and water, to flowers and trees, to colors and circles, to chakras and mantras, to sermons and fellowships — are very much a part of the tradition.

     —  Adapted from 10 Minute Zen
           Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment
           By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts
           (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)

Bodhidharma & Hui-neng

In the history of [Zen] Buddhism, Bodhidharma (Dharma) [although officially the '28th Patriarch'] ranks second only to the Buddha. ...

[...]

All of Bodhidharma's five successors [in China], but particularly [6th Chinese Zen Patriarch] Hui-neng, contributed or elaborated several precepts that are distinctively Zen, including:

  • The penetrating wisdom of silence
  • Meditating in daily activities
  • The transitory nature of all things
  • The oneness of all beings
  • The mastery of meditation
  • The focus on insight rather than on scripture
     —  Adapted from 10 Minute Zen
           Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment
           By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts
           (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)

Wikipedia further states that ...

The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahayana Buddhist thought — among them the Yogacara and Madhyamaka philosophies and the Prajña-paramita literature — and of local traditions in China, particularly Taoism and Huáyán Buddhism.

From China, Zen subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan.

     — Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)

"The Middle Way"

Enlightenment, true liberation of the spirit, doesn't come from twisting oneself into a pretzel, nor does it come from saturating one's physical senses.

It comes from a meditative practice midway between ascetic and sloth, from balancing a still body with a quiet mind, from a center point at which opposing sides are of equal distance and distribution.

In other words, if you destroy your mental or physical health — whether by self-deprivation or self-indulgence — you won't have the wherewithal to awaken your spirit so that you might relieve your own suffering, much less that of others.

     —  Adapted from 10 Minute Zen
           Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment
           By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts
           (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)


3.0   YouTube Videos

YouTube - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.comEnzo - Zen - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

3.1   Video Clips

The popular video hosting site, YouTube, carries several videos about ZEN ...

Here is a sampling of clips about some aspects of what have been proffered under the label or banner of 'ZEN' ... Please do not assume or conclude that, just because I present these video clips on this site, it means that I am in agreement or that I believe in the views offered-proferred ...

As an ex-military officer, I assure you that I am in the habit of reading, viewing and digesting lots of stuff that I don't necessarily believe in ... We call all the stuff we read, view and digest, 'military intelligence' ... the same applies with 'business intelligence' in the business world, of course. Our aim, as usual, is to find out what others (including our friends, enemies, competitors, suppliers, strategic partners, business partners, etc.) believe in ... To do that effectively, we have to 'get out of the way', so to speak ... else we will never get started in our journey of exploration and discovery.

Zen & Its Mysteries

Flash Video - playing for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
Javascript must be enabled!

Required at least Flash 8 ...

PAUSE     RESUME

To play video, click on title in menu below.

Tags: zen buddhism Japan meditation philosophy spiritual eastern prana emptymind zen zazen meditation Japan buddhism zazen meditation zen buddhism spiritual enlightenment zen zazen buddhism emptymindfilms Japan sotozen zen zazen buddhism emptymindfilms empty mind Shaolin KungFu China Wushu Taichi Temple Empty Mind kyudo martial Japan budo archery karate aikido emptymind Kendo Martial Arts Japan Sword Samurai Iaido Budo

3.1.1   Video Summaries

Here are the YouTube video summaries:

Title: The Zen Mind - An Introduction
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 24, 2006
Info-Description: This is a clip from The Zen Mind documentary, filmed in Japan. It serves as a nice overview of zen - a topic very few people can fully understand. EmptyMind Films. http://emptymindfilms.com

Title: The Zen Mind
From: emptymindfilms
Added: September 09, 2006
Info-Description: This is real zen. It is a journey across Japan from the small zen centers of Tokyo to the enormous zen monasteries of remote mountains. It is a look inot the very private world of the zen mind - the mind searching for enlightenment. The superb Shakuhachi flute is by Christopher Yohmei.

Title: A Day in the Life of a Zen Monk - EmptyMind Films
From: emptymindfilms
Added: July 08, 2007
Info-Description: A trailer that shows the daily life of a zen monk in a large soto-zen monastery in Japan. Some parts of this clip are taken from our feature length film - The Zen Mind available on DVD at emptymindfilms.com

Title: Interview with a Zen Buddhist Priest
From: emptymindfilms
Added: June 23, 2007
Info-Description: An interview with Gudo Nishijima, a zen buddhist, on the practice of zazen, or zen meditation. Took place at a zen center on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Title: Zazen - A Guide to Sitting.
From: emptymindfilms
Added: September 26, 2006
Info-Description: A brief explanation of zazen-often called sitting meditation. Filmed at the Kokusai Zendo in Kyoto, Japan. This clip is from The Zen Mind by EmptyMind Films. Produced & written by Jon Braeley.

Title: The Empty Mind - Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 06, 2006
Info-Description: This is a clip of the Shaolin Temple scene from The Empty Mind Documentary. These warrior monks are students of Monk ShiDeYang, one of top Shaolin monks and who we will see in later clips I will post. This scene is not strictly in the Temple, but like most monks they train just outside Shaolin Temple itself.

Title: The Empty Mind - Kyudo or Japanese Archery
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 14, 2006
Info-Description: Yet another clip from The Empty Mind Documentary. This is a rare opportunity to see the great archers of the Japan Kyudo Federation. the Location is the Meiji Shrine in Shibuya.

Title: The Empty Mind - Kendo at the Budokan
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 06, 2006
Info-Description: This is part of the opening sequence of Kendo taken from The Empty Mind Documentary. It is mostly the 2003 All Japan Kendo Championship at the Budokan, Tokyo. Go to emptymindfilms.com for the feature length DVD. The superb soundtrack is by Richard Brookens of Yellowbell.


4.0   Postscript

This web article is a preliminary article, comprising some brief notes and some YouTube video clips, on Zen & Its Mysteries ... More to come!

Cheers!



Paul Quek
Webmeister
Woodlands, Singapore


Paul Quek - Webmeister - Animated GIF 2009 - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Incept Date: 21 May 2009
Rev'd Date: 20 November 2009

Four Points to Note

  1. Recently, we added a simple blog so that you know the latest changes. To get the updates automatically, CLICK HERE to subscribe to our RSS (you will get a new window or 'tab'). Thanks and cheers!
  2. Please do not assume or conclude that, just because I present many views (in the form of textual notes and video clips) on this website, it means that I am in agreement with or that I believe in the views offered-proferred ... That would be displaying such a parochial and provincial attitude, towards this website and towards me as well!

    As an ex-military officer, I assure you that I am in the habit of reading, viewing and digesting lots of stuff that I don't necessarily believe in ... We call all the stuff we read, view and digest, 'military intelligence' ... The same applies with 'business intelligence' in the business world, of course.

    Our aim, as usual, is to find out what others (including our friends, enemies, competitors, suppliers, strategic partners, business partners, etc.) believe in ... In order to do that effectively, we have to 'get out of the way', so to speak ... we have to remove our humongous ego! ... else we will never ever really have gotten started in our journey of exploration and discovery of the Mysteries of the World .

  3. Here is a sentiment that I am wholeheartedly in agreement with ...
    As I sit down to redo this book for an American audience, what rises before me is last night's dream: I'm in a broad and beautiful land among many trees. It's night. I look up at a huge old tree that's dark against the starry sky in its detail of twig and branch. There is room enough here for all of us, I realize, here in this big, intricately textured park. But I see that some want to cut down the trees and level it out, so huge throngs of people can gather to gaze up at the sun's glare. I watch dark twigs fingering the remote, untouchable stars. A voice speaks: "Don't turn this into a Copernican Garden."

    Waking up, I remember that I went to sleep wondering how to put this book together. And I take "Copernican Garden" to mean a parking lot vista where masses gather to honor the bright sun of traditional science with its old rules as the center of the universe.

    So I will not cut down the trees and level this book out. It is between you and me [or you and I], a conversation as we stroll along in a moonlit fractal garden past webby connections of thought that merge to patterned insight. Here hidden delights nestle in scaling patterns of self-similar but never quite repeating beauty. Here the tree of life hold stars in its branches. No matter how huge, this garden stays human-sized because we have a place in it, you and I. No need to cut down the connective forest and level things out for that bright Sol [sun] of left-brain logic whose daytime dazzle — so close and glaring — can blind us to the myriad constellations beyond.

    [...]

       — Katya Walter, Tao of Chaos
            Sub-title: Merging East and West
            (1994, 1996)

  4. Here is an observation (adapted) made in the Acknowledgement page of a book ...
    It takes many minds to produce a book [including an e-book, of course]. Although most authors [especially of non-fiction books and articles] would prefer not to admit this fact, fundamentally they are merely 'synthesisers' of accumulated knowledge.

    The process of synthesising may unveil a new reality map, or paradigm, which, in due course, will be used by future pioneers to unveil further paradigms.

    This principle was summed up by Sir Isaac Newton when he remarked: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".

    [...]

       — Christian von Nidda, Our Secret Planet
            (2005)

Check our Mysteries Blog to see the latest changes
to our webpages and 'web articles'
(click on the Mysteries Blog button on the left NAVBAR)









As stated in our Mysteries Blog , the 'Mysteries of the World' Website does NOT aim to sensationalize any particular 'Mystery', although we will examine and explore all possible viewpoints pertaining to each 'Mystery' — including the fringe AND the mainstream.

We will, of course, come to a conclusion (eventually!) about each 'Mystery' ... even if that conclusion may eventually turn out to be 'as yet unresolved' or 'unexplained to our satisfaction'.







Breadcrumbs:  
Home [Tier 1]  →  
Zen & Its Mysteries [Tier 2]




footer for mysteries page — www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Powered by SBI — for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

 




ARTICLES

Preamble &
General Mysteries




The Universe & Its Mysteries




UFOs




Aliens & Alien Autopsies




Real Aliens & Alien Abductions




Ancient Astronauts - Series #1




Ancient Astronauts - Series #2




Cryptic Creatures




Phenomenal Places




Bible Mysteries




Jesus Mysteries




'About'




Mainstream vs Fringe




Misc