I suppose if one deals with words the place to begin is to put words in place. - In proportion.
Our path is of course not constructed of words. Nor is comunication in general its very heart and essence.
They have their place, but beside being of a somewhat secondary position, they are of course limited in their ability of description. Not only that, - our imagination is limited in its ability of description. And the best words can reflect, - it seems, - is our imagination.
The fact may not be obviouse or significant in every day life, - as we know it these days, - but with regard to the path it is often mentioned.
- As for the blog's name: -
I was @ Gustav Ericsson's sight, - Anzenkai, and I was looking at Nishijima Roshi’s calligraphies over there. Particularly there is one - "seki shin hen pen" - about which Gustav has earlier said in a blog post that it is Nishijima's favorite phrase from Master Dogen.
This seemed strange to me. It was not what I would expect Nishijima Roshi's favorite phrase to be. It seemed it could be some Rinzai master's favorite quote, - it seems to express continuous and constant sincerity, - but it did not seem to fit my view of the way Nishijima Roshi saw things.
So - consequently - I tried to think what would I expect his favorite quote to be. But all phrases I could think of did not seem to fit just what I might have had in mind.
So I tried to come up with what I would see it as, - and what I have come up with - is - "this universe out here".
- And this seems to be the right name for this blog here too.
- Definitely. ________________________
I was @ Gustav Ericsson's sight, - Anzenkai, and I was looking at Nishijima Roshi’s calligraphies over there. Particularly there is one - "seki shin hen pen" - about which Gustav has earlier said in a blog post that it is Nishijima's favorite phrase from Master Dogen.
This seemed strange to me. It was not what I would expect Nishijima Roshi's favorite phrase to be. It seemed it could be some Rinzai master's favorite quote, - it seems to express continuous and constant sincerity, - but it did not seem to fit my view of the way Nishijima Roshi saw things.
So - consequently - I tried to think what would I expect his favorite quote to be. But all phrases I could think of did not seem to fit just what I might have had in mind.
So I tried to come up with what I would see it as, - and what I have come up with - is - "this universe out here".
- And this seems to be the right name for this blog here too.
- Definitely. ________________________
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3 comments:
Words and letters will get you nowhere.
Interesting. So, sometimes, words are not really fingers pointing at the moon (reality), but fingers pointing at our imagination of the moon. Thanks, I am looking forward to read more.
The Uchiyama Roshi quote at about the bottom of the blog page is quite surly somewhat inaccurate. I recall it from his commentary of Bendowa, - I think - but I did not read through the whole of the commentary in order to find it again. If I do come across it I might correct, - though the original is of course in Japanese and putting it in English may be open to interpretations.
+ : - My attitude toward translations usually sees the intended spirit as the most important thing - rather than the literal accuracy, - so I would not necessarily copy it off the book exactly word by word given that it has been translated (or might have been translated) according to a different attitude.
(- I see no better place I could add this remark, so I just post it here)
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