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Write Speech

lobsterlobster Veteran
edited May 2014 in Philosophy

As some have discerned Dharma can be pedantic and precise over language. In a way that would shame @federica.

In other traditions for example the Sufi use of multiple levels of meaning in Arabic poetry or the multi layered kabbalistic readings of the Bible by changing the vowels, we have more than only one certain meaning.

In dharma this occurs too, for example one of my favs, the Mahayana dictum 'Emptiness is a form waiting to be filled' . . . something like that . . .
http://www.cttbusa.org/heartsutra/hs10.htm

What have you heard that has changed in meaning . . . perhaps several times?

sova

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Meaning - or Interpretation?

    lobster
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran

    "Just because you are indispensable to the universe does not mean the universe needs your help."

    lobsterWolfeanatamanKundo
  • ToraldrisToraldris   -`-,-{@     Zen Nud... Buddhist     @}-,-`-   East Coast, USA Veteran

    Speech.
    Is that good enough? I don't know it in any other languages.

    MeisterBob
  • ToraldrisToraldris   -`-,-{@     Zen Nud... Buddhist     @}-,-`-   East Coast, USA Veteran

    I've certainly been exposed to a much more nuanced definition of "dukkha" since I started down this road. At first it was suffering, then unsatisfactoriness, then I actually read up on all the different things it means (and I'm not sure any English word can capture it all, but unsatisfactoriness comes close as long as you attach the rest to it in your mind!).

  • HamsakaHamsaka goosewhisperer Polishing the 'just so' Veteran

    @lobster said:

    What have you heard that has changed in meaning . . . perhaps several times?

    I can't think of anything that HASN'T (appeared to) change in meaning. The elephant is a paint brush or a hose depending on where our puny perceptions are focused.

    That said, in an objective sense no 'thing' has changed meaning, but I've become capable of perceiving more and more, perhaps.

    Kundo
  • yagryagr Veteran

    Tao

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @lobster said:
    What have you heard that has changed in meaning . . . perhaps several times?

    Pretty much all of it. ;)

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    @SpinyNorman said:
    Pretty much all of it. ;)

    How many people during the change of 'pretty much all of it', consider the time when they know their knowing and expression is right . . . are still certain?

    Next time we know the absolute right thing, perhaps it is just a nuance or fragment of the whole . . .

    Perhaps it is why the wise value silence so highly?

    Vastmindanataman
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Kia Ora,

    Nothing really changes apart from ones mind...

    Metta Shoshin:)

    Earthninja
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @Shoshin said:
    Nothing really changes apart from ones mind...

    If only that were true!

  • ToraldrisToraldris   -`-,-{@     Zen Nud... Buddhist     @}-,-`-   East Coast, USA Veteran
    edited June 2014

    @SpinyNorman Yeah and imagine if we say "mind" is the background awareness within which all experience arises... everything except the mind would change. Guess it all depends on the "if", hehe. Everything changes except what doesn't. ;)  

    Buddhadragon
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @AldrisTorvalds said:
    SpinyNorman Yeah and imagine if we say "mind" is the background awareness within which all experience arises... everything except the mind would change. Guess it all depends on the "if", hehe. Everything changes except what doesn't. ;)  

    Defining mind is quite tricky in Buddhism. ;)

    Toraldris
  • ToraldrisToraldris   -`-,-{@     Zen Nud... Buddhist     @}-,-`-   East Coast, USA Veteran
    edited June 2014

    I think defining anything is tricky, in and out. So many words and ideas... some attempting to capture reality, others to mold reality to our desires. C'est la vie!

    lobster
  • MeisterBobMeisterBob Mindful Agnathiest CT , USA Veteran

    @Shoshin said:
    Kia Ora,

    Nothing really changes apart from ones mind...

    Metta Shoshin:)

    Perhaps. Some physicists hold that nothing exists until it is observed. Bob

    Earthninja
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    edited June 2014

    If everything was silent,
    how wonderful would that be?
    If everything vibrated,
    oh what a cacophony?

    perhaps the best place to see it all
    is between the two extremes
    then perhaps it might be said that
    this is all just stuff and dreams

    and all the time we sit here
    trying to witness the witnesser
    yet in doing so we find ourselves
    as the sinned instead of sinner

    so what to do, perhaps it's best
    to let it all just blow away
    but for now I just want to see
    what you write here every day...

    Mettha

    JeffreysovaBuddhadragon
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    MAHAMUDRA ASPIRATION PRAYER
    cited by Khenpo Tstultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

    "Looking at objects, there are no objects:
    they are seen to be mind.
    Looking at mind, there is no mind:
    it is empty of essence.
    Looking at both liberates dualistic
    clinging in its own ground.

    May we realize luminosity,
    the true nature of mind."

    From the "Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer" by the third Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje.

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    @MeisterBob said:

    LOL

    it appears from interacting through the NewBuddhist quotation system as if you have said nothing . . . when you have.

    I am not aware of any physics apart from a very liberal interpretation of entanglement that requires a mind observing the mechanical universe in order to exist . . .


    The potential meanings of meaning:

    Mean can refer to a statistic mid point and to be tight or mean. The imprecise interpretation of language allows us to choose the worst or best of possibilities. Wanting to be understood in exactly the way intended is not utilising other potentials of language that are poetic or less usefully personal gibberish. In the online environment people manage to find the worst meaning unless qualified with emoticons, positive reinforcement, clarification etc.

    However when we write speech we can also listen to more interpretations than our own . . .

    JeffreyStraight_Man
  • MeisterBobMeisterBob Mindful Agnathiest CT , USA Veteran

    @lobster said:I am not aware of any physics apart from a very liberal interpretation of entanglement that requires a mind observing the mechanical universe in order to exist . . .

    Yes ,hence "some" ....and there are variations of this speculation. Niels Bohr originally came up with the Copenhagen interpretation in 1920 basically stating that things exist in ALL states at once until observed.

    http://discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/featuniverse

    http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~aephraim/HardyExpt.html

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    @MeisterBob‌ appreciate the links, many thanks :clap: .

  • MeisterBobMeisterBob Mindful Agnathiest CT , USA Veteran

    @lobster said:
    MeisterBob‌ appreciate the links, many thanks :clap: .

    Most welcome! Just Google "nothing exists until it's observed" and with a bit of sifting -days of intriguing reading
    Love this stuff
    BTW A new season of "Through the Wormhole" with Morgan Freeman starts this Wednesday . One if the few TV shows I watch

  • @lobster said:

    What have you heard that has changed in meaning . . . perhaps several times?

    @lobster said:
    As some have discerned Dharma can be pedantic and precise over language. In a way that would shame federica.

    In other traditions for example the Sufi use of multiple levels of meaning in Arabic poetry or the multi layered kabbalistic readings of the Bible by changing the vowels, we have more than only one certain meaning.

    In dharma this occurs too, for example one of my favs, the Mahayana dictum 'Emptiness is a form waiting to be filled' . . . something like that . . .
    http://www.cttbusa.org/heartsutra/hs10.htm

    What have you heard that has changed in meaning . . . perhaps several times?

    People confuse 'letting go' with 'not caring' all the time.

    lobster
  • DaozenDaozen Veteran

    "Meaning" is entirely contextual. So naturally, it constantly changes.

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    @Daozen said:
    "Meaning" is entirely contextual. So naturally, it constantly changes.

    I would suggest it is our understanding that changes, meaning the context for us has a range of possibilities. Is this what you mean?

  • DaozenDaozen Veteran

    Yes, our understanding changes. But so does everything else in the universe. Hence the whole context changes.

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    Yes. Everything changes. And the mind by nature has a sense of yielding to the change that is fortunate. But also a cutting precision and vision.

  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    :)

    Cutting precision is an important skill. When the speech is right it is precise but still ambiguous. How many ways and times has the Truth been spoken? Precise or focussed reception is the key. Speech is always 'wrong' just a rite or convention. When we can hear without comment, then we are at the wordless Right Speech . . .

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