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Food for thought (and YES - this belongs in Buddhism for Beginners)
“if we impose our own interpretations or omit anything we are destroying Buddhadharma” (Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 22; see also Great Treasury of Merit, p. 41),
So we must investigate what is open to interpretation and what is not.
So we must investigate what is open to interpretation and what is not.
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Comments
If you're pointing out that sometimes we see things that people have written that seem to come from them alone, I am inclined to agree that that happens a lot, and it bothers me.
But we can share experiences and opinions without citations, right?
thus everything is truth and nothing is truth. it's a non-dual realization.
the function is to put the mind against the mind. how can there be infinite amount of interpretations of one reality? this is only possible if there is one reality and that reality is divided by conceptual thinking. what are interpretations? just thoughts and ownership of those thoughts.
reality as it is. the sky is blue. the dog barks. you eat food. reality right now is objective already. but it allows for our subjectivity. thus it is a radical subjectivity meeting objectivity.
Could you clarify that a bit in reference to the OP?
So we must investigate what is open to interpretation and what is not.
-the statement above is a contradiction. we destroy the buddhadharma if we project an idea onto reality (interpretation) or if we don't project anything onto reality.
how can you project/not project? this paradox cancels out and there you are standing here and now in silence. it doesn't make any sense. this you're pinning the mind against the mind (how a koan functions). you realize there is no answer other than the nothingness/stillness/emptiness. which isn't the "idea" of emptiness but a felt sensation/intuition felt from the neck down. it's the still point where no words can go. so the words are a device to get you to realize the still point within us all.
how can you destroy the buddhadharma? you can first project an idea onto reality. and most people are stuck on their subjectivity. they are stuck on their separateness, which is nothing but conceptual. with the realization of emptiness as the ground to all of existence (objectivity). one see's that both the subject and object are just two sides of the same coin. samsara and nirvana are one. reality is one. we fragment the one with concepts, thus creating subjectivity.
so if you play in samsara you destroy buddhadharma. if you play in just nirvana you destroy buddhadharma.
the trick is to do both at the same time because that is an all encompassing reality of both subject/object.
thus if it is all encompassing (everything) it is nothing.
To help, I've learned at 'Philosophy' class tha tthere are three types of truth :
1. Truth through correpsondence
e.g.: Outside is raining. How do I know this ? I relate to the whole metheorological conditions of rain ( dark clouds, water drops falling from the sky, etc.)
2. Truth through coherence
e.g.: You read a novel. Even it is fiction in reality, the story seems true (for the novel). In other words, if in a system ( of phrases), every part of it is coherent and there is no contradiction between two distinct parts of it, then the system is valid, and thus, true.
3. Truth through utility
e.g.: "God exists". Is this phrase useful to me ( helps me in my practice of what-so-ever) ? If yes, then it is true. If not, then it is not true.
Remember this : " Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum." ( I find it relevant to this topic
P.S.: 1.I tried to translate the titles of my little philosophy lessons, but...I think you get the idea.
2. I think I just went off-topic...
I'm really sorry. I just get really lost in your presentation of paradox upon paradox and so forth. Just speaking for myself, I can't make sense of what you're saying.
I'm damned if I understand