Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail From: i@no.self (!) Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.philosophy.zen,alt.zen Subject: Re: Is Buddha-nature immutable? Organization: Sonoma Interconnect,Santa Rosa,CA(us),http://www.sonic.net Lines: 27 Sender: yronwode@sonic.net Message-ID: <8t4qta$vsq@bolt.sonic.net> References: <8rds7i$nv1$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <39DA8637.EEACC6EC@dingoblue.com.au> <8re729$4o$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Reply-To: spam@luckymojo.com X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.4 (NOV) Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 20:14:07 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.224.36 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 972418447 208.201.224.36 (Tue, 24 Oct 2000 13:14:07 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 13:14:07 PDT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:25803 alt.philosophy.zen:49966 alt.zen:196953 doctor_arcane@my-deja.com: | ...I get uncomfortable when people refer to Immutable Big Mind, | it reminds me of 'God' which seems contrary to anatta. Perhaps | the thing to do is not think about it. However, I question what I | strive for. I don't think a giant disembodied eternal mind is a healthy | thing to build your belief around. Maybe I'm missing something but is | this what Buddha meant? building belief around a word or idea is common method of self-coddling. when cosmos won't sit still to resolve our anxiety about grasping after its particulars, then we may construct some apparently stable structure (knowledge) for the purpose of attempting to achieve security. this knowledge may include names of changing beings we apprehend or intuit whether that name is applied to some grand Stage of All Manifestation (as the term 'Mind' seems to imply, being an analogy to internal mind) or to some cosmic principle or person that/who is supposed to include the ten-thousand in its/their being is somewhat irrelevant. the ideas of mutability and immutability are themselves dependent and incomplete in themselves even these gods and stages are not contrary to anatman. relative changelessness demonstrates no absolute quality, it merely sets into contrast fast from slow moving ultimately knowledge-about is a distraction, though it can become the stick used to drive out splinters