by Tang Huyen
When mentation is quiesced, gently and not forcibly, one paradoxical effect
is that on one hand the whole universe comes alive and seems so present, so
alive, so vibrant, and on the other it also seems to be a block universe,
wherein everything is at rest and nothing moves.
When mentation goes away, nothing changes, but
the presence! The vitality! The vibrance!
Identity is the linking pin of and for mentation, and its
worst product.
The main difference between Buddhism and
Brahmanism/Hinduism is that Buddhism does away
with any and all identity (any "I", self or "I am")
whereas Brahmanism/Hinduism sticks to some
form of very attenuated identity, be it One or
something attributeless, so attributeless as not even
be attributeless, and makes it ultimate.
When mentation is quiesced, gently and not
forcibly, one paradoxical effect is that on one hand
the whole universe comes alive and seems so
present, so alive, so vibrant, and on the other it
also seems to be a block universe, wherein
everything is at rest and nothing moves. Nothing
comes and nothing goes. Everything is static,
everything stays where it is for all eternity. And
yet everything is so incredibly dynamic, too!
Colophon
Written by Tang Huyen and posted to alt.philosophy.zen,
alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.zen, talk.religion.buddhism,
and alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan on 5 January 2006.
This post appeared in a thread on Zazen and identity,
in reply to Awaken21. Original Message-ID:
<[email protected]>.
Tang Huyen was a regular contributor to Buddhist Usenet
groups through the 2000s, distinguished by rigorous
citation of Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese canonical sources
alongside Western scholarship. This post gives the
most compact statement of the block-universe paradox
in his corpus: the quiesced mind experiences the world
as simultaneously more alive than ever and utterly still,
a flowing block.
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work
Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>.
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