by Tang Huyen

"Aimer Dieu est moins penser à Lui, que voir toutes choses avec ses yeux à Lui."
— Henri Niel, Hegel

Impersonally speaking, any resistance comes from
the self, and in the absence of self there is no
resistance.

"Monks, as low-down thieves might carve one limb
from limb with a double-handed saw, yet even then
whoever sets his mind at enmity — he, for this
reason, is not a doer of my teaching. Herein, you
should train yourselves thus: 'Neither will our minds
become perverted, nor will we utter an evil speech,
but kindly and compassionately will we dwell, with
a mind of friendliness (mettā-citta), void of hatred;
and, beginning with him, we will dwell having
suffused the whole world with a mind of friendliness
that is far-reaching, widespread, immeasurable,
without enmity, without malevolence.' This is how
you must train yourselves, monks."

This sutta is called "The Parable of the Saw."

MN, I, 129 (21), translated in MLS, I, 165–166;
MA, 30, 465a–466c; 193, 746a;
Mahā-vibhāṣa, T, 27, 1545, 190a–b.

When you efface yourself fully, what remains is God,
and you see everything with God's eye. The condition
is that you don't mentate anything, God included.

Henri Niel, Hegel. Les preuves de l'existence de Dieu, 13:
"Aimer Dieu est moins penser à Lui, que voir toutes
choses avec ses yeux à Lui."

Loving God is less thinking about Him than seeing
all things with His eyes.

Colophon

Posted to talk.religion.buddhism on July 17, 2004, in reply to "Bmitch," who observed that not-doing and not-resisting seemed to require "enormous courage." Author: Tang Huyen. Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

The Kakacūpama Sutta (MN 21, "The Parable of the Saw") is the locus classicus for the Buddha's most extreme formulation of non-enmity: even under the saw, the monk must not set his mind at enmity, or he has failed the teaching. Tang Huyen quotes the sutta with full cross-references to both Pali and Chinese Agama sources, then turns without transition to Henri Niel's remark about Hegel and God — a reminder that the same capacity for self-effacement has a mystical formulation in the Western tradition: to love God is not to think about him but to see through his eyes. The juxtaposition of the Pali sutta and the French philosopher is characteristic of Tang Huyen's cross-traditional range.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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