P’ang Yun, (740–808 CE) also known as Layman Pang, was a celebrated lay Buddhist in the Chan tradition. He came from a wealthy family, but when he became concerned that his wealth was distracting him from his spiritual path, he decided to divest himself of his possessions. Rather than burdening anyone else with them, he put all his goods in a boat and sank them in the middle of a lake. He and his wife and daughter then began wandering from Buddhist temple to temple, earning a living making bamboo utensils. By the time of his death he was a recognised spiritual master, well known in southern China.
There is no I and there is no other.
How can there be intimacy or estrangement?
I recommend giving up trying to get there by meditation,
But rather, directly seizing the reality at hand.
The message of the Diamond Sutra is:
Nothing is excluded from our experienced world.
From beginning to end,
It inevitably exposes our false identities.
Translation Stephen Mitchell
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This reminds of a story I heard about an old Aboriginal elder who in the 80s was given a TV to entertain him. He was so horrified by the harm it could do that he took it to the local rubbish tip and broke it into pieces. Other community members were shocked and asked him why he just didn’t give it away. He replied that he couldn’t let young o pop epilepsy use such a dangerous thing.
I sometimes wonder if we shouldn’t have done that to our smart phones
Thank you, dear Bhakti for your response. It looks like ‘auto-correct’ may have altered your message a bit, but your sense is quite clear.