![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sake_shinigami2021-02-08 03:43 am
Entry tags:
The Art of Japanese Culture through Untranslatable Words; Monday, Fourth Period [02/08].
"Konnichiwa, ducklings ♥!" Shunsui, of course, had his usual pleased smile and comfortable spot in the circle when it was time for them to gather around. "Today, we should have an easy class," as if any of them had been particularly taxing thus far!, "because we are going to be talking about nothing. Or, rather, no-thing ♥, because today, we are talking about mu ♥!"
mu
無
no-thing, no-mind
"Not to be confused, of course, with ma," a nod to Astrid-chan on that one, "which deals with nothing specifically in the sense of negative space, mu is a much broader concept of nothing and no thing. Derived from Buddhist philosophy and koans where the answer is either impossible to determine or not what one might expect, or that the answer, since this is Buddhism, simply does not matter. It is...a mu-ot point ♥."
Yes, he was terribly proud of that one.
"The idea is that, if someone were to ask what the sound of one hand clapping is or whether or not a dog has Buddha's nature, the answer is simply mu. To some, they may immediately think that this means there is no sound of one hand clapping and a dog does not have Buddha's nature, and in a sense, that may be true. But to an enlightened mind, there is also the suggestion that such an answer merely does not exist, that making such distinctions is already setting one along the wrong path of thinking, by trying to find meaning where there is none. Suggesting that the answer is mu is like saying that neither yes nor no is the correct answer to a question; the answer is entirely something else beyond our usual black-and-white way of regarding things.
"It is...not the most easy concept to grasp unless one is in the habit of thinking that way; after all, it has its roots in Zen, which can take many full lifetimes to master, and perhaps not even then! It is used as a concept meant to break through the conceptual fog of the world we precieve around us, to break down the barriers of perception, and sometimes spark Enlightenment. It's own nature is counterintuitive to its understanding; one cannot understand mu through rational, logical study and consideration! Understanding mu by traditional logic is often described as 'trying to smash one's fist through an iron wall'....so I certainly don't expect any of us here today to become masterful of it today ♥! But I would perhaps like to discuss it if you have your own thoughts and ideas and questions surrounding it, and then perhaps spend some time ruminating on it, and maybe experience a bit of mu for ourselves ♥."
And he actually did intend to meditate on the concept rather than napping, thank you.
"Hopefully," he added with a smile, "with less wall-smashing ♥."
無
no-thing, no-mind
"Not to be confused, of course, with ma," a nod to Astrid-chan on that one, "which deals with nothing specifically in the sense of negative space, mu is a much broader concept of nothing and no thing. Derived from Buddhist philosophy and koans where the answer is either impossible to determine or not what one might expect, or that the answer, since this is Buddhism, simply does not matter. It is...a mu-ot point ♥."
Yes, he was terribly proud of that one.
"The idea is that, if someone were to ask what the sound of one hand clapping is or whether or not a dog has Buddha's nature, the answer is simply mu. To some, they may immediately think that this means there is no sound of one hand clapping and a dog does not have Buddha's nature, and in a sense, that may be true. But to an enlightened mind, there is also the suggestion that such an answer merely does not exist, that making such distinctions is already setting one along the wrong path of thinking, by trying to find meaning where there is none. Suggesting that the answer is mu is like saying that neither yes nor no is the correct answer to a question; the answer is entirely something else beyond our usual black-and-white way of regarding things.
"It is...not the most easy concept to grasp unless one is in the habit of thinking that way; after all, it has its roots in Zen, which can take many full lifetimes to master, and perhaps not even then! It is used as a concept meant to break through the conceptual fog of the world we precieve around us, to break down the barriers of perception, and sometimes spark Enlightenment. It's own nature is counterintuitive to its understanding; one cannot understand mu through rational, logical study and consideration! Understanding mu by traditional logic is often described as 'trying to smash one's fist through an iron wall'....so I certainly don't expect any of us here today to become masterful of it today ♥! But I would perhaps like to discuss it if you have your own thoughts and ideas and questions surrounding it, and then perhaps spend some time ruminating on it, and maybe experience a bit of mu for ourselves ♥."
And he actually did intend to meditate on the concept rather than napping, thank you.
"Hopefully," he added with a smile, "with less wall-smashing ♥."