Time is bonkers
- Thread starter LOAM
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No house, no mind, but the grass is green and the sky is blue.
I think you'll find the sky is bronze.
The toast is ready before the switch is thrown.
While the sayings may seem nonsensical, the whole point is that in Buddhist teaching (and these are Zen Buddhist koans/riddles) true understanding is said to transcend the limits of words and logic. As such, Zen masters of old would challenge students with impossible and/or nonsensical 'riddles' on which they'd meditate for days, weeks or even years.
Eventually the idea was that the student would have a breakthrough and come to a realisation beyond the logic of the situation. A bit like the old banana analogy we all discussed a while back.
Soldato
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No house, no mind, but the grass is green and the sky is blue.
Never mind that I'm more concerned with Jesus fighting that polar bear!
I always knew the Zionists were behind global warming. It's all an elaborate scam against the polar bears, damnit.
The toast is ready before the switch is thrown.
While the sayings may seem nonsensical, the whole point is that in Buddhist teaching (and these are Zen Buddhist koans/riddles) true understanding is said to transcend the limits of words and logic. As such, Zen masters of old would challenge students with impossible and/or nonsensical 'riddles' on which they'd meditate for days, weeks or even years.
Eventually the idea was that the student would have a breakthrough and come to a realisation beyond the logic of the situation. A bit like the old banana analogy we all discussed a while back.
tats not where the tree falling one comes from though
That's really not surprising.
To be fair though there's an underlying message, at least in my posts (I can't speak for anyone else). Time, the concept of time, and our experience of the universe is by definition subjective and un-knowable. By our very measurement and observation of it, it changes.
We try to order our experience into terms of 'time', 'space' and so on but in reality these are mere labels ascribed to a flow of subjective experience. While the thread may have gone 'bonkers' it's actually just as valid a way to experience and describe the now as any other.
Not if the wavelengths of light that pertain to red did not exist. Reality is about the perception of the individual.
This is a question that gets pretty interesting when you speculate on inverted spectra mutants...
tats not where the tree falling one comes from though
It's often ascribed to various (Rinzai sect) masters, but nobody really knows as it's not in the main canon of works. However, it does echo the lesser-known 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?' which is a similar sentiment.
Soldato
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This isn't entirely true anymore as our knowledge is far greater than that which we can naturally percieve now as we've surpassed our limitations through use of technological and theoretical means.
Exunctly. The reason I was asking about the brick is because if you cannot perceive the brick, or cannot perceive the red wavelength; by definition the brick cannot be red
Exunctly. The reason I was asking about the brick is because if you cannot perceive the brick, or cannot perceive the red wavelength; by definition the brick cannot be red
Technically if you can't perceive the brick there is no brick.
Hardly. It's just a rubbish attempt at philosophy, really.
Yet it is still entirely reliant upon the perception, be it through out senses, technology or ability to theorise.
The Brick is red because it reacts to specific wavelengths of light, if those wavelengths did not exist then the Brick would not be Red.
Equally the Brick is only Red under certain conditions, similar to water, which is only water when it is liquid, otherwise it is Ice if Solid and Vapour if Gaseous. Our perception and the conditions set by external conditions define that reality.
Is the Brick Red?, well that depends........there is not more accurate answer.
Various books I've read quote it, including the Three Pillars of Zen by Roshi Philip Kapleau (iirc). If you know any differently it'd be nice if you said so rather than cryptically dragging it out over half a dozen posts.
Technically if you can't perceive the brick there is no brick.
...and therefore cannot be red, QED
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Basically who cares I (and the majority of the population of this planet {except maybe those who are colour blind}) percieve it as red therefore it's still red!