Comments on: Telekinesis

By: Ghostwoods

Ghostwoods — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:02:24 +0000

Don’t be crazy, Dave — bring on the Zen! I love that koan. Very true, and a damn fine point.
I also agree that getting obsessive over the collection of psychic abilities is every bit as negative as getting obsessive over anything else, and psy is a shinier, more exciting lure than the great majority of traps. As long as it’s kept in perspective though, I don’t think it’s any worse than any other life path, and it can be a lot more positive than some!

By: Dave C

Dave C — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:19:16 +0000

Good point Tim. I am going to introduce ‘degrees of attachment’. At one end of the scale we have the Buddha (a fully unattached being who creates no karma), then moving along we have the wandering ascetic and monastic practitioner, then the lay practitioner, the non practitioner and finally the Hungry Ghosts.

The Buddha taught that the avoidance of unpleasant sensations is not possible for humans. We will grow old, sick, and eventually die. We will come into contact with things we do not like. Our decision is either attachment or non attachment. For example the famous ‘Muddy Road’ koan…

Tanzan and Ekido were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

“Come on, girl,” said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. “We monks don’t do near females,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”

“I left the girl there,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”

The cultivation of ’supernatural’ abilities can be a dead end path. One becomes focused only on these and ignores all other signals (or Reality Tunnels as RAW calls them). Zen practice does not have the goal of producing Zenbots (unfeeling zen robots), for the Zen proverb says “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”

But I don’t want to derail your blog with discussions of Zen/Buddhist philosophy :)

By: Ghostwoods

Ghostwoods — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:51:19 +0000

From a non-attachment point of view Dave, I can see where they’re coming from. Personally, I feel the best strategy for escaping the wheel is to live life and learn from it, rather than to avoid it…

By: Dave C

Dave C — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:52:31 +0000

Some Zen Masters warned their pupils that these ’supernatural’ abilities where an impediment on the path. This is, I imagine, because it is easy to become attached to these abilities, and thus become drawn back into samsara.

By: Samuel Eaton

Samuel Eaton — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:43:01 +0000

something to see