Topic: I dont know

[Endless~Knot]

The emperor, who was a devout Buddhist, invited a great Zen master to the Palace in order to ask him questions about Buddhism. "What is the highest truth of the holy Buddhist doctrine?" the emperor inquired.
"Vast emptiness... and not a trace of holiness," the master replied.

"If there is no holiness," the emperor said, "then who or what are you?"

"I do not know," the master replied.

[Endless~Knot]

I wonder when reading this if this is ultimately the way the path must lead, that the path of knowledge, must lead us into the realm where we just simply, do not know, and we have to know only that.

Something more sound than claiming to 'know,' esp what we cannot, and just believe ourselves to know which may be false knowledge.

[daphne]

I don't know; the more I think on things, the more I realize that I don't really know anything. Pretty much blind deaf and dumb as to what's it all about! 
Doesn't stop me wondering though!   

[Endless~Knot]

I don't know; the more I think on things, the more I realize that I don't really know anything. Pretty much blind deaf and dumb as to what's it all about! 
Doesn't stop me wondering though!   

Thats good tho. It means you've done a lot of work in stripping down the false, thats very important.

[Michael]

"then who or what are you?"

"I do not know," the master replied.

I am always reminded of the man who would be Vice president of the USA - the one who had spent some time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. At his big speech he asked, "Who am I?"

They didn't get it: "Why would we elect a man who doesn't even know who he is?"
His career ended right there.

What does that say about the American mind?
in light of your above quote...

[Endless~Knot]

I am always reminded of the man who would be Vice president of the USA - the one who had spent some time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. At his big speech he asked, "Who am I?"

They didn't get it: "Why would we elect a man who doesn't even know who he is?"
His career ended right there.

What does that say about the American mind?
in light of your above quote...

American mind? I wouldnt blame it on that. I would say goes back to Greece and Know Thyself, and the sharp contrast to the zen mind, which admits once it strips all the ego-baggage, what is left is like the above, puts one in a state of not knowing 'who' they are, cause they did away with the phantom self, the false *I*

I read something recently in the east/west comparison, that the west needs to learn to do away with ego, but the east needs to learn to build up one a bit, not be so totally selfless. Perhaps in the east/west philosphies, a happy medium is required.

[daphne]

I read something recently in the east/west comparison, that the west needs to learn to do away with ego, but the east needs to learn to build up one a bit, not be so totally selfless. Perhaps in the east/west philosphies, a happy medium is required.

I read that somewhere too, (new-age literature I think ) though I disagree with it. The east hardly lacks ego. Ego is a human condition, whether east, west, north or south (Africa - we have it a lot here!)

[Endless~Knot]

I read that somewhere too, (new-age literature I think ) though I disagree with it. The east hardly lacks ego. Ego is a human condition, whether east, west, north or south (Africa - we have it a lot here!)

I think its more of a mindset. East views the ego more of an enemy than the west does. They do a deconstruction process more than the west, tho we're seeing this more coming forth in the west, with eastern spiritualities becoming more present, folks looking into old wisdom from that direction.

[Michael]

I recall who it was: Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale

"It was terribly frustrating because I remember I started with, "Who am I? Why am I here?" and I never got back to that because there was never an opportunity for me to explain my life to people. It was so different from Quayle and Gore. The four years in solitary confinement in Vietnam, seven-and-a-half years in prisons, drop the first bomb that started the ... American bombing raid in the North Vietnam. We blew the oil storage tanks of them off the map. And I never—I couldn't approach—I don't say it just to brag, but, I mean, my sensitivities are completely different."