Something about Zen that seems to relate to photography.

Vaughn · May 12, 2018

A mirage.

jtk · May 15, 2018

A koan is a question without an answer. Right?

RattyMouse · May 15, 2018

jtk said:
A koan is a question without an answer. Right?

Not exactly.

A Koan is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and test a student's progress in Zen practice. A kōan is not meaningless, and not a riddle or a puzzle. Teachers do expect students to present an appropriate response when asked about a kōan.

jtk · May 15, 2018

RattyMouse said:
Not exactly.

A Koan is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and test a student's progress in Zen practice. A kōan is not meaningless, and not a riddle or a puzzle. Teachers do expect students to present an appropriate response when asked about a kōan.

Ratty, thanks. You've demonstrated some point hilariously. LOL

One of zen's mousetraps is scholarly attitude. Whatever zen is, it isn't definitions, expertise, foreign terms.

RattyMouse · May 15, 2018

jtk said:
Ratty, thanks. You've demonstrated some point hilariously. LOL

One of zen's mousetraps is scholarly attitude. Whatever zen is, it isn't definitions, expertise, foreign terms.

One of the greatest privileges of my life has been to study and practice with the Venerable Samu Sunim. I visited a Buddhist temple during my very first trip to Asia 22 years ago and when I returned back to Chicago I searched out and found not 1 mile from my home one of the most humble and humorous Zen masters in all the US. Meeting him was an immense gift and I cherish those memories of chanting Yebul with him in the darkened temple lit only by candles. Or studying the Heart Sutra with him. Or listening to him recite the Metta Sutra, which alone convinced me to renounce meat eating and adopt a vegetarian diet. He had (and still has) such immense passion for the Dharma. I am always inspired by Sunim. I miss him dearly (he now resides in NYC). I love him more than my own father.

cliveh · May 15, 2018

Oh yes, yes, yes. Read Zen and the Art of Archery. It was a book given to HCB by Georges Braque in the 1950's. Not I may add to influence, but to state what he was already doing.

jtk · May 15, 2018

cliveh said:
Oh yes, yes, yes. Read Zen and the Art of Archery. It was a book given to HCB by Georges Braque in the 1950's. Not I may add to influence, but to state what he was already doing.

Zen and the Art of Archery was required reading (true) in one of my 1964 college classes. I'm an archer...shot today in anticipation of an event Friday and Saturday. Traditional equipment, no wheels. In 1964 that book reminded me of archery realities in the 50s (e.g. killed a deer with my grandfather's 1929 lemonwood longbow). It floated in my consciousness on its own until the 80s, when I fell in with a bunch of genuine midwest/southerner tradesman types who had grown up hunting with arrows and who also read that book. Now I'm mostly connected with Navajo who probably don't read it, having no need to do it.

Important to note that zen practice isn't Buddhism and that neither zen nor Buddhism condemn meat eating.

Also, fun rules.

APLJ · May 15, 2018

If you haven't read it, The Tao of Photography is a fantastic book.

Something about Zen that seems to relate to photography.

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