Interesting selections Paul and Phil. I like this one from Mark Epstein (1995)
(Thoughts Without a Thinker : Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective)
The point is that the entire ego is not transcended; the self-representation is
revealed as lacking concrete existence. It is not the case of something real
being eliminated, but of the essential groundlessness being revealed for what
has always been. (p. 98)
Molly
"Paul H.Dillon" wrote:
> Phil,
>
> there's some confusion I think about the dancer/dance image. As I
> understand it, for buddhism there is neither dancer nor dance, nor is there
> not dancer or dance. For William Butler Yeats however the figure was clear:
>
> "Labour is blossoming or dancing where
> The body is not bruised to pleasure soul
> Nor beauty born out of its own despair
> Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
> O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer,
> Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
> O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
> How can we know the dancer from the dance?"
>
> W.B. Yeats, "Easter, 1916"
>
> My interest has something to do with whether there is a direction to the
> process or if it's just an endless going round and round, Kerouac's greating
> grinding meat wheel, which the buddhists would have us leave behind, pass on
> to the other shore, even if you're a mahayana buddhist who renounce
> enlightenment until all hitchhikers, proceeding in all directions, finally
> get a ride (pace Gary Snyder).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
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