Struan Hellier wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> Dan, my point was not that people who take drugs are 'brainless oafs,' but that people who think
> drugs have any place in Zen Buddhism are. I didn't pass judgement upon those who take drugs (Notice
> that I haven't said I don't take, or haven't taken, drugs) and was even at pains to label the point,
> lest I be misunderstood. Next, if someone were serious about Zen they simply would not want to take
> drugs and that is that. Finally, God forbid we should bring morals into an argument about the MoQ.
> That really would not do, would it?
Hi Struan
I don't care if you have or haven't taken drugs and I never admitted to
doing or not doing so either. My concern for moralistic overtones are
that these are Victorian in nature and not Quality centered, where value
is all. Drugs are being condemned for no other reason than they are
"bad" and scary. Ooooo.
>
> Let us hope that the matter is now clarified and that all of us can come down from the ceiling long
> enough to read each others' postings properly.
>
> On another matter, David Lind is absolutely right. The best things take time. The shallow
> pseudo-dynamism of drug taking is the resort of the weak minded, stupid and lazy. It bears no
> comparison to the dynamic experience of mastering a musical instrument, the tools of the sculptor,
> the brush of the artist, or hearing with a trained ear the music of Du Pre, or Perlman, or listening
> to Stephen Hawking giving a lecture and understanding how dynamic and how beautiful he is, or a
> great opera by Wagner . . . . etc, etc. How dull, how lifeless and how futile is the surreptitious,
> schoolboy thrill of popping a chemical in your mouth. Dan, you may feel sad that some people don't
> know what an experience taking drugs can be. I say to you that, if that is your idea of
> mind-blowing, you have a very deprived existence.
Struan, I am not discussing schoolboy thrills here. Been out of school
way too long for that. I am discussing serious exploration of reality by
altering how it is perceived. You have no more clue to whether my
existence is deprived that I do if yours is. Depraved... maybe. That's
been said before. But no matter. I used "mind-blowing" metaphorically
and not literally as you seem to have read into it.
Intellectual pursuits that you list are all wonderful. Got no beef with
anything you say really. You won't find any magic there though. None.
Its all old news and yesterdays headlines. You won't find Dynamic
Quality by thinking about it.
As far as zen Buddhism, I am sure you know much more of it than I. I've
read very little and have done no formal practice, only "bompu", or
ordinary zen. I suspect there is far more to zen than you yet realize.
But then, who can say?
Dan
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