





BUDDHA IN THE BHUMI-SPARSHA MUDRA POSE, ANCIENT RUINS, NGARI, TIBET





PRELUDE



Before getting into the specifics of the rules and schedules, which follow below, there are those who breath hard and jump-up-and-down as to what I cite or call as doing hard time in a Zen monastery, a monastery they take as being in Tibet, with Zen and Tibet not necessarily buddying up together. First, in my own words, for the readers sake, I call it a Zen monastery primarily because of what and how what was taught within it's walls was taught. Buddhism in it's purest form. Buddhism in it's purest form is what Zen claims as it's heritage. Secondly, as to any location thereof, I present the following as found in an opening paragraph in the main text above:





"The thing is, not known to most, high in the mountains and plateaus bordering up and behind that swath, in an almost impenetrable area, there exists many ancient and unknown to the outside world and all its turmoil, basically unhindered and unmolested, a smattering of monasteries not only operating almost independent of time but a select few actually operating independent of time."





As to the monastery being Tibet specific I usually state it was perched precariously high up on the side of some steep Chinese mountain situated somewhere along the southern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet plateau encompassing a much larger area than simply just Tibet itself. Also, as found at the very end of Section III of The Code Maker, The Zen Maker, speaking of the same situation, that is, the monk and I having left Chiang Mai I write:





"(T)he two of us left on foot traveling north high into the mountains through Laos, Burma, and on into the mountainous regions nobody knows who they belong to, basically retracing the steps of the ancient trade route known as the Chamadao that evolved from the even more ancient Silk Road."





A clear line is being made as to the monastery's location. The monk and I traveled north high into the mountains through Laos, Burma, and on into the mountainous regions nobody knows who they belong to --- mountainous regions nobody knows who they belong to. There are those who may draw a map here or there indicating where the borders of a given country are and how that country borders up against another, but in real life, once in the mountains over passes and through canyons, nobody knows. The following is from a work of non-fiction titled The Way of the White Clouds (1966) as found in the source so cited and speaking of the Himalayas:





"(T)he surrounding highlands, accessible only through some narrow rock-clefts and gorges, known only to the local inhabitants, there were flower-bedecked gardens, surrounded by trees and fields of golden wheat and fertile pastures, through which, like silver veins, flowed the water of crystal-clear mountain streams. There were lofty temples, monasteries and castles, rising from the surrounding rock-pinnacles, and thousands of neatly carved cave-dwellings, in which people lived comfortably, without encroaching on the valuable, fertile soil. They lived in a climate of eternal sunshine, protected from the cold winds of the highlands and from the ambitions and the restlessness of the outer world." (source)





The monastery of which I speak is one of the ones operating independent of time. Such entities are beyond both time and place. Others aren't. If you have read of the exploits of the Buddhist monk Hui Shen , said to have traveled to what is now called North and Central America, but known in 500 AD as Fu Sang at the time of Hui Shen's travels, you will see he was, although a Buddhist monk, born somewhere within the landlocked area adjacent to China which now days would be considered Afghanistan. Borders, countries, religions, and present day deep-set cultures as they exist today have not always done so. What may seem out of place now, may not have been in the old days.





"One of the most basic forms of attachment is the mind's tendency to grasp after objects of thought and perception as real, and this tendency is reinforced in ideas that we have about the world." (see)





How far back in time one would have to go to reach the monastery's originating state or how far back the teachings of same therein go --- or even how far forward in Zen history it's teachings go --- is not known. However, from my own experience, in a hardline sort of way, it most certainly fully embraced and incorporated the procedural and philosophical teachings of the first Patriarch of Zen, Bodhidharma (5th or 6th century CE) thru to the teachings of Hui Neng , the Sixth Patriarch (638-713 CE).





"During my meditation periods on the monastery grounds outside and in front of the doors prior to any passing through into the monastery, the nighttime sky north star was Polaris, indicating a present day time frame reference. After passing through the monastery doors and exiting outside and around to the front, the nighttime north star was Vega, indicating a time frame reference around 12,000 BC, just at the end of the ice age ... OR in the future as stated above 13,727 AD, making for the creosote ring (and just as important) one full 26,000 year circumnavigation of the precession of the equinox." (see)





For more please click the following:











THE SCHEDULE



Day after day, week after week, month after month, rain, wind, snow, sun, hot or cold, the following schedule as listed below was, regardless of rank or position in the monastery, strictly followed and adhered to. Up at 2:45 AM, bedtime around 9:00 PM. When I say bedtime around 9:00 PM, you were expected to go to bed, but in practice after 9:00 PM the time was your own. Typically, after the long day you were wiped out, but you could bum with other monks, go outside the walls, work in the kitchen hoping for extra food, meditate. Even so, there was not many places to go and have a few drinks and kick back with the locals --- all of which, if there were any locals or drinks, were miles down the trail --- which was way to perilous to traverse at night for any reason. Such an endeavor, as enticing as it may sound, even if it did transpire, most likely would NOT have ended up similar in fashion as say, the tavern in Raiders of the Lost Ark owned by Marion Ravenwood, high in the mountains of Nepal. So said, although I NEVER indulged in anything of a suspect nature after my arrival, a few monks, even though it was strictly prohibited, were known for their ability to concoct some sort of unauthorized fermented brew on the side that if imbibed, would knock your socks off.









Although it was quite clear I was not of indigenous stock, and as well, not brought up through any local or regional system however formal or informal, in that I had studied under the Japanese Zen master Yasutani Hakuun Roshi I had some background as to how to conduct oneself under the conditions afforded by the monastery. Because of such, even though it would seem I had many strikes against me, I fit in somewhat more comfortablely than might be expected. I did not come pounding on the door either, but, in a near Nirodha state, sat silently in what seemed a power beyond my control in the Bhumi-sparsha Mudra pose for weeks on end like a latter day Hui K'o outside the monastery until I became a more or less familiar figure and fixture. By then, seemingly more Neanderthal than Homo sapien, after entering the monastery, the mere aspect of being seeped in Zen or Buddhist protocol in what should have been clearly a foreign environment for almost anybody, showed at least I was not a neophyte.

As for the monastery's daily schedule notice on the list below there is time set aside for what most would call breakfast as well as for lunch, but NONE for an evening meal. What is provided and eaten is not what most would call gourmet. No meat, table salt, coffee or sugar, but some of the best tea around, most often a tea that has been given the name Pu-erh. Although the tea was sometimes traded for by a few along the trail up from the south, the lands in which the monastery stood actually grew and aged their own, some saying the fertile lands, imbued with spirituality, is where Pu-erh tea originated. No electricity either, at least nowhere around the monastery, so on nights between clouds or without clouds, there were so many stars in the heavens they blanked out the night sky, so much so you could hardly make out any constellations.









2:30 AM wake up sounding board is struck three times.

The Chan hall Master and other main officers rise.

Fires in the ovens are lit.

2:45 AM wake up sounding board is struck four times, the monastery as a whole wakes up.

3:00 AM the bell outside the Chan Hall is sounded. Monks wash, use toilets, assemble in the meditation hall.

3:15 AM - 6:00 AM meditation.

6:00 AM breakfast.

6:30 AM - 12:00 PM meditation.

12:00 lunch.

12:30 work period.

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM meditation, work period, showers.

3:00 PM - 3:30 rest period, personal needs.

3:30 PM - 9:00 PM meditaion.

9:00 PM monastery prepares for bed.





There are rumblings that such a schedule could not be adhered to and still maintain the day-to-day needs and long term requirements for a monastery to function or operate supporting monks, etc. If you read further you will have seen how it comes about those needs are met and generally speaking, for the most part, is typical. When I first entered the monastery I was assigned latrine detail. Somebody had to be doing it before I was assigned and somebody had to be doing it after I was re-assigined.(see) For those who think the schedule to rugged and not allowing for things to be done, in a section found in a footnote down the page I refer to the Mahasi Meditation Center in Rangoon, Burma of which I attended for twelve weeks. Please compare their schedule with the Monastery Rules and Schedule listed previously above:





MAHASI MEDITATION CENTER: The Daily Program of Meditation Practice The day starts at a 3 a.m. and continues until 11 p.m. with breaks for meals, bath etc. almost the entire day is spent in silent individual meditative practice diversified with group sitting in a meditation hall. Individual sitting meditation is alternated with walking meditation. Individual interviews with the meditation teacher are scheduled at regular intervals to enable the Yogis to report their meditational experiences and to receive necessary guidance by their teacher for further progress. In addition, Dhamma discourses will be given from time to time to the practicing Yogis by the senior meditational Teachers. These discourses are meant to assist the Yogis in deepening their meditation practice. In this way each Yogi will receive personal attention and guidance throughout the entire course of meditation and will have an opportunity of gaining sufficient personal knowledge and experience of Satipatthana Vipassana Meditation through all stages of progressive Vipassana insight.





If you think both of those schedules are too much, foreign countries and all, i.e., China and Burma, what about America? By clicking one or the other or both links at the end of the sentence you can compare, for example, the schedules above with the American-based Mount Baldy Zen Center. Notice the similar around 3 a.m. start time, etc., etc. In the U.S. yet: OLD SCHEDULE . NEW SCHEDULE .





Besides the rituals and schedules put into place and followed, there is a relatively rigid hierarchy of rank and authority in a Zen monastery. Most people understand there is a Zen Master and possibly an Abbot, but they don't always know that from top to bottom there exists an almost quasi-military-like structure. In a near parallel of same, professor Robert H. Sharf, the Director of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at UC Berkeley, writes:

Zen monastic training involves a prolonged course of instruction in the elaborate ritual and ceremony of monastic life. Indeed, as a prerequisite for entering a monks' hall, a novice is expected to be familiar with the ceremonial life and etiquette of a Zen temple. (Most Zen priests are "temple sons" who grew up in a temple environment.) Thus, by the time he is ready for the hall a priest would already know how to chant, having memorized a few short sutras and other liturgical materials, most of which are written in Chinese. He would know how to wear his monastic robes and handle the ceremonial surplice (kesa), as well as how to make devotional offerings to the Buddhist deities enshrined throughout the temple complex. He would also ideally know how to feed the hungry ghosts, how to perform memorial rites, how to prepare and serve food, how to minister to visiting parishioners, and so on. This is not to say that adjustment to the monk's life is easy. A good deal of initiatory hazing is involved in the treatment of novice unsui (monks in training), and punishment for infractions, including infractions of which the novice may be unaware, is immediate and often severe. The organization of a monastery is rigidly hierarchical -- the unsui must learn to respond unquestioningly to the orders of his superiors, a category that initially includes virtually every member of the monastic community. At the same time, through close observation and imitation the novice is expected to quickly master the elaborate ritual protocol governing behavior in the meditation hall, the abbot's quarters, the Dharma hall, the kitchen, the toilet, the bathhouse, and other facilities. There is a scholastic component to Zen training as well: unsui are expected to become familiar with the classics of the Zen canon, whether through formal study as is done in the establishments, or in conjunction with koan training as is more common in Rinzai. All the while the unsui must learn to endure the physical and emotional discomfort involved in prolonged zazen. For those who will become masters, the course of monastic training can last fifteen years or more.(source)





The monks are of several categories. The Ssu shou are the leaders comprising the officers of the monastery such as the Meditation Master, the Chief Cook, the Business Manager, and the Treasurer. The Abbot usually has a male assistant as a secretary as well as a Scribe that deals with letters and documents related to commemoration of the dead, rituals and so on. The Ching chung are the ordinary monks while the Hang tang are the most menial doing such jobs as looking after rice supplies, water for tea, shower areas, and toilets. The Hsiang teng shi are cleaners and the Hsu shan foresters. The Chu i are kitchen staff. As well, although there is sometimes overlaps or shifting over time, monks are usually divided between those who work inside the monastery and those that work outside the monastery.(see)





The following, regarding the expected code of behavior for cloistered monastery-type monks, and how it applies to oneself and one's conduct within the community of a Zen monastery, is by Stuart Lachs --- as found in his paper "Coming Down from the Zen Clouds." Judging from my own personal experience I can, for the most part, attest to it's accuracy. The caveat "for the most part" is inserted however, because, at for least for me, there seemed to be more smoother corners to it all than rough edges:

In China, where Zen began, Zen monasteries became distinct from other Buddhist monasteries with the famous rules of P'ai-chang (749-814). P'ai-chang supposedly prescribed a strict code of behavior for all members of the monastic community along with severe penalties for improper behavior. All of the classical accounts of Pai-chang's founding of an independent system of Ch'an monastic training may be traced back to a single source: "Regulations of the Ch'an Approach" (Ch'an-men Kuei-shih) written in approximately 960 A.D. According to this text, "If the offender had committed a serious offense he was beaten with his own staff. His robe and bowl and other monkish implements were burned in front of the assembled community, and he was [thereby] expelled [from the order of Buddhist monks]. He was then thrown out [of the monastery] through a side gate as a sign of his disgrace. The rules applied to everyone. P'ai-chang further recommended that "a spiritually perceptive and morally praiseworthy person was to be named as abbot." This definitely implies a moral and social aspect to Ch'an life. This is the logic of Zen from its earliest formulation as a distinct Buddhist sect.





The following paragraph, from "TO LEAD IS TO SERVE: The Training of a Buddhist Abbot," describes the Abbot's role in the overall functioning of a monastery:

In traditional Buddhist monasteries, the abbot is both the spiritual and temporal head of the monastery. He leads all the monks in religious practice and ceremonies. He is the primary religious teacher in the community. He has the final word in all decisions, and the monks are expected to willingly accept his decisions even if they do not like them very much. He is the chief administrator, and has the last word on how the community's funds are spent. He is the final authority of the monastery's rules, and can make new rules when necessary. He appoints all the senior monks to their offices, and can remove them from those offices whenever necessary. It would therefore appear that the authority and "power" of the abbot is seemingly limitless, and that the responsibilities and duties of a Buddhist abbot are both desirable and to be eagerly sought for. However, the reality of the "power" and "authority" which the abbot seems to possess pales in comparison to the weight of his responsibilities and the complexities of his office. Whatever sort of joyful bubble of ability, exhilaration, and "power" which the new abbot has unfortunately allowed to form in his mind usually bursts within the first few years of abbatical service as the reality and weight of his office begin to settle on him. It is no wonder that, in China, monks who had been asked to become abbot of large monasteries sometimes disappeared mysteriously before the appointment could be made, while those who accepted the abbatical office in large monasteries would often die in office. (source)





If and after a certain level of Attainment is reached, a select few, either on their own or by a higher authority, will leave the austerity and strict rituals of the monastery, wending their way on foot, taking with them no more than a walking stick, bowl, and possibly extra sandals. Typically trading mental jousts along the way for food and lodging, but sometimes, for the lack of same, missing meals and seeking shelter in ruined temples, caves, or deserted houses by the roadside --- often suffering the severities of nature as well as the unkindness of man.





"He befriends kindred souls with whom he discusses problems and exchanges views. In this way personal experiences are widened and deepened, and his understanding grows. Then, one day, as what happened through the moon-driven events of Japan's first female Zen master, Chiyono, 'the bottom of the bucket dropped out,' he hears a chance remark of a charwoman, or a frivolous song of a dancing girl, or smells the quiet fragrance of a nameless flower and suddenly understands: the Buddha was 'like a piece of dung' and also 'like three pounds of flax.'" (see)





See HSING CHIAO: Traveling On Foot as well as CHIYONO: Japan's First Female Zen Master , and Parivrajaka .





UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE LORD BUDDHA



One day a very old and ancient man came down from the mountains and apparently asked to see the white monk who was said to be under the protection of the Lord Buddha. I was quickly brought before his presence. Because of respect paid him by all, plus the serenity he seemed to abide in, it was clear the man was Enlightened. Even so, no sooner had I arrived when a look of disappointment seemed to cross his face. As he turned to walk away, in a flash he swung back around with his staff swinging toward me. As I raised my arm to block the blow just as quickly he lowered the motion of the swing and before I was able to counter the move he had knocked me off my feet. Huge roars of laughter permeated the room. Here was this billion year old man who had easily knocked me to the ground and I know he must have been saying to everybody's enjoyment, "under the protection of Lord Buddha, my ass!" He extended the end of his staff to pull me up, which I took. He then strode out of the monastery and back into the mountains.

There was something about the old man that would not just let go and it continued to gnaw at me for the longest time. Months went by. Finally, when the weather turned such that I could, I sought the old man out, visiting him at what was not much more than a stone-pile hut along the edge of a stream. This time when I came before his presence there were no swinging staffs, only a sweeping open-palm hand offering me to join him for tea. Several days went by and during that time not one word passed between us. However, late in the evening of the day before I was planning on leaving, he grabbed at my sleeve if only for a second. When I turned to see what he wanted, he reached deep down into a pocket-like slit in the side of his garment and removed a small cloth bag. Inside the bag was a necklace made of string. Dangling on the string was what appeared to be an exact duplicate of the same small medallion I wore around my neck.

Previously, at least up to that point of my life having been mostly grounded in the typical every day Samsara construed chronological flow of time, I had never seen one similar. Twenty-five years later, after my return from the monastery and a 1000 years before, all that was to change. As found in Buddhism In America Before Columbus , and more specifically so, clearly delineated in The Mystic Aztec Sun God, there is mention of one Quatu-zaca, a divine personage of deep Buddhist belief, that had an exact duplicate of my necklace.





"Through the great canyon a large river flows from the north to the south and falls into the northern end of the Gulf of California. Now, in the useful translations of the Spanish authors of 1540 AD we find that the scribe of the Conquistadors placed near the Colorado River, in a small island, a sanctuary of Lamaisra, or of Buddhism. He mentions a divine personage living in a small house near a lake upon this island, and called, as he says, Quatu-zaca, who was reputed never to eat." VOYAGES: l'Histoire de la D'couverte de l'Amerique, Vol IX, Henri Ternaux-Compans (1836) SEE: Cottowood Island







Even though the Zen man and I were unable to communicate verbally because of not knowing each other's languages, there was a great nonverbal understanding between the two of us. When he showed me that he too had a small gold medalion just like the one I wore around my neck, through hand gestures, pantomime, and line drawings in the dirt I tried to get him to show me how it was he came into possession of the medalion. He drew a couple of cuneiform characters in the dirt and using a charcoal stick and a piece of cloth I copied them as best I could. He inturn, upon seeing how I copied them, nodded in agreement. However, nobody I showed them to could translate them --- hence a trip to Hong Kong in 1977 to seek audience with the famous translator Upasaka Lu K'uan Yu.(see)

Even Lu K'uan Yu was baffled, concerned that I may have copied them wrong. Eventually, after some rather thorough study, he was convinced the characters were possibly ancient asian cuniform-like writing related to Gyanganj, a home for immortals said to be hidden in a valley in the remote Himalayas as discussed in a rather in depth fashion linked to at the bottom of this section under the title THE SECOND PART.

One morning during my visit with the old man at his stone hut he had me walk down stream quite some distance with him. In the rough rock hewn hillside somewhat above the stream just before it tumbled down into rapids over a rather steep waterfall the Zen man showed me what appeared to be the remains of a fallen-over, onetime rock shelter. I had seen a shelter built in nearly the exact same manner high in the mountains of the Sierras in California some years before. In High Mountain Zendo I described the Sierra-based shelter thus:





"It is actually a natural space, like a small cave that has a handmade pile or rocks forming a "C" shaped wall that protects the inside area from the prevailing winds and allows for a small fire for warmth and cooking. There is a log with a piece of canvas that can be put over the entrance and dropped to the ground if need be as well as it can get quite cold in the altitude and the winds quite strong." (see)





From the remains of the onetime shelter I could tell that the one in the Sierras replicated almost down to the last stone the shelter I stood before --- it was as though the same person had built both of them from the same design. If such was the case, at the moment I stood before the ruins, I did not know which one came first, although I knew the shelter in the Sierras had seemed much more recent and was still intact. A strange non-weather related cold-like chill came over me as I crouched down and looked inside, gently poking the ground beyond the rocks with a stick. The feeling was broken by the Zen man putting his hand on my shoulder followed by a gesture as though he wanted to show me something else. He walked over to a close by tree and pointed to markings carved into the trunk. I could barely make out three letters and just below them four numbers, which appeared to be the date of a year, 1926. The letters were the exact same letters as the initials of my Mentor .

My mentor told me he had arrived in India a year after his future teacher to be, the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi , had been accosted by ruffians in his ashram. That incident has been dated at June 26, 1924, which would make my mentor's arrival in India somewhere just before or during the summer of 1925. However it was not until 1928 that he showed up at the Ramana ashram. He traveled in "China, Burma, India" and it has been said he showed up in the temple of the south Indian city of Madura "two years later." (1925 the year my mentor arrived in India and 1928, the year he arrived at the ashram of Sri Ramana translates, it would seem, into being three years. The number of months may be somewhat less than three years since the total number of months are not known, that is, less than 36 months). It was apparently during those two to three years he ended up in the mountains along the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, possibly even doing study practice in the same monastery I was staying.





Before my mentor left Europe he took a job at a coal mine in Lens, France. There he met a former Polish army officer and mystic by the name of Kosti . Kosti, drawing from the failings of his own experience, basically told my mentor he most likely had learned all he could from books and should seek his answers elsewhere, possibly in things less academic and more spiritual. In the process of listening to Kosti's advice, in the midsummer, early fall of 1922, before going to India, my mentor met a Benedictine monk in Bonn, Germany, called Father Ensheim by Maugham. At the time of their meeting Father Ensheim was on a research-study leave from his monastery in Alsace, France. The Father noticed my mentor seemed to be stuck in the beginning stages of a deep spiritual quest so he invited him to return with him to his monastery. In the summer of 1923 my mentor went, staying three or four months or more, studying and partcipating in all the monastery duties and activities. When he decided to leave, the following is said to have transpired:





"Those good fathers had no answers that satisfied either my head or my heart to the questions that perplexed me. My place was not with them. When I went to say goodbye to Father Ensheim he didn't ask me whether I had profited by the experience in the way he had been so sure I would. He looked at me with inexpressible kindness." "I'm afraid I've been a disappointment to you, Father." "No," he answered. "You are a deeply religious man who doesn't believe in God. God will seek you out. You'll come back. Whether here or elsewhere only God can tell."





What I was told, the good Father, figuring IF my mentor was just put into the right environment, he should be able to bridge the gap between the religious aspects he was familar with and that of the potentially deeper spiritual aspects he was seeking. In so figuring, he suggested that he go to India and visit a certain monastery high in the Himalayas called Hemis (sometimes, Himis). How it has been related back to me is that the Father told my mentor that he heard sometime in the late 1880s early 1890s a man by the name of Nicolas Notovitch had ended up in the monastery of Hemis recuperating from an injury. While at that monastery he was shown an ancient manuscript that indicated Jesus of Nazaerth had been in India during the so-called missing years of his life as indicated in the bible. The manuscript Notovitch was shown was a translation of the original which was kept in the library of the monastery of Marbour near Lhasa. The original text was written in Pali, whereas the Hemis manuscript was in Tibetan, consisting of fourteen chapters, of which contained a total of two hundred and twenty four verses --- all related to Jesus being in India.

Some thirty-five years following Notovich's sojourn to Hemis, around the sametime that my mentor arrived in India (1925) a follower of the Theosophist sect by the name of Nicholas Roerich, who would eventually go on to be nominated three different times for the Nobel Peace Prize, arrived at Hemis to see the Hemis Manuscripts and then on to Tibet in search of the originals. Foreigners, especially white people from the west, did not travel much in Tibet in those days, especially to Lhasa, and Roerich and his party were held incognito in Tibet during the years 1927-28, during which five of his party died. He was eventually released in 1928 and returned to India. It is reported he saw the same manuscripts as Notovitch. If you recall from the above, my mentor carved the date 1926 in the tree along the stream near the rock hut. It is my belief my mentor, following Father Ensheim's advice, went in search of the same manuscripts seeking the truth. Although he met Roerich, if he ever saw the manuscripts --- or if the manuscripts ever existed --- is not known. However, it seems to me my mentor had a massive change regarding his approach to things spiritual and religion after going to Tibet, especially so how he viewed things in a western sense. Between the time he got off the boat in Bombay and the time he arrived at the temple in Madura some two to three years later and met a Holy Man there, who inturn was sent by that Holy Man to study under Sri Ramana, enough of a change occurred that he was Awakened to the Absolute --- that is, his mind became ripe and he was Enlightened in the same manner as the ancient classical masters.(see)





"In what could be called nothing less than being kidnapped against my will at gunpoint by the three heavily armed military irregulars --- taken I guess fulfilling their somewhat iffy duty as hunters of the white monk --- and except for a bag I had with me was I allowed to have or get anything, I was lashed hands and feet to a two man over-the-shoulder pole and carried dangling lengthwise between my tied wrists and ankles toward the escarpment, then, once down, transported back to known civilization."



.





Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where

we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience

and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.









