Q: What exactly do you mean when you say, or imply, that everything perceived is a "reflection of the perceiver?" Of the self of the perceiver?
A: Could there be such an entity---other than as a phenomenal reagent apparatus? All perception is presumably a reflection of what appears in what is conveniently referred to as "pure mind," commonly compared to a non-finite mirror which reflects everything, retains nothing, and has no cognisable existence.
Q: Whose notion is that?
A: To my knowledge Chuang Tzu described it first, and the T'ang dynasty Masters and their successors used the simile freely. "Mirror-Mind" has proved a helpful appellation.
Q:Does the "Mirror-Mind" perceive "ill-mannered bastards?"
A: The "Mirror-Mind," or what the term represents, perceives no thing whatever. Perception is phenomenal, and "ill-mannered bastards," or "sanctity" for that matter, is a conceptual interpretation on the part of what may be called a psychic complex.
Q: Then what is there really?
A: Why, no thing, of course! You are making figments and hurling them at one another--- like clowns with custard pies.
Q: What fools you make us out to be!
A: That, too, is a custard pie. "Self and other" are the oldest and most ubiquitous pair of clowns---the very archetypes of all clowns and of all clownishness.
--- Wei Wu Wei
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I especially like this line: "You are making figments and hurling them at one another--- like clowns with custard pies."
ReplyDeleteCircus clowns seem to have made a strong impression on WWW. He refers to them rather often.
ReplyDelete