Theos-Talk Archives (May 2006 Message tt00758)

Hi Carlos,

The practice of  Zen reminds me of the example of the discharge of a
capacitor.  Two plates are brought close together with the one plate
suddenly discharging onto the surface of the other.   We use intuition
and practical wisdom to remove the insulator that lies between the two
Selves.  This can take a long or short time, it all depends.  Then in a
flash, perhaps unexpectedly so, we rise high enough and our hard-earned
wisdom is energized onto the lower self in a certain knowledge.

Bruce

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "carlosaveline" <carlosaveline@...>
wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
>
> There is a challenging Zen koan on silent attention. It was  published
for the first time in 1783.
>
> The story goes that Zen master Hsüan-sha sent a monk to his own old
teacher, Hsüeh-Fêng, with a letter of greeting.
>
> The old master Hsüen-feng gathered his monks in the Zen-do and
opened the letter in their presence. The envelope contained nothing but
three sheets of blank paper. Hsüeh-fêng showed the paper to the
monks and said:
>
> "Do you understand?"
>
> There was no answer, and Hsüeh-fêng completed the lesson of the
day:
>
> "My prodigal son writes just what I think."
>
> The 20th century master Nyogen comments the episode thus:
>
> "Zen is like lightening. No human eye can trace it." (1)
>
> Indeeed, words play a limited role in learning. Zen or Wisdom cannot
be transmited by words only. There is a passage in the "Mahatma
Letters" which explains this need for an inner transmission, which
is independent from scriptures or speech. An Adept-Teacher writes:
>
> "The Occult Science is NOT one, in which secrets can be
communicated of a sudden, by a written or even verbal communication. If
so, all the `Brothers' should have to do, would be to publish a
HAND-BOOK of the art which might be taught in schools as grammar is.
(...) The truth is that till the neophyte attains to the condition
necessary for that degree of Illumination to which, and for which, he is
entitled and fitted, most IF NOT ALL of the Secrets are
INCOMMUNICABLE." (2)
>
> Hence the blank pages. Hsüan-sha most frankly expressed in the
letter to his old Master Hsüeh-Fêng all of his lower-self
thoughts. They were none. And Hsüeh-Fêng was happy about that:
"That's just what I think."
>
> Understanding comes in silence. It emerges due to the acceptance of
– and in the diving in – blank space or the void.
>
> By studying and contemplating Theosophy beyond words, we can get to
the right kind of silence and understanding, and this will expand our
consciousness.
>
> But what is "Theosophy"? Well, it transcends any particular
set of concepts, though universal concepts are a starting point to get
to it. Theosophy is but the common Wisdom present in different
Traditions, and words can only point to it.
>
> Best regards, Carlos Cardoso Aveline
>
>
>
> NOTES:
>
> (1) "The Iron Flute", 100 Zen Koan, Translated and edited by
Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth Strout McCandless, published by Charles E.
Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan, second printing, 1985, 175
pp., see p. 77.
>
> (2) "The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett", Facsimile Edition,
Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA, USA, 1992, 493 pp, see
Letter XLIX, pp. 282-283.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>