Do not seek the truth - A vague understanding of Sengcan

The Ten Thousand Things

Revolution? / Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions / Paparazzi

We mention Sengcan a lot: sage, poet and 3rd Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. Famous for (maybe) writing Xinxin Ming sutra (scripture/poem). Read it here. It begins like this:

The Great Way is not difficult / for those who have no preferences

When love and hate are both absent / everything becomes clear and undisguised

Make the smallest distinction, however / and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart

If you wish to see the truth / then hold no opinions for or against anything

To set up what you like against what you dislike / is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood / the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail

The Way is perfect like vast space / where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject / that we do not see the true nature of things.

Be serene in the oneness of things / and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves

1. Revolutions. Do Marxists want things to get worse? What do Marxists mean when they talk about 'exposing the contradictions inherent in capitalism"? Are Victorian Socialists just nice young middle-class people who want to make things better? Often. Should a family doctor struggle to buy a home? No. But we are seeing a lot of that. This + many other absurdities in this country, might create the conditions for a revolution. I recommend the Revolutions podcast, wrapping up now. Mike summarises hundreds of episodes in the Appendix series. I've made a playlist for easier listening

Will Australia actually have a revolution? Very unlikely, but becoming less unlikely? A major dummy spit by doctors, teachers, nurses, and every kind of wage worker, volunteer and carer, is called for. That's my opinion anyway.

Also the Herald-Sun could not get Dan Andrews kicked out, because he makes people build things, and cos chippies, brikkies, sparkies, builders, laborers, and taxi drivers have phones to scroll on now. Why would they read about how Dan Andrews pissed in their cornflakes, had a poo with the door open, and took the last tim tam, last ciggy and last beer from the fridge, when they have thirst traps to look at, and mates to hang shit on in chat all day?

2. "Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions" - Sengcan. Creating false distinctions in the mind causes problems. But also, if you forget about truth, and stop having so many opinions, you can have some space inside, and truth can actually come in. Freddy Nietzsche drops in: 'Truth' and the search for truth are no trivial matter; and if a person goes about searching in too human a fashion, I'll bet he won't find anything!'

3. Actually the paparazzi provide a valuable public service, by helping to reveal the contradictions inherent in capitalism?

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