Tuesday, September 6, 2016

A Minute Meditation

No. 36

inside the temple
  visitors cannot know
     cherries are blooming                  
-- Basho --
from  Basho:  The Complete Haiku 


Just a simple observation?

Or, is Basho making a point here?

18 comments:

  1. He's making a point. Reality is outside of the temple.

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    1. Jim,

      This is one of the reasons I enjoy haiku. They are so brief and focus on one brief experience. In addition, their brevity leaves much open for differing POVs.

      I hadn't looked at it in terms of reality as you did, but I can see that it's a point worth thinking about.

      I was looking at it in terms of the two POVs: those who are inside the temple and those who are outside. Basho seems to favor those outside who are experiencing something denied to those inside the temple.

      What I'm not sure about is whether Basho is commenting on the effects of the physical human-made structure or upon the structure that creates the temples.

      Basho is not a Buddhist monk, if I remember correctly, but he is a Lay Brother (think that's the right term), which suggests that he does follow the tenets of Zen Buddhism, but he also wants the freedom that being a Lay Brother affords him.

      If someone is more familiar with the issue here, please correct me. I'm familiar with only the Catholic monastic traditions, so I could be way off here.

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  2. Reality outside, Jim? Consider this. Sensory Nature is outside. Experience is outside. That does not necessarily mean Reality is not inside the temple. Life fully lived requires diverse experiences. Spiritual experiences matters. So do sensory, natural experiences. Fullness matters. (End of sermon; no collection)

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    1. i'm with Jim... the distinction is between what's on either side of the skull

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  3. Tim I agree, but I'm assuming Basho was claiming we'd find more spiritual reality outside of the temple. In other words, hanging out in the temple isn't the only way to be holy.

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  4. Basho says that those inside "cannot know" which seems to imply that those inside are missing out on something that those outside are experiencing. The implication seems to be that at this point, being outside is better than being inside.

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  5. I think we have to assume that all of these people are seeking the truth - whatever that might be. I use the word reality to mean the objective truth that we perceive only subjectively.

    I believe Basho is saying that studying scriptures in a temple is like the people in Plato's cave looking at shadows of reality on the wall and think the shadows are reality. He's saying study reality (the truth) directly, rather than spending time in the temple studying studying what's been written about reality.

    It's like what my dad use to always yell at me, "Get your goddamn nose out of that book and go outside and play!"

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    1. Jim,

      I remember my parents telling me the same.

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    2. Mudpuddle,

      "yes" to which question or statement?

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    3. oh. to Jim's comment, above, there...

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    4. Mudpuddle.

      OK, just wondering.

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    5. My dad used to tell me to stop playing and put my nose in a book.

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    6. Shadow Flutter,

      No accounting for parents, right?

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  6. To me this is about visitors to the temple. They don't know cherries are blooming. Why? Who are the visitors?

    What about unmentioned priests? A temple has to have priests, right? Do they know the cherries are blooming?

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  7. Shadow Flutter,

    They don't know because they are inside and don't notice what's around them on their way inside.

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    1. Yeah, just not getting it Fred. Maybe it will come to me in a dream.

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    2. Shadow Flutter,

      Or taking a shower, getting ready to go somewhere, talking to someone. . .

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