Comments on: best thing I’ve read in ages http://theunreliablenarrator.net/2008/07/13/lotus-sutra-never-disparaging/ "bringing you all the news that's fit to mistrust" Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:33:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: patrick http://theunreliablenarrator.net/2008/07/13/lotus-sutra-never-disparaging/#comment-34348 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:59:03 +0000 http://theunreliablenarrator.net/2008/07/13/lotus-sutra-never-disparaging/#comment-34348 Am I Mr. Lewis or Mr. Patrick? I got into a debate like this with another parent who insisted that I be called Mr. Patrick by her children. Honestly there are those few adults who will forever be Mr. Peterson and Mrs. Jorgenson in my own vocabulary, such are our roles established in my youth. Frankly, for myself, I don't like either choice, and loath titles as a general rule. Let's see...a Western equivalent? How about "Hello." A simple greeting acknowledges the existence of another, and as we refine our own ability to set our prejudices aside we open the opportunity to experience whatever response we are given, regardless of its content (or that they would even greet us back), and so give honor to their spirit. "Let, then, the motive for action be in the action itself, and not in the event. Do not be incited to actions by the hope of their reward, nor let thy life be spent in inaction. Firmly persisting, in Yoga, perform thy duty, [...] and laying aside all desire for any benefit to thyself from action, make the event equal, whether it be success or failure." —Bhagavad Gita • <em>Editor</em>: Of course, rank philistine that I am, I know this passage best from whatever translation Salinger quotes in <em>F&Z, </em>the bit ending: "....and ever give way to laziness, either." It's so sweet, like Lord Krishna's shaking his finger fussily at you and telling you you'd better eat your spinach. As for appropriate teacherly forms of address...I insist that my students address me as "Oh Buddha Awesome Sound King." Am I Mr. Lewis or Mr. Patrick? I got into a debate like this with another parent who insisted that I be called Mr. Patrick by her children. Honestly there are those few adults who will forever be Mr. Peterson and Mrs. Jorgenson in my own vocabulary, such are our roles established in my youth. Frankly, for myself, I don’t like either choice, and loath titles as a general rule. Let’s see…a Western equivalent? How about “Hello.” A simple greeting acknowledges the existence of another, and as we refine our own ability to set our prejudices aside we open the opportunity to experience whatever response we are given, regardless of its content (or that they would even greet us back), and so give honor to their spirit.

“Let, then, the motive for action be in the action itself, and not in the event. Do not be incited to actions by the hope of their reward, nor let thy life be spent in inaction. Firmly persisting, in Yoga, perform thy duty, […] and laying aside all desire for any benefit to thyself from action, make the event equal, whether it be success or failure.” —Bhagavad Gita

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Editor: Of course, rank philistine that I am, I know this passage best from whatever translation Salinger quotes in F&Z, the bit ending: “….and ever give way to laziness, either.” It’s so sweet, like Lord Krishna’s shaking his finger fussily at you and telling you you’d better eat your spinach.
As for appropriate teacherly forms of address…I insist that my students address me as “Oh Buddha Awesome Sound King.”

]]> by: oleoptene http://theunreliablenarrator.net/2008/07/13/lotus-sutra-never-disparaging/#comment-34302 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:13:32 +0000 http://theunreliablenarrator.net/2008/07/13/lotus-sutra-never-disparaging/#comment-34302 I worry I fall on the wrong side of the story with a mind lacking in purity that gives way to anger, having been tempted to throw zealously when wished 'a blessed day' or being told someone was praying for me when I didn't particularly want their prayers. Puzzling over words of honor and respect in the age of umbrage and concluding we are all too good at being offended.... Call me ma'am, don't call me ma'am, you lose either way. I keep thinking of the Douglas Adams character whose life's mission was to insult all beings in the universe. But surely he could have an inverse, a counterpart saying "You ARE deserving of love." • <em>Editorial intrusion</em>: Yeah, I'd be pretty tempted to chuck some debris myself, I'm sure. What I like about the story is that, despite its heavy-handed criticism of the impure ones, it encourages a covert appreciation of just how irritating dude could obviously be. In, as you say, the Age of Umbrage, which apparently started right around the earthly departure of the Sound King Thus Come One (with his freaky moniker!). I worry I fall on the wrong side of the story with a mind lacking in purity that gives way to anger, having been tempted to throw zealously when wished ‘a blessed day’ or being told someone was praying for me when I didn’t particularly want their prayers.

Puzzling over words of honor and respect in the age of umbrage and concluding we are all too good at being offended…. Call me ma’am, don’t call me ma’am, you lose either way.

I keep thinking of the Douglas Adams character whose life’s mission was to insult all beings in the universe. But surely he could have an inverse, a counterpart saying “You ARE deserving of love.”

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Editorial intrusion: Yeah, I’d be pretty tempted to chuck some debris myself, I’m sure. What I like about the story is that, despite its heavy-handed criticism of the impure ones, it encourages a covert appreciation of just how irritating dude could obviously be. In, as you say, the Age of Umbrage, which apparently started right around the earthly departure of the Sound King Thus Come One (with his freaky moniker!).

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