Round 7, FOAK: 1982 Kawie KZ550 C3 LTD Restoration Options

Yes, you are absolutely correct about me.

I don't know anything, and I don't understand what I've read and I
have zero experience, and I never admit that I'm wrong about
anything.

I have many other faults. I have no wit, no sense of irony, or of
humour.

You, OTOH, are a veritable fountain of wit and wisdom and I hope that
you will stay with all of us forever bestowing your beneficence upon
us all.

Thank you so very much for everything you do for us. I don't know what
we would do without you.

 

'Swot I thought

Look, sweetie, your technical advice is nearly always wrong. It just
*is*. If you have to spit the dummy when it's pointed out, then stop
offering it. It's quite simple )

 

Once again, you've blessed this newsgroup with your effulgent
brilliance.

You are a great and wonderful teacher and we pray that you will never
leave us to our own feeble devices.

Thank you so very, very much.

 

Keep it up. You want to look like an arse (again...); this is the way
to do it.

 

How very happily I live, free from hostility among those who are
hostile.

Among hostile people, free from hostility I dwell.

How very happily I live, free from misery among those who are
miserable.

Among miserable people, free from misery I dwell.

How very happily I live, free from busyness among those who are busy.

Among busy people, free from busyness I dwell.

How very happily I live, I who who know nothing.

I will feed on rapture like the Radiant gods.

 

"Winning gives birth to hostility. Losing, one lies down in pain. The calmed
lie down with ease, having set winning & losing aside."

Somewhat apt, as it happens...

 

The first shocking thing that greets the reader, especially if the
latter comes
from the Abhidhamma/Abhidharma, is the phalanx of negations. But any
reader of
the early canon (in contradistinction to the Abhidhamma/Abhidharma)
will
instantly recognise them -- the negations -- as implied ubiquitously
by the
Buddha himself.


The slogan "form is emptiness; emptiness is form" quite simply means
that form,
just where it is and just as it is, has no essence, and therefore is
empty, i.
e., empty of essence, and that absence of essence, aka emptiness,
right where it
is and just as it is, is the form that we perceive. There is no
inexistence
involved, as form -- phenomenon as it appears to us -- is just what it
is,
exactly where it is, but the essence that we unconsciously impute to
it --
DharmaTroll's "self-stuff invested by us" -- is absent. So, absent the
mentation
that imputes essence, all is reality, right where it is, without
further ado,
and on the contrary, when that mentation is present and imputes
essence, just
that is delusion. That is all there is both to the slogan and to
Buddhism.


Buddhism denies only at the level of metaphysical entities like
essence, but
does not deny anything at the level of phenomena, and the compositions
(the
stuff of our normal, deluded experience) are within phenomena: they
are our own
actions, in the realm of external bodily behavior, speech and thought,
though
some are not within consciousness, at least for the normal, deluded
person.
Phenomena exist and function according to patterns, which are called
modalities
of functioning (dhatu), and the overarching modality is of course
Dependent
Arisal. These are empty and abstract, as opposed to full and concrete
essences.
Emptiness means only the inexistence of essence, but implies nothing
about the
phenomena of which essence is denied but which *keep existing and
functioning
just like before*.

Biker Dude

 

Nagarjuna's catuskoti has already clawed my mind...

Yes. His experiences before Enlightenment were truly hair-raising, but
his dharma emerged Unstained.

I'm just my parents' soul-less little dharma and my mental continuum
perceives no beginning or end because I was unconscious of the
beginning and cannot believe in my ending, though I accept the idea of
it....

***********************************************************************************************
"It's good to see Noble Ones. Happy their company — always. Through
not seeing fools constantly, constantly one would be happy. For,
living with a fool, one grieves a long time. Painful is communion with
fools, as with an enemy — always. Happy is communion with the
enlightened, as with a gathering of kin. So: the enlightened man —
discerning, learned, enduring, dutiful, noble, intelligent, a man of
integrity: follow him — one of this sort — as the moon, the path of
the zodiac stars."

 

Let there be light within! Each person, from the
beginning of its individual, limited
existence within the greatness of this universe
carries a great source of strength and power
within. It is our soul, passed down to our
physical appearance by countless beings of all
sexes and all ages, offering their collective
wisdom and understanding as our spiritual
inheritance. This source of dynamism lies within
from the time we leave our mother's
womb at birth. It is a matter of finding this
source within yourself and learning to draw
from its infinite strength to manifest it into
your material world. This source I saw as the
dainty glow of hope in my inner darkness.


It was then that I realized that seeking
brightness and hope around you just makes you
more sensitive to perceiving your own inner
darkness. For external light illuminates and
enhances the darkness within and around you. Think
of your eyesight as you first turn off
the light at night in your house - you are blinded
and helpless until your senses adapt and
you develop nightvision. After a short while you
will realize faint contrasts of light against
dark and you will be able to navigate your way
around in the darkness of the room. Your
soul is your nightvision within, once you realize
its glow in the darkness of your illusions,
it will navigate your senses toward your inner
brightness.


It is all within your inner self.

Biker Dude

 

hmmph...what you idiots are forgetting is, is that it's JUST a
philosophy, not a religion. study your ghitas and maybe you'll get on
the path...me I've already burned it all and am going the equivilant
of cross-country. ;^) I am my own dog and my own teacher.

 

In another example, Pirsig explains to the reader how one should pay
attention and learn: when the Narrator and his friends came into Miles
City, Montana, he had noticed (second page of chapter 8) that the
engine "idle was loping a little", a sign that the fuel/air mixture
was too rich. The next day he is thinking of this as he is going
through his ritual to adjust the valves on his cycle's engine, because
it "has picked up a noise". In the process, he notes that both spark
plugs are black, another sign of rich mixture. He solves the puzzle as
he is thinking about the feel-good-higher-altitude-mountain-air; the
altitude is causing the engine to run rich. New jets are purchased,
and installed, and with the valves adjusted, the engine runs well. His
cycle begins coughing and almost quits when they get into the
mountains of Montana. This is a more severe altitude problem, but he
knows it will go away when they get back to lower altitude. He does
adjust the carburetor to prevent over heating on the way down.

With this, the book details two types of personalities: those who are
interested mostly in gestalts (romantic viewpoints, such as Zen,
focused on being "in the moment", and not on rational analysis), and
those who need to know details, the inner workings, mechanics (classic
viewpoints with application of rational analysis, vis-a-vis motorcycle
maintenance) and so on.

The Sutherlands represent an exclusively romantic attitude toward the
world. The Narrator initially appears to prefer the classic approach.
It later becomes apparent that he understands both viewpoints and is
aiming, not for the middle ground, but for the necessary ground that
includes both. He understands that technology, and the "dehumanized
world" it carries with it, appears ugly and repulsive to a romantic
person. He knows that such persons are determined to shoehorn all of
life's experience into the romantic view. Pirsig is capable of seeing
the beauty of technology and feels good about mechanical work, where
the goal is "to achieve an inner peace of mind". Zen and the Art
demonstrates that motorcycle maintenance may be dull and tedious
drudgery or an enjoyable and pleasurable pastime; it all depends on
the inner attitude, or lack thereof.

Biker Dude

 

Scholars have attempted to say that "enlightenment" is a sort of code
word for
wisdom, equating it with the "sophia" of the sramana of Hellenized
Afghanistan
around the time of Alexander.

OTOH, the Buddha spoke of literally *seeing the light* during
meditation and spoke of how he was temporarily unable to do so because
he was "grasping the quail too tightly".

And, the sramanas of various wisdom schools spent a lot of time with
their
eyes *wide open*, looking for mystical visions with bright light.

For instance, Bodhidharma stared at a wall for nine years, and Tibetan
lamas still stare at the sky looking for vision.

"The Jhanas In Theravada Buddhist Meditation" talks about meditating
while intently staring at various colored disks which are called
kasinas.

(http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html)

Jhana is a corruption of the Sanskrit word "Dhyana" and the
Chinese word "Cha'an" and the Japanese word "Zen" all have the same
etymology.

They all mean "meditation".

Novice Buddhist monks are told which color disks to stare at,
according to their personality types during meditation.

Chapter 10 of Buddhaghosa's Visuddimagga sutra (The Path Of
Purification) claims that monks can even achieve enlightenment and
nibbana after meditating on kasinas (which can also include other
objects, such as buddha-figures, which can be figures of other buddhas
besides Gautama Buddha).

(http://www.abhidhamma.org/visuddhimagga Chapter 10.htm)

Thanisarro Bhikku says that the Visuddimagga emphasizes kasinas but
that the Buddha emphasized mindfulness of breathing.

In "The Progress of Insight", A Modern Treatise on Buddhist
Satipatthana Meditation (Visuddhinana-katha), Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw
refers to "the ten corruptions of insight (vipassanupakkilesa) which
deceive a monk into beleiving that that he has achieved enlightenment
prematurely.

http://www.purifymind.com/Insight.htm

Kasinas are also mentioned in the forty kammatthana meditations which
talks about monks meditating near corpses in charnel yards in India.

A charnel yard is the Hindu/Buddhist equivalent of a cemetery, where
corpses are not buried, they are burned or chopped up and left for
vultures to eat.

In this way, the novice monks become repulsed by the foulness of the
human body, which is strange, because they were only recently taught
about how fortunate they were to have been born into a precious human
body which is capable of becoming enlightened and escaping from
rebirth in the suffering of samsara...

I didn't find the prospect of meditating around rotting corpses very
appealing, but I can handle the prescribed colored disks.

I used Paint to make various solid colored images for my desk top and
I entered a shallow state of shamatha while sitting in the dark at
midnight and staring intently at the bright colors.

Colors like Neon Lime green or Hot Pink or Mellow Yellow work best.
They correspond to the colors assigned to the various alchemical
elements of Tantra.

After about two minutes of staring at the colors, they began to appear
to "wash out" as the color-sensitive cones inside my eyeball became
saturated with bright light.

And a halo began to appear around my monitor screen.

When that happened, I closed my eyes and waited to see what would
appear in my mind.

In about two seconds a Black Rectangle moved toward me and became
distinct. Then, whatever color I was looking at was replaced by the
*opposite color*.

Mellow Yellow became *purple*, Hot Pink became Forest Green, Orange
Sherbet became Indigo Blue, Olive turned to Purplish Blue, Aqua became
Royal Purple, Sky Blue became Very Dark Brown, Chocolate Brown became
Very Dark Blue, Neon Lime Green became Dark Purple, Cerise became
Royal Blue, Surf Green became Purple.

The Confederate Battle Flag's blue bars became Red and the
Red background turned Blue...

Now, I can understand the concept of seeing an IMMEDIATE DAZZLING
AFTERIMAGE when I close my eyes.

But the Black Rectangle which has the same proportions as my monitor
screen takes about TWO SECONDS to move towards me and sharpen itself
and then the opponent colors gradually form and fade away and the
Black Rectangle dissolves too.

Sometimes there are small stars in the blue or red colors I see. I
feel like Dave Bowman looking into the Monolith. "My gawd! It's full
of stars!"

Where does the Black Rectangle in my optic nerve come from? Does this
dharma (phenomenon, in this usage) arise from the contrast between the
halo surrounding my monitor and darkness of the room at midnight?

I suspected so. It isn't just the color-sensing *cones* inside my
eyeball, it's the light-sensing *rods* that are causing the opponent
blackness to appear.

According to Wikipedia, "An afterimage or ghost image is an optical
illusion that refers to an image continuing to appear in one's vision
after the exposure to the original image has ceased. One of the most
common afterimages is the bright glow that seems to float before one's
eyes after staring at a light bulb or a headlight for a few seconds.
The phenomenon of afterimages may be closely related to persistence of
vision, which allows a rapid series of pictures to portray motion,
which is the basis of animation and cinema."

"Ewald Hering explained how the brain sees afterimages, in terms of
three pairs of primary colors. This Opponent Process Theory states
that the human visual system interprets color information by
processing signals from cones and rods in an antagonistic manner. The
Opponent Color Theory suggests that there are three opponent channels:
red versus cyan, blue versus yellow, and black versus white. Responses
to one colour of an Opponent Channel are antagonistic to those to the
other colour. Therefore, a green image will produce a magenta
afterimage. The green color tires out the green photoreceptors, so
they produce a weaker signal. Anything resulting in less green, is
interpreted as its paired primary colour, which is magenta."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage

4000 years ago, wandering sramanas didn't know anything about rods and
cones, they looked at bright colors and perceived illusions of
radiances inside their closed eyes and thought that they were close to
enlightenment and rapture.

Or maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe they really were manifesting
themselves in multiple places, walking through walls and reading
other people's minds...

gTummo (candali, kundalini) comes easily for me at my age, with my
heart condition and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, but I have
not yet been able to place the stem of a flower in my fontanelle.

And I have not yet tasted The Deathless personally, I'm still looking
forward to doing that before final Dissolution...

 

Consider your own hero, Arjuna, a warrior of the same ksastriya caste
as the Buddha.

"When Arjuna refused her amorous advances, the nymph Urvashi cursed
Arjuna; he would become a "kliba," a member of the third gender.
Krishna assured Arjuna that this curse would serve as the perfect
disguise for Arjuna during his last year of exile. Arjuna took the
name Brihannala and dressed in women's clothes, causing the curse to
take effect. Thus Arjuna gained entry into the city ruled by king
Virata, where he taught the arts of music, singing and dancing to the
princess UttarÄ and her female attendees. Doniger describes Arjuna's
cross-dressing disguise as a source of comedy in the story, with
references to his "hairy arms". In the Padma Purana, Arjuna is also
physically transformed into a woman when he requests permission to
take part in Krishna's mystical dance, which only women may attend."

There are many examples of androgynous deities and avatars in Hindu
and Buddhist mythologies. The yogic practice of Kundalini described in
the Upanishads is a method of uniting the Divine Feminine (Shakti)
with the Extremely
Masculine principle of Shiva.

There are phallic statues all over India representing Shiva's lingam.
But men are taught to never disrespect a yoni...

Buddha figures often depict a manifestation of a buddha in yab yum
position with a female consort.

Empowered Tantric initiates attempt Completion, alone, or in yab yum
with a samadhi consort of the opposite sex.

Some of the faithful wonder if their consort is trying to "complete"
as the yidam deity or as the consort, but, to quote Gene Wilder, "It
just doesn't matter!"

So, you're a burned out former warrior from the "don't ask, don't
tell" US
Army, huh?

Don't worry, doing your "duty" on the battlefield during time of war
doesn't generate
the fixed karma that will cause you to be reborn as a Hell being.

You would have had to do terrible things to satisfy your personal lust
and greed
while serving the global capitalists.

No, you won't go Hell, you'll be reincarnated as a donkey, just as you
were in your previous existence.

And now you're breaking trail through the snow drifts of your mind?

Or are you literally breaking trail through the snow around Cut Bank,
MT because none of your vehicles run?

You could try becoming Enlightened. Then you could manifest a "pledge
being" to report to the 7-11 and bring home your paycheck...

 

Another kasina (object) that's fun to look at is the Buddhist flag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Buddhism.svg

Save this image as a bitmap and apply it to your desk top and stare at
it with
wide open eyes as you slow your breathing down with your favorite
mantra.

Stare eyes wide open until the bright colors fade and a halo appears
around your monitor.

Then close your eyes.

The symbolic colors of the Buddist flag are:

Blue (Nila): Loving kindness, peace and universal compassion

Yellow (Pita): The Middle Path - avoiding extremes, emptiness

Red (Lohita): The blessings of practice - achievement, wisdom, virtue,
fortune and dignity

White (Odata): The purity of Dharma - leading to liberation, outside
of time or space

Orange (Manjesta): The Buddha's teachings - wisdom

When you call up the Opponent Color image, you see a RAINBOW image of
red, purple, blue, black, blue!

Well, I really must stop staring at kasina objects now. I have an
appointment with
The Awakened.

Buddho!

 

<sigh> that's just thinking TOO hard about something instead of...well
just being.

 

Gee and low caste like you lectureing one who is beyond
caste...amusing. Keep letting others think for your racist chickenhawk
self, after all it's all you are capabel of you non riding fraud.