The Tao Te Ching describes how the Tao spontaneously transforms itself from nothing into something, and how this spontaneity continues to produce the visible world: The Tao gives birth to the One;The One gives birth to the two;The Two give birth to the three -The Three give birth to every living thing.The Tao - chaotic, non-existent and formless - transforms into the One, the very first thing, which contains within it all the energy necessary to create a universe. https://books.google.com/books?id=6GM9daopGkQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
One of the most important sources for Zen is the Chinese Taoist philosophy with its central image of “yin and yang which are Tao” (to speak of Zen means to speak of Tao). …it is possible to say that there are two basic aspects of the Tao.One is absolute (but not abstract!), hidden from us, and beyond our understanding. That is the “eternal Tao”, all-embracing infinite Void that is not really empty because of the principle of creation it carries within itself (emptiness that never can be exhausted). The second aspect of the Tao is relative, much more comprehensible for the Western mind. It is the visible existence with its uncountable multitude of mortal life forms spontaneously and mysteriously brought forth out of the emptiness. But the very answer to the question “why?” lies in the absolute aspect of the Tao (Ando 1999, p. 68-69).http://www.mprinstitute.org/vaclav/Zen2.htm
The Tao, Buddha-nature, Dharmakaya, Shunyata, etc., all describe the same Ultimate Truth of primordial oneness.
This is to say that Buddhism gives us a set of practices for returning to the primordial oneness, the Tao, from which we came.
The second aspect of the Tao is relative, much more comprehensible for the Western mind. It is the visible existence with its uncountable multitude of mortal life forms spontaneously and mysteriously brought forth out of the emptiness.
I was educated by Jesuits; and I remember this quote hanging in a particular teacher's classroom: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than wecan imagine".- Sir Arthur Eddington
I have always loved this theory. ...
I was educated by Jesuits; and I remember this quote hanging in a particular teacher's classroom: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine".- Sir Arthur Eddington
(to speak of Zen means to speak of Tao).
Quote from: jimsouth on November 05, 2017, 10:28:46 amI have always loved this theory. ...It's not a theory. It isn't even a hypothesis. It is a mere fantasy.
The name Amida means Infinite; he is the ultimate context of our lives.The reality of Buddha’s compassion becomes observable whenever life is enhanced, fulfilledor conveyed to us through the deeds and care of friends. We see Amida whenever we seethe healing powers of the body, or creativity and growth in our life and world. Weexperience it in the thrill of new life, or the peculiar beauty in people and in nature. It is theinterdependence, the totality of our relations, that sustains life and enables our activities.Amida Buddha is the relation of all relations. It is the wonder that inspires us and awakensus to our own responsibility to life. The power of Amida, a la interdependence, is realizedwhen we take interdependence and mutuality seriously in the affairs of life.http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/03/Bloom-Amida.pdf