If I ask you "what is the sound of one hand?", I have given you a mind object, a thought of a thing with no physical reality. Perhaps the same can be said of asking what does it feel like to be a man or woman? Does it actually feel like anything or is it just a mind object from the question? If you assume a feeling for the mind object, i…
If I ask you "what is the sound of one hand?", I have given you a mind object, a thought of a thing with no physical reality. Perhaps the same can be said of asking what does it feel like to be a man or woman? Does it actually feel like anything or is it just a mind object from the question? If you assume a feeling for the mind object, it isn't a sensory feeling, but an emotional one. Emotions are real (and they are mind objects), we all have them. Here I suppose the Buddhist could ask, what do I do with this feeling? Does it have a basis? Is it beneficial to give it importance in our minds?
"Here I suppose the Buddhist could ask, what do I do with this feeling? Does it have a basis? Is it beneficial to give it importance in our minds?"
Ironically, koans like "what is the sound of one hand clapping" are supposed to break the illusion of self rather than reinforcing it. We’re not supposed to figure out what one hand clapping sounds like, we’re supposed to use this mind object recognise that *all* mind objects are illusions.
These mind objects are approximations of things that aren’t real. As Bruce Lee put it (https://youtu.be/lM4n1Jntqw0), “it is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”
We’ve become way too focused on the finger lately.
If I ask you "what is the sound of one hand?", I have given you a mind object, a thought of a thing with no physical reality. Perhaps the same can be said of asking what does it feel like to be a man or woman? Does it actually feel like anything or is it just a mind object from the question? If you assume a feeling for the mind object, it isn't a sensory feeling, but an emotional one. Emotions are real (and they are mind objects), we all have them. Here I suppose the Buddhist could ask, what do I do with this feeling? Does it have a basis? Is it beneficial to give it importance in our minds?
"Here I suppose the Buddhist could ask, what do I do with this feeling? Does it have a basis? Is it beneficial to give it importance in our minds?"
Ironically, koans like "what is the sound of one hand clapping" are supposed to break the illusion of self rather than reinforcing it. We’re not supposed to figure out what one hand clapping sounds like, we’re supposed to use this mind object recognise that *all* mind objects are illusions.
These mind objects are approximations of things that aren’t real. As Bruce Lee put it (https://youtu.be/lM4n1Jntqw0), “it is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”
We’ve become way too focused on the finger lately.