VLVL2 (9): penance and koans

[Dave Monroe]

"'There is something I must know,' Mason hoarsely
whispers, in the tone of a lover tormented by Doubts,
'-- Have you a soul,-- that is, are you a 
human Spirit, re-incarnate as a Dog?'
   "The L.E.D. blinks, shivers, nods in a resign'd
way.  'You are hardly the first to ask.  Travelers
return'd from the Japanese Islands tell of certain
religious Puzzles known as Koan, perhaps the most 
fam'd of which concerns your very Question,-- whether
a Dog hath the nature of the divine Buddha. A reply
given by a certain very wise Master is, "Mu!"'
   "'Mu,' repeats Mason, thoughtfully.
   "'It is necessary for the Seeker to meditate upon
the Koan until driven to a state of holy Insanity,--
and I would recommend this to you in particular."
(M&D, Ch. 3, p. 22)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0109&msg=60225&sort=date

"'Beg pardon?'
   "'One OD'd on the line at Tommy's waitin for a
burger, one got into some words in a parkin lot with
the wrong gentleman, one took a tumble in a faraway
land, so on, more 'n half of 'em currently on the run,
and you so far around the bend you don't even see it,
that's what's become of your happy household, you'd've
done better up against the SWAT team.  Just in the
privacy of your thotz, Zoyd.  As a exercise, li'l
kinda Zen meditation.  'Who was saved?'" (VL, Ch. 3,
p. 29)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0308&msg=84620&sort=date

--- Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> 141.18:  "Sometimes, waiting in her room, she'd
> wonder if this was all supposed to be some penance,
> to sit, caught inside the image of one she'd loved,
> been betrayed by, just sit. . . . Was it a koan she
> was meant to consider in depth [...]"
> 
> On koans:
>
http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/KoanStudy.html
> 
> http://www.ibiblio.org/zen/cgi-bin/koan-index.pl
> 
> and remember:  Who was saved?

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