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Thread: From Watts

  1. #1

    From Watts

    Quoted from Alan Watts:

    "...Consider life as a revolving wheel set upright with man walking on its tire. As he walks, the wheel is revolving toward him beneath his feet, and if he is not to be carried backward by it and flung to the ground he must walk at the same speed as the wheel turns. If he exceeds that speed, he will topple foward and slip off the wheel onto his face. For at every moment we stand, as it were, on the top of a wheel; immediately we try to cling to that moment, to that particualr point of the wheel, it is no longer at the top and we are off balance. Thus by not trying to seize the moment, we keep it, for the second we fail to walk on we cease to remain still. Yet within this there is still a deeper truth. From the standpoint of eternity we never can and never do leave the top of the wheel, for if a circle is set in infinite space it has neither top nor bottom. Wherever you stand is the top, and it revolves only because you are pushing it round with your own feet." Alan Watts

  2. #2

    Re: From Watts


    Hi folks! An excerpt from Alan Watts (and a picture of him)


    "...in Buddhism a pratyeka- buddha--'private buddha'. He is one who goes off into the transcendental world and is never seen again. And he's made a mistake from the standpoint of Buddhism, because from the standpoint of Buddhism, there is no fundamental difference between the transcendental world and this everyday world. The bodhisattva, you see, who doesn't go off into a nirvana and stay there forever and ever, but comes back and lives ordinary everyday life to help other beings to see through it, too, he doesn't come back because he feels he has some sort of solemn duty to help mankind and all that kind of pious cant. He comes back because he sees the two worlds are the same. He sees all other beings as buddhas. He sees them, to use a phrase of G.K. Chesterton's, 'but now a great thing in the street, seems any human nod, where move in strange democracies the million masks of god.' And it's fantastic to look at people and see that they really, deep down, are enlightened. They're It. They're faces of the divine. And they look at you, and they say 'oh no, but I'm not divine. I'm just ordinary little me.' You look at them in a funny way, and here you see the buddha nature looking out of their eyes, straight at you, and saying it's not, and saying it quite sincerely. And that's why, when you get up against a great guru, the Zen master, or whatever, he has a funny look in his eyes. When you say 'I have a problem, guru. I'm really mixed up, I don't understand,' he looks at you in this queer way, and you think 'oh dear me, he's reading my most secret thoughts. He's seeing all the awful things I am, all my cowardice, all my shortcomings.' He isn't doing anything of the kind; he isn't even interested in such things. He's looking at, if I may use Hindu terminology, he's looking at Shiva, in you, saying 'my god, Shiva, won't you come off it?"

    wattspix1.jpg

  3. #3
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    Re: From Watts

    Admin Note

    Hello Bob G,

    I am noticing that you have made several posts in different thread where you simply quote other people without providing your own comments on those quotes.

    It would be great if we get to read your comments about those quotes or about the people that you are quoting and the context rather than just reading the dump of a quote.

    If you absolutely must post quotes without any of your own comments, please consider the following thread, which is dedicated to quotes of other people, and you can simply post on this thread:

    http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=969
    satay

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    Question Re: From Watts

    Namaste Satay,

    I know what you mean, but often Bob's uncommented quotes are actually quite relevant to other threads, or to the forum in general, and to my mind they are wise selections. So I am not sure that I agree with immediate relegation to a dump of unrelated comments from third parties.

    In general, however, I agree that everyone should at least look for some closely related thread before starting a brand new thread for every new post.

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    Re: From Watts

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob G View Post
    Hi folks! An excerpt from Alan Watts (and a picture of him)

    -----When you say 'I have a problem, guru. I'm really mixed up, I don't understand,' he looks at you in this queer way, and you think 'oh dear me, he's reading my most secret thoughts. He's seeing all the awful things I am, all my cowardice, all my shortcomings.' He isn't doing anything of the kind; he isn't even interested in such things. He's looking at, if I may use Hindu terminology, he's looking at Shiva, in you, saying 'my god, Shiva, won't you come off it?"
    Namaste Bob,

    When I look inside OM, aided by OM, I see Him, like a soft rock encompassing the Sun, me, and everything, looking at me with such refreshing coolness that I say "oh dear me, my god, Shiva, won't you claim this, this mind ever?"

    Om
    Last edited by atanu; 04 January 2008 at 09:54 AM.
    That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.

  6. #6

    Re: From Watts

    Gentlemen,

    I'll try to comment on or give more introductions to the quotes I may use...although in many cases I feel that what I might add could interfere with the quote. I think that in most cases (but not all the time) I have kept my quotes in the areas related to them, such as upanisad quotes in the upanisad area, Taoism quotes in the Taoism thread, Christian related quotes in the Christian area, Watts quotes in the Watts thread, etc.. I for one like these different areas of the forum that obviously can be quite different from Hinduism. Btw., I've noticed a tendency for such threads to be turned or taken over by forms of Hinduism which is very understandable at Hindu forum, but then one might ask why are these different religion and belief sections included in this forum?
    Last edited by Bob G; 04 January 2008 at 06:50 AM.

  7. #7

    Re: From Watts

    Namaste Atanu,

    Yes, and thanks for sharing your beautiful words!

    I feel Watts is speaking right on the mark (and I've more or less experienced what I think he is describing) when he says:

    "...When you say 'I have a problem, guru. I'm really mixed up, I don't understand,' he looks at you in this queer way, and you think 'oh dear me, he's reading my most secret thoughts. He's seeing all the awful things I am, all my cowardice, all my shortcomings.' He isn't doing anything of the kind; he isn't even interested in such things. He's looking at, if I may use Hindu terminology, he's looking at Shiva, in you, saying 'my god, Shiva, won't you come off it?"

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    Post Re: From Watts

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob G

    One might ask why are these different religion and belief sections included in this forum?
    Namaste Bob,

    Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and even ISKCON , are all elements Sanatana Dharma, and most would accept that they are all derived directly from the fold of Indian Hinduism. And likewise, the followers of all Abrhamic faiths (including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are following an ancient scion of Hindu Dharma (the original Yudha presumably descended from Yadava priests who headed west more than 3,000 years ago). And Hindu Dharma Forums has roughly classified many different aspects of Sanatana Dharma merely for convenience, so that related information collects in roughly the same area. But it should not be assumed that ANY area is immune from discussion in the context of Hindu Dharma. If someone wants to discuss Christianity, for example, untouched by any reference to Dharma, then they should be posting on a Christian web site!

    Inclusion under the umbrella of Sanatana Dharma certainly does not invalidate other Dharmas; indeed, once the appropriate associations are made, this shared knowledge greatly enhances the proper understanding of those divergent (and apparently irreconcilable) ways of Dharma, conflict between some elements of which has been the source of very much suffering over the centuries. And given the ancient roots of Judaism, modern Hinduism can learn something of its own roots by consideration of the ancient Judaic texts and practices. And I am certainly not suggesting that anyone changes their denomination, only seeking some common understanding in the midst of otherwise endless perceptions of separation and mysterious “otherness”. But I would always suggest that whatever Dharma is under consideration, it is best considered from the standpoint of Advaitam.

  9. #9

    Re: From Watts

    Hello Sarabhanga,

    I don't see a problem if you make it very clear to everyone up front when they first visit or join the forum that all of the other non-Hindu sub-sections here are basically under the views that you espouse in your last post in this thread. (and I wonder if such is the same for the rest of management?) Otherwise I feel that the other traditions and people could easily be stepped on with various and wide ranging correlations and beliefs that they do not hold! (regardless of your many studies that find interesting evidences to reveal historical and or other types of connections)

    Granted, it's a noble idea to find common ground and from what little I know of the history of Hinduism and its people, they have bent over backward being tolerable of other faiths. None-the-less I feel that they must primarily stick to their own Ways or Sects. Likewise and for instance it would not be cool for a Buddhist to come here and remark or insist to all of the Hindus that they are really Buddhists and under Buddhist Dharma but they just don't know it yet! (through showing various and well thought out correlations and evidences)

    Good day to you,

    Om

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    Re: From Watts

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob G View Post
    Namaste Atanu,

    Yes, and thanks for sharing your beautiful words!

    I feel Watts is speaking right on the mark (and I've more or less experienced what I think he is describing) when he says:

    "...When you say 'I have a problem, guru. I'm really mixed up, I don't understand,' he looks at you in this queer way, and you think 'oh dear me, he's reading my most secret thoughts. He's seeing all the awful things I am, all my cowardice, all my shortcomings.' He isn't doing anything of the kind; he isn't even interested in such things. He's looking at, if I may use Hindu terminology, he's looking at Shiva, in you, saying 'my god, Shiva, won't you come off it?"
    Namaste Bob,

    That is nice, yet I (this mind) is not there. I say: "Who knows what the Guru (Shiva) is thinking?". I say: "Guru, Shiva, let me know who I am?"

    Om
    Last edited by atanu; 06 January 2008 at 12:18 AM.
    That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.

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