What is called ignorance?

[Enver M.]

WHAT IS CALLED IGNORANCE?

Bhikkhus, what is ignorance?

Not knowing suffering,
Not knowing the origin of suffering,
Not knowing the cessation of suffering,
Not knowing the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
This is called ignorance.


From "Samyutta Nikaya" of the Buddha
Adapted from the Vietnamese version.
http://www.zenguide.com/zenmedia/index.cfm?id=338

[Kaya]

What is called "rhetorical question"?

[[james]]

Why do people see in themselves the possibility of ignorance, I wonder. Can a bee or a horse or a bonobo be ignorant? I would say that there is no ignorance outside of the word itself and the concepts we attach to that word. What are we ignoring? Do we live much of our lives in a mode of “ignoring”?

[Dan74]

Why do people see in themselves the possibility of ignorance, I wonder. Can a bee or a horse or a bonobo be ignorant? I would say that there is no ignorance outside of the word itself and the concepts we attach to that word. What are we ignoring? Do we live much of our lives in a mode of “ignoring”?

A surprising question, James.

When I bump against the sharp corner of my kitchen table, in that moment I was ignorant, or unaware, of the relevant physical dimensions and positions of the two objects.

And it seems to me in life this lack of awareness resulting in bumping against some aspect of our lives, happens pretty often, almost constantly to a greater or lesser extent, as we wish things or ourselves to be other than they are, or to stay the same. The chief of them, possibly, the mental cramp of hanging on to an identity, things, people, circumstances, a sense of me and mine, while ignorant that this seeming security blanket is the very cause of our suffering.

I take it you see this matter very differently?

[Enver M.]

"Then I learn that, just as many utensils are made from one metal, so too are myriad entities made of the fabric of self."

-ten bulls

[Seeker242]

Why do people see in themselves the possibility of ignorance, I wonder.

Because they experience suffering and there can't be suffering without ignorance.

Can a bee or a horse or a bonobo be ignorant?

Yes, they all experience suffering.

[Enver M.]

What is called "rhetorical question"?

I AM NOT A LIAR.

[Enver M.]

Zen is burning like in a glow inside my heart.

[Kaya]

What is called "rhetorical question"?

I AM NOT A LIAR.

Ok, so?

You offered a query, and simultaneously provided the answer. Hence, your question was rhetorical.

And I'm ain't lyin'.

[Enver M.]

My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot find the bull.

ten bulls

[desert_woodworker]

Ignorance is just not knowing one's actual and original mind.

--Joe

[Enver M.]

Ignorance is just not knowing one's actual and original mind.

--Joe

Joe,

I think that's the main point.

ALL I wish is like to be those Zen masters who do the things whatever and whenever he likes to do. that those like in the movies.

that's all.

[Enver M.]

Could everything be talking about that?

[Kaya]

ALL I wish is like to be those Zen masters who do the things whatever and whenever he likes to do. that those like in the movies.

that's all.

Which movies?

[Enver M.]

Which movies?

You are right.

There are different kind of Zen masters.
Those hero ones, drunken ones, or have a life styLe like stray dogs etc.
They have one common side is that they are all kungfu masters and know fighting those I watch in the movies.

Yet, my favorite ones which i wish to be like are the ones that live like 'stray dogs'.
If you ask what is it to live like a stray dog is that you live a life like a stray dog as you do the things whatever and/or whenever you want.

well, that's why may be my life standard or status is only in accordance with it.

[Kaya]

There are different kind of Zen masters.
Those hero ones, drunken ones, or have a life styLe like stray dogs etc.
They have one common side is that they are all kungfu masters and know fighting those I watch in the movies.

Ah, yes, like Jackie Chan in "The Legend of Drunken Master" (1994), or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), with Yun-Fat Chow as Master Li Mu Bai?

Yet, my favorite ones which i wish to be like are the ones that live like 'stray dogs'.
If you ask what is it to live like a stray dog is that you live a life like a stray dog as you do the things whatever and/or whenever you want.

I don't know: did these movie characters always do as they pleased?

I'm not sure that kung fu master = zen master. Meido might have an opinion.

(Jackie Chan: Jackie "Zen"?)

[Dan74]

I take it you are joking, Enver?

When all you want to be is to be Enver, that is no one special, then maybe you get closer to being a Zen master, I guess..

[Enver M.]

Einstein has said imagination is important.something like that.

And i trust my imagination.

[Enver M.]

Ah, yes, like Jackie Chan in "The Legend of Drunken Master" (1994), or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), with Yun-Fat Chow as Master Li Mu Bai?

[Dan74]

Einstein has said imagination is important.something like that.

And i trust my imagination.

Zen Master Einstein!