Opinions!

[firecat]

I did this on Usenet once and got some interesting answers. If I can find the thread in Gooja I will post it in a couple of days.
ETA: I made a comment in this post about what happened on Usenet.

I have had the following in my quote file for a long time. I don't know whether it is an accurate quote or not, but I like it.

Joshu is my favorite Zen Master. It is said that a monk once asked him, To be holy -- what is it like?" Joshu replied, "To dump a mountain of shit on a clean plain." -- Dick Sutphen

What do you think Joshu means?

(X-posted to buddhists)

Comments

[suzimoses.livejournal.com]

You ever notice how when one person says that something/someone is perfect a slew of other people start pointing out ways it isn't?

When I was a dancer I learned that ballet was the art of reaching for physical perfection, knowing that it couldn't be attained. To quote Tolkein, it's the art of fighting the long defeat.

Being holy is like that I think. You declare it to be so, or someone else does, and suddenly all you can see are the imperfections.

There's no such thing as the perfect anything. The holiness, the perfection, (for me) is the search for it. The reach.