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scholasticism
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Ocean inside a skull-cap,
Seeking the universal code in letters.
The mind is like a flower on icy water;
An eye within the petals.
The intellect is one of the thorniest problems for a spiritual aspirant. One cannot do without it -- indeed, it is essential -- and yet one cannot allow it to remain totally dominant. The intellect must be fully developed before it is brought to a point of neutrality. Unless this is done, it will act as a block, and there will not be any ultimate spiritual success.
Scholarship is thus an important first step. Education is a means of gaining access to the conventional world, of satisfying our curiosity, and of avoiding superstitious tendencies. There can be no talk of delving into philosophical mysteries if one has not even satisfied one's curiosity about nature, civilization, mathematics, and language. But once mental cultivation is achieved, one must focus increasingly on a part of the mind that is far beyond the scholarly.
The intellect uses discrimination, categorization, and dualistic distinctions in highly sophisticated ways. By contrast, spiritual contemplation involves no discrimination, no categorization, and no dualism, so it has very little need for scholasticism. It is pure action that requires the totality of our inner beings. It needs pure involvement, not mere study. The proper use of the intellect is to give it free play, develop it to an extraordinary degree, and yet to leave it behind when spiritual action is required. A sage knows how to balance and combine both.
scholasticism
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Men Drinking Tea
P1/0014/P1 Price £180
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I urge you to visit this wonderful site to view the image in full!
As I have no information about this work except it's source
(do visit the site!) I will tell you what I know about Chinese art history.
Often when a group of men are together in this manner it is to signify
the spiritual and intellectual leaders of the country. It is said that,
in China, the people wear the hat of Confucius, the robes of Buddha and
the sandals of Lao Tsu. I would see the smaller man in front (in beige
robe) as Lao Tsu, the other two may be Buddha and Confucius (Buddha is
not fat in most Asian work!) and the one with his back toward us to be,
perhaps, the student. The calligraphy is not a familiar style to me, and
I read only a little of the writing... Any Chinese art scholars out there!
Write and tell us what you think! xox lisbeth