Zen and the art of Rogaine

[SpankMaster Flex]

Yang-Chu said, "The sage Po-ch'eng-lao-tzu would not sacrifice his body and mind to the benefit of the world, so he became a hermit and lived a life of peace and contentment. Yu the king sacrificed everything to help the world. He got everyone's respect but became a cripple for the rest of his life. The ancients say if people did not sacrifice a single strand of their hair to save the world, then the world would be a less complicated place."

Someone then asked Yang-Chu, "If plucking a strand of hair from your body could help the world, would you do it?"

Yang-Chu said, "The world cannot be helped by a piece of my hair."

"Suppose it could, would you do it?"

Yang-Chu did not answer.

 

[CreamyLady]

In the pursuit of wisdom, every day something is gained; in the pursuit of tao, every day something is lost.

 

[Hecate]

The Tao is infinite, eternal
Why is it eternal?
It was never born
thus it can never die.
Why is it infinite?
It has no desires for itself
thus it is present for all beings.


A quite philosophical topic you are bringing up here SMF ...

 

[CreamyLady]

Very philosophical, but I was also wondering if the daily loss included hair, which would, eventually, bring one to tao.

 

[SpankMaster Flex]

If I had ten thousand pieces of gold I would buy the hair club for men

Yang-Chu's friend said, "You don't understand his point. Let me ask you this. Would you cut a piece of flesh from your body if by doing it you would get ten thousand pieces of gold?"

"I think I would."

"However, if you could gain a kingdom by losing an arm, would you do it?"

The inquirer was silent.

 

[CreamyLady]

Leaving the text for a moment, I would have to say, personally, no and no. Gold is easily lost; a kingdom is real estate and responsibility.

Lose the gold, lose the kingdom, keep the body parts, and think deep thoughts.

Or shallow thoughts; there is probably no real distinction.

 

[Cheri]

Dang you guys are making me miss my college days....I still do miss the whole intellectual inquiry thing...I mean reading and debating just for the heck of it. Now a days the deepest intellectual inquiry I'm involved in is Doug vs. Quail Man, who is better. Think I'll go dig out some college texts....