What is your interpretation of this quote?

  • Sylvia
    13 years ago

    What is your interpretation of these lines? Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation I found and posted with this. What is your take on it?

    The Great Way has no gate.
    Clear water has no taste.
    The tongue has no bone.
    In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.
    ~Seung Sahn

    This is an interpretation I found by Malar on Yahoo Answers

    This is a verse created by putting together some sayings of Zen Master Seung Sahn.

    In view of the fact that there is not much research done, any attempt at explanation is bound to be subjective. The following is an attempt at explanation based on the original sayings.

    The Great Way has no gate,
    A thousand roads enter it.
    When one passes through this gateless gate,
    He freely walks between heaven and earth.

    There are many ways of attaining Greatness. There is nothing to deter a person bent upon achieving greatness. Such a determination is never distracted by excessive spirituality or extreme worldliness.

    Clear water has no taste, but no taste is great taste.
    Everybody likes ice cream, but eating ice cream all day is not possible. However, if you're thirsty, clear water is wonderful any time, better than honey, better than ice cream, better than anything. The truth is like this.

    Zen Master Seung Sahn on zero mind.
    As the term Zero Mind suggests, a mind which considers pain and pleasure as equal, and is unaffected by the ups and downs of life is the highest form of consciousness. According to Bhagavad Gita, Sthitaprajna is a person whose mind has stabilized. Whether he has faith in the divine is immaterial, as long as he is in a state of equilibrium while facing the ups and downs of life. In this state you do experience life but remain unmoved by it because your mental faculties are always in a state of equilibrium.(http://www.hindu-blog.com/2008/01/shri-k�

    A Tongue Has No Bones BUT It Can Break A Heart And it Can Also Be A Pillar Of Building A Broken Heart Depends On Us How We Use It

    As the saying states, one should guard the tongue which is but a fleshy insignificant organ as it can hurt people or help them to rise above depression.

    In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.
    The last one is explained in two different ways by two different people. According to one traveller, she found at the end of a trek through a dense forest a beautiful stone staue which seemed to be dancing. Such was the effect of the stillness on her mind. In another, Lorianne felt the rumbling of an earthquake as she was immersed in meditation at a Zen Centre.(http://hoardedordinaries.wordpress.com/2�
    I draw the conclusion that the saying means that when the mind is in total concentration, it attains a superior power and at that time even the impossible appears to be possible.

    http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100927084135AAneOCr

  • Sylvia
    13 years ago

    Britt you came close to the interpretation I found. It does make you think, especially the tongue has no bone. Makes me want to explore Zen more.

  • abracadabra
    13 years ago

    Buddhism is dangerous. It can make you think aloofly for years about a simple thought, removing you from the material world. In the last couple of years, I have realised that materials matter too, and that joy does not come in knowing. It comes in not knowing.

  • Michael D Nalley
    13 years ago

    The Great Way has no gate.
    Is of course deeply spiritual and to me is about a perfect path that has no obstructions

    On Crime and Punishment
    Kahlil Gibran

    "It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,
    That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
    And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed"
    "Clear water has no taste."

    "Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing."

    When we are hung on anyone purpose we polute our mind, heart and soul with desires that are rarely fulfilled and in the modern world are the Koolaid drinkers XD

    The tongue has no bone.
    Though man does not live by bread alone there is a danger of basing our actions on promises and threats that put a bad or good taste in our mouths without structure and strength

    In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.
    Idols are often of our own making, and destractions are not always active where images are concerned

  • silvershoes
    13 years ago

    Ooh wow, that's really cool. My brain was struggling to come up with a simple explanation of the 'stanza' to blow you fishes out of the water, but alas, I am not so very wise or so very creative.

    Adieu.

  • Ingrid
    13 years ago

    The Great Way has no gate.
    Clear water has no taste.
    The tongue has no bone.
    In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.

    This is my view on the poem:

    The great way has no gate
    ^^
    All boundaries are imaginary, we are all connected and life and death are not as separate as we think, just stages a soul goes through. We are ALWAYS on "the great way", whether we realize it or not. And last but not least: we are all worthy of being here (on the great way) we don"t need to earn our birthright. None of us are lost, we are all where we need to be, even though we often feel that we are not.

    Clear water has no taste

    ^^
    We should take all we encounter in without prejudice, all truths are what they are, and if we dare and open up , we shall see them as they are and drink "clear water": experience life as it really is.

    The tongue has no bone

    ^^
    Even though the tongue is the softest element of our body, it is also the part that can cause the deepest of pains in the ones around us, if we don't use it wisely. We can bite it (no bone) if need be and should at times, because some words can damage a relationship beyond repair.

    In complete stillness a stone girl is dancing
    ^^
    In our memories our beloved ones live on, frozen (stone) in time, happy forever more, no sound (harmful words)or evil will ever harm them again.

  • Ingrid
    13 years ago

    ^^

    I try to do my share of participation!

  • Sylvia
    13 years ago

    I like Ingrid's interpretation of the last line. Makes sense to me and is true.

  • Michael D Nalley
    13 years ago

    It is by far the best and most beautiful interpretation I wish I had thought of it before it was spelled out to me. It reminds me a a very real feeling I had while someone insisted on beating a dead horse that could not run or defend itself. My hat is off to Ingrid

  • silvershoes
    13 years ago

    In complete stillness a stone girl is dancing
    ^^
    In our memories our beloved ones live on, frozen (stone) in time, happy forever more, no sound (harmful words)or evil will ever harm them again.

    -----
    I'm also very impressed with this interpretation. It made my heart swell.

  • Ingrid
    13 years ago

    Thanks..I think:)

  • silvershoes
    13 years ago

    Yes, it's a compliment.