I was a little sad to find out that fractals might be “cool” in someone’s world. Disappointed? Yes, because the strength of using such a metaphor might then be dissipated through use. In Bhutan cameras are forbidden in sacred places for this very reason. When it is too easy to take a snap of a shrine or sacred object, the blessing of that object begins to dissipate. In the same way I would be disappointed if fractals are considered to be “really cool” like this blog post claims:
http://egregores.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/fractal-buddhism-the-avatamsaka-sutra/
A footnote on this Wiki page on Lineage gives us the background to more thoroughly understand the logic behind the Bhutanese prohibition on cameras: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineage_%28Buddhism%29
‘Blessing’ (Wylie: byin-rlabs; Sanskrit: adhiṣṭhāna):
“In the Buddhist context, the term blessing should not be understood in terms of grace as in the case of theistic religions. Rather, it relates to the sense of inspiration received…which transforms or awakens the potentials inherent within an individual’s mental continuum. Thus, the Tibetan word byin-rlabs is interpreted to mean: ‘to be transformed through inspiring magnificence’.”
Padmasambhava (composed); Terton Karma Lingpa (revealed); Gyurme Dorje (translated); Graham Coleman (editor); Thupten Jinpa (editor) with H.H.Tenzin Gyatso (introduction) (2005, 2006). The Tibetan Book of the Dead. First Complete Translation. Strand, London, UK: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-140-45529-8, p.448
“Lineage” is the line of Masters from whom we who study Buddhism receive teachings and blessings. It’s helpful to be reminded that this is not necessarily a form of supernatural and magic, but something extraordinary, yet logical. When you turn a sacred word, text, object, whatever into something that is used again and again, you make it every day, ordinary. The meaningful becomes exhausted of its meaning through over-use and over-exposure. When you apply a ceremony, such as only using on special occasions, not allowing it to be photographed, not allowing anyone to touch, and so on, the power of the item to “bless” in the sense of inspiring our minds “to magnificence” (something greater) can remain. The experience of this is not really magic in the sense of something that happens without cause; it is something mind creates because of how we behave with the phenomenon we wish to define as “blessed,” as inspiring us to be greater.
This is also an idea I wish to hold onto for inclusion in a post I am working on. This will relate to feudalism, process as religion, and other supernatural matters. I actually have seven drafts in the queue:
- Is Being “Of One Mind” Such a Good Thing? and other pitfalls
- Leadership, the Supernatural Powers of Kings and the Religion of Process
- Can we be good without God?
- Stories? or “No More Stories!”
- Checklists, Backlog, Specs
- Dark Side of People and Teams
- “We Look to Scientists to Settle Them”
Guess which this applies to. I may or may not combine or split apart any of the above. Just where I’ve zoomed in on the fractal for today.
To understand more thoroughly the meaning of the power of the meaningful being exhausted through over-use and over-exposure,
Work Different 