[Buddha-l] no one ever gets rid of all their neuroses

[Franz Metcalf]

Bruce et al.,

Bruce, I want to thank you for that no-punches-pulled post. (Naturally, 
because I feel in full agreement with what you write. I should thank 
you even if I violently disagreed with you, but I doubt I'd be up to 
it.)

No time to seriously explore this issue of involvement in life versus 
withdrawal from life, right now, but I do want to make two comments. 
First, thinkers on issues of Buddhism and psychology are divided 
between calling for freedom *from* emotions and freedom *in* emotions. 
On this subject, folks like Jeff Rubin, Joseph Bobrow, Mark Finn hang 
with the *in* group (as do Bruce and I in these posts). It's an ongoing 
debate in the tradition and among psychologists. Indeed, it roughly 
echoes the debate between early Buddhism and Mahayana, but we see it in 
Mahayana itself. Which leads me to the second comment, one not from me 
but from Teacher Yunmen:

         Tiantong said, "If you haven't understood, you get involved in 
everything
         around you."

         Teacher Yunmen countered, "If you *have* understood, you get 
involved
         in everything around you!"
                                                                         
           "Pilgrimage Record" 284

Franz Metcalf