[Buddha-l] Sense and sensibility

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Wed, 2006-01-18 at 23:33 +0000, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> By robeless, I assume you mean in one's birthday suit. 

By birthday suit I assume you mean the sharkskin suit and pork pie hat I
got for my 60th birthday. 

>  It would seem therefore that tattoos would be the answer

Yes, tattoos are the answer, or so most of my students seem to think.
That and pieces of metal protruding from improbable bits of anatomy. It
is not entirely clear what the question is to which a tattoo is the
answer, but it may have something to do with what that pseudo-advaita
mercenary Eckhart Tolle calls the pain body. Getting a tattoo, or a
pierced eyelid, seems to be a method of filling one's life with what one
hopes will be meaningful content, or at least will be perceived as
meaningful content by all the people in one's life for whom one holds
some sort of contempt. 

This brings us once again to a discussion we had some years ago about
Buddhist monks getting tattoos. I forget how that important issue got
resolved. Do monks get tattoos to show their attainment of stream entry?
They should, I think, so we lay people will know to give them more rice.

-- 
Richard