[Buddha-l] Seduction of a holy man

[jkirk]

Even more interesting.........I was joking, actually. 
Seems like a persuasive interpretation.
Joanna
====================================

> I'm pretty sure that the dogs are meant to represent "discursive 
> thoughts". The "hunter" (the intellect) has gone out in search of truth 
> "out there" and, having caught a glimpse of it, has been transformed 
> into the hunted. Looked at this way it may appear to be a description of 
> a descent into madness - but this is no ordinary madness - it is, 
> according to Ficino, anyway, Divine Frenzy.
> 
> From a Buddhist point of view it can be seen as the extinguishing 
> (dismemberment and consumption) of the discursive mind upon some kind of 
> "kensho" experience. After all, I believe that the literal meaning of 
> "kensho" is "seeing nature". Acteon has, in fact, "seen" the very 
> Goddess of "nature" Herself (Diana) - and is destroyed/transformed by 
> that experience.
> 
> - Curt
> 
> jkirk wrote:
> 
>> Hmmmm--that's a daunting interpretation. But maybe the dogs were  
>> frustrated disciples. Perhaps why some sages chased them away with
>> sticks or brooms and hid in caves.
>> Joanna
>> ==========================
>>
>>> Then there is the famous story of Acteon, the hunter who accidentally 
>>> (or maybe not so accidentally) caught a glimpse of the Goddess Diana 
>>> in all Her glory while she was bathing. Diana turned Acteon into a 
>>> deer, and sicked his own dogs on him - who then proceeded to tear him 
>>> to pieces and consume him. One take on this story (favored by the 
>>> Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino) is that it describes the 
>>> desire (or "hunt") of the human intellect for Divine Wisdom - and 
>>> what happens if the intellect ever actually catches sight of what its 
>>> looking for.
>>> - Curt
>>>
>>> jkirk wrote:
>>>
>>>> There's a similar story from the Sufi tradition of a Sufi sage 
>>>> falling in love with a woman and following her to the ends of the 
>>>> earth,  pining until half-dead from hunger and distraction, when he 
>>>> finally he gets the realization.
>>>> Joanna K.
>>>> ==========================================
>>>
>>
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