[Buddha-l] Re: Emptiness

[Richard Hayes]

On Wednesday 24 October 2007 11:55, Mr Michael A. La Torra wrote:

> I am merely a practitioner, not a philosopher. While I rather enjoy
> plunging through the "thicket of views" on this list, I find very few
> views that I wholly reject or wholly accept. I simply plunge onward.

That is precisely what makes you a philosopher. You may also be a practitioner 
of other things, but if you truly plunge through the thicket of views and 
admire the bugs but refrain from taking any home with you, then you also 
practice philosophy.

>  "When did you first notice the obvious?"

According to family legend, those were my very first words. I was six months 
old. My father came in to check my crib, and he said "Holy cow! There's shit 
all over everything." What else could I say in response but my first 
sentence? (To tell the truth, I was pleased that he was calling attention to 
my emptiness, achieved at the expense of a slightly messy crib.)

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes