The Middle Way
Zen Spot #136 -- Mindfulness, meditation and things the Buddha never said February 23, 2018 00:05
Attributions
The quote from Andy Warhol referenced above is a fake. I made it up. Having knowledge of Warhol’s persona, it was easy to contrive something believable. In a sense, too, it helps that the sentiment behind the quote is more true than not.
Anything
The nature of art is such that artists would practice art-making despite external influences and trends. The materials common to art-making have a great deal in common, but the art itself, if never seen by another human being — or discussed with other artists — would still stand alone.
Twisted stories
Without going into specifics, I am skeptical of any story that is more than 100 years old. Having knowledge of how humans naturally communicate, manipulate, obfuscate, prevaricate and twist, even the written word is suspect. In fact, an argument can be made that the written word is the most easily manipulated of all types of communication.
Parsing
Holding the beliefs described above, it naturally follows that I simply don’t believe that the entirety of the library of quotes attributed to the Buddha were ever, in fact, uttered by the Buddha.
But I’m learning.
>
About DharmaMechanic
An artist, entrepreneur and writer walking the Buddhist path, his art focuses on the Dharma Wheel. The four wheels shown above are among over 600 DharmaMechanic has created over the course of his career. Each has a unique story. If you’d like to read the story of these wheels or purchase a framed 20" x 20" ready-to-hang print, visit SilkDharma.com.
What are The Four Noble Truths?
- The truth of suffering
- The truth of the origin of suffering
- The truth of the cessation of suffering
- The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering
What is The Noble Eightfold Path?
- Right view
- Right intention
- Right action
- Right speech
- Right livelihood
- Right effort
- Right mindfulness
- Right concentration
What is a Dharma Wheel?