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	<title>Just So&#187; vajra</title>
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	<description>Meditations on Enlightenment</description>
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		<title>The Zen Hostage</title>
		<link>http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/the-zen-hostage/</link>
		<comments>http://www.mikaelaldridge.com/zen/the-zen-hostage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mikael</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Zen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[attachment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[huatou]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ignorance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[koan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[obsession]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vajra]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I wonder if the word obsession is related to the latin word for hostage:- obses. It seems like it should be. Our attachments, vexations, let's call them obsessions, certainly keep our minds hostage.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I wonder if the word obsession is related to the latin word for hostage:- obses. It seems like it should be. Our attachments, vexations, let&#8217;s call them obsessions, certainly keep our minds hostage.</p>
<p>Desire, aversion and delusion (they spell dad) rooted in the ultimate ignorance of self are certainly vexing. I don&#8217;t know about you, but I certainly feel humbled by them. And the fact that I truly know nothing keeps me pretty humble as well. As humble as anyone can be that is deluded by separation.</p>
<p>I do like the Buddha&#8217;s comment that &#8220;when you see that all forms are illusive and unreal, then you will begin to perceive your true nature.&#8221; My own life demonstrates just how importance that practise is, so I keep coming back it that. There&#8217;s a great <a href="http://amberstar.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=237647">podcast</a> to this effect on Zencast by Ven. Thubten Dondrub.</p>
<p>So how to blend this with Zen huatou (related to a koan) practise.  I&#8217;m still figuring this out.  Perhaps it is in the choice of the correct huatou.  I don&#8217;t know.  I do like the pointer that the asking of the huatou must be non-dualistic, which I understand as with one&#8217;s whole being.  </p>
<p>All I know is that paradoxically I must keep working at it. Right here, right now without working at it.</p>
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