Sutra of the day: To see is to forget the name of what one sees.

That actually is not the sutra, but it’s a fair translation, and it comes from Paul Valery (1871-1945).

It was my favorite quote in my 20′s. Figures I could find it in the Yoga Sutras.

Here it is:

zabda GAnaAnupati vastu zunyo vikalpaH

Conceptualization [one of the unhelpful definitions/limitations on the field of consciousness] is when you don’t have an actual object but rely upon concept in language. (I.9)

Gosh, growing up and getting educated in the 80′s all I was surrounded with was Foucault and post-modernism.

What a waste of time.

I wish that I had known that all I have to do is SEE!





Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, 400 B.C.E.

A Tao that can be tao-ed is not lasting Tao.

A name that can be named is not lasting name.

Name-less — the beginning of Heaven and Earth.

Named — the mother of all things.

So, we must be always without desires to see the mystery:

If we always have desires we will see its limits:

These two are the same; once there is out-going, then there is difference of name.

As the same they are called obscure. The obscure of the obscure is the gate of all mysteries.

Translated by P.J. Maclagan (1898)



I’ve heard that word/name/Tao is Purusha, meaning/expression/named is Prakriti, “the Mother of All Things”.

It all makes sense.