Category: Written Word

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Foundations (of Equivalent Exchange)

Transmutation Circle from Fullmetal Alchemist

Newtonian mechanics is built on the foundation of Newton’s three laws of motion (cause and effect) 

Which state: 

1. An object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. Because inertia is the property of a body to resist any change in its state of rest or uniform motion, this law is also known as the law of inertia. In this sense, the mass of a body is a measure of its inertia and is called the inertial mass of the body.

2.  If a net force acts on an object, it will cause an acceleration of that object. The relationship between an object’s mass m, its acceleration a and the applied force F is given by the vector equation

F = ma

3. When one object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal force in the opposite direction on the first object. Said another way, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, hence the alternative name for this law as the action-reaction law.

Commensurately:

Buddhist philosophy is built on the foundation of cause and effect (Tibetan: rgyu ‘bras; Sanskrit: hetuphala) the primary features of this law being:

1. Nothing evolves uncaused

2. Any entity which itself lacks a process of change cannot cause any other event

3. Only causes which possess natures that accord with specific effects can lead to those effects

 

“It is mind itself that sets in place the myriad array of beings in the world, and the world that contains them…living beings all arise from karma, and so without mind, there could be no karma.”

Madhyamakāvatarā, VI: 89
Bibliography:
A Most Incomprehensible Thing: Notes Towards a Very Gentle Introduction to the Mathematics of Relativity by Peter Collier

The Handbook of Tibetan Culture, 1993. 
Compiled by Graham Coleman
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Parable of the Snake

“Teacher, it is said you have spoken of the four reliances in relation to the parable of the snake. Could you explain the message in the parable and how it relates to the four reliances?”

“Indeed. Amid a certain community of monks there was a known prankster. One day, as the monks gathered in the courtyard for meditation, the prankster points and says, “Careful, there lies a snake.” Knowing the nature of the prankster, the skeptical monks looked to where he pointed and there they too saw a coiled snake. The monks took heed to stay clear of the snake.  One astute monk took notice and realized that the snake did not move, and from head to tail its girth seemed too uniform. As he cautiously approached the snake, he soon realized it to  be a coil of rope. Grabbing the rope, to show the others, the monk was bit on the hand by a snake that lay hid in the coil of rope.”

“As the monks first doubted the prankster’s statement, rely not merely on the person  but on the words.”

“As the monks, upon investigation, accepted what the prankster said, rely not merely on the words but on their meaning.”

“As the astute monk who on deeper reflection questioned  initial observations, rely not merely on provisional meaning but on definitive meaning.”

“As the astute monk who discovered  conceptual truth and experience differ, rely not merely on intellectual understanding but on direct experience.”

“Do you understand the message in the parable of the snake, my son?”

Wherein the student replied, “The snake that lies in the coils of a rope in the coils of the rope lies, likewise truth by truth is often hid.”

“Good. Good. Very good. You have understood.”

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Quintessential

Circle complete ends 
Where it begins. 

Any coordinate plane
With curvature same,
Radius reciprocal. 

Measure of perimeter
To bisecting line though center, 
Irrational, transcendental. 

Quintessential measurement
Of rational transcendental, 
Devoid judgement, 
Present in contemplation, 
Compassion in perpetuation.
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Soñar Boriken

Jibaro lo soy, 
desde ayer hasta hoy. 

En brazos abrazados, 
canciones
de alegría
yo cantaria,
de los reflejos del mañana
en las alas de una paloma.

Olvidando lo olvidado,
palabras en el viento engendrado. 

Todavía cantando,
porque todavía lo soy.
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Māyā

Illusory singular irregularity
Of certainty’s regular singularity

Bound by 
Unknowable perpetual 
Boundless range,
Understood as
Abstraction of conceptual
Changeless change

Unattached Afflictions
Unattached Affections
Unattached Reflections  

At vertex of angle of incidence 
Thoughts reflect coincidence
Toward vantage at angle of reflection, 
From vector of perfection.
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SOME MATHEMATICAL THEOREMS ON PERSPECTIVE DRAWING

From: Chapter 10, Mathematics for the Nonmathematician, Morris Kline

Let us accept, then, the principle that the canvas must contain the same section that a glass screen placed between the eye of the painter and the actual scene would contain. Since the artist cannot look through his canvas at the actual scene and may even be painting an imaginary scene, he must have theorems which tell him how to place his objects on the canvas so that the painting will, in effect, contain the section made by a glass screen.

Suppose then that the eye at E (Fig. 10–8) looks at the horizontal line GH and that GH is parallel to a vertical glass screen. The lines from E to the points of GH lie in one plane, namely the plane determined by the point E and the line GH, for a point and a line determine a plane. This plane will cut the screen in a line, G′H′, because two planes which meet at all meet in a line. It is apparent that the line G′H′ must also be horizontal, but we can prove this fact and so be certain. We can imagine a vertical plane through GH. Since GH is parallel to the screen and the latter is also vertical, the two planes must be parallel. The plane determined by E and GH cuts these parallel planes, and a plane which intersects two parallel planes intersects them in parallel lines. Hence G′H′ is parallel to GH, and since GH is horizontal, so is G′H′. But GH was any horizontal line parallel to the screen. Hence the image on the screen of any horizontal line parallel to the screen or picture plane must be horizontal. Thus in a painting which is to contain what this glass screen contains, the line G′H′ must be drawn horizontally.

We can present practically the same argument to show that the image of any vertical line, which is automatically parallel to the vertical screen, must appear on the screen as a vertical line. Thus all vertical lines must be drawn vertically. Continue reading “SOME MATHEMATICAL THEOREMS ON PERSPECTIVE DRAWING”

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Dorje

True view is infinite and vast. 
Relax and release mind of thought.
Shatter that which arises, 
        with “p-hat!”
Transparent and clear at last, 
Recognize pure awareness sought,
Without notion such this or that. 

Meditate on rays of love and wisdom,
Rest in awareness beyond description. 
Abide by flow of primordial glow.
Decide with conviction absolute,
On one thing and one thing only, resolute. 

In action as the compassionate one, 
Momentary thoughts leave no trace, 
Like writing on ocean’s surface.
Arising and liberation become
natural and continuous cure,
Without trace and innately pure. 
With confidence in liberation of rising thoughts, succumb. 

For view is of three part in communion, 
Meditation is wisdom and love in union
Accompanied by action of compassion. 

(A reflective render on The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King)
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Item six on the agenda….

From "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" (1983 Film)

CHAIRMAN: ...Which brings us once again to the urgent realization of just how much there is still left to own. Item six on the agenda: the meaning of life. Now, uh, Harry, you've had some thoughts on this.

HARRY: That's right. Yeah, I've had a team working on this over the past few weeks, and, uh, what we've come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts. One: people are not wearing enough hats. Two: matter is energy. In the universe, there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source which act upon a person's soul. However, this soul does not exist ab initio, as orthodox Christianity teaches. It has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved, owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia.
[pause]

BERT: What was that about hats, again?
“Galaxy Song”song by Eric Idle From “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life“ 
“Galaxy Song”
 by Eric Idle (lyrics) and John Du Prez (music)

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,

And people are stupid, obnoxious, or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite enough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
“The Crimson Permanent Assurance” (1983)