Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.

[dmm]

Not Zen or anything, but "The Prince" by Machiavelli is also great Evil Emperor strategy guide, and also short.

More on-topic would be "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull." Also short. I don't agree with its underlying philosophy (reincarnation), but I liked how JLS kept striving to be better. Supposedly Winnie the Pooh is Zen-like, at least according to "The Tao of Pooh." And physics is Zen-like, according to "The Tao of Physics." Personally, I think you'd be better served by just reading the Pooh books and studying physics.

[dmm]

quote:

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Originally posted by dogscoff:
I'm particularly interested in any kind of speed meditation, which could be practised in periods of, say 6 or 7 minutes spaced 15- 40 minutes apart, with occasional short breaks for tactical combat.

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"Speed meditation??!!" LOL! That is SO typically American. This reminds me of one of the few Zen stories that I know:
A young man goes to a monastery and says he wants to achieve oneness with the universe (or enlightenment, or something like that), and asks how long that will take. "10 years," says the head guy (priest or lama or something). The young man is dismayed; he has a life to lead, things to accomplish. "That's too long," he says. "What if I work at it day and night, much harder than anyone else here?" "Ah, in that case," replies the head guy, "it will take you 50 years."

Also reminds me of the "I'd like a half a cup of God, please" email that gets circulated periodically.

[Menschenfresser]

If you want something along this line that will take 6 months to read and 12 to understand, then check out "On War" by von Clausewitz.

900 pages of 19th century German.

[dogscoff]

QUOTE:
Supposedly Winnie the Pooh is Zen-like, at least according to "The Tao of Pooh." And physics is Zen-like, according to "The Tao of Physics." Personally, I think you'd be better served by just reading the Pooh books and studying physics.
QUOTE

Don't know about Winnie the Pooh but there is a very strong crossover between physics and Zen. Both (as I understand it) are essentially studies of cause and effect in an impassive and chaotic universe.

An excellent TV series for understanding Buddhism (not necessarily the same thing as zen, but again there are crossovers) is the 70s kungfu comedy masterpiece Monkey Magic. It uses a load of mythological metaphors to demonstrate the buddhist way of thinking. Loads of cool kungfu, character comedy and improbable magic too. It's a really good watch, try to find it on video. (Then lend it to me=-)

(BTW, I wasn't really serious about speed meditation. Just in case anyone missed the mile-wide sarcasm=-)

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[capnq]

quote:

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Just for grins I looked at copies for sale on some book sites. Some were as small as 130 pages, and that's with pictures and other annotations, examples etc. I don't know exactly how much of that is Sun Tzu's words...

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My copy of _The Art of War_ is 172 pages. The actual text by Sun Tsu doesn't start until p. 41, and his own words tend to run less than 20% of each page, with the rest being commentary from other interpreters.

quote:

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Originally posted by dogscoff:
I'm particularly interested in any kind of speed meditation, which could be practised in periods of, say 6 or 7 minutes spaced 15- 40 minutes apart, with occasional short breaks for tactical combat.
"Speed meditation??!!" LOL! That is SO typically American.

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Check out the book _Zen to Go_ by Jon Winokur.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 30 August 2001).]

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 30 August 2001).]

[geoschmo]

It's amazing how someone can say so much, with so few words.

It's also an amazing thing that it has Lasted thousands of years and is still required reading at military academies all over the world. There are even buisness schools adapting it as curiculum for their students.

Geo

[Saxon]

Speaking of ancient memorization, did you know that to gain admission to the University of Cairo during most of the Middle Ages you had to pass an entrance exam. The exam was to orally recite the entire Koran to a panel of judges. It usually took a few days. Bit tougher than getting a B average in high school.