[Buddha-l] bodhi

[Dan Lusthaus]

Eric, one minor point:

>What are the connotations? Light comes from above, awakening is
> something that you do youself.

As I mentioned, the dominant model for how perception works in India (but 
actually found throughout the ancient and medieval world, until disproved at 
the end of the middle ages) held that the light *within* shone out through 
your eyes, illuminating objects, which were then visible, i.e., seen.

Merleau-Ponty, in his critique of that model and its modern derivatives 
(e.g., constructivists who think intentionality *only* flows outward from 
the perceiver, and not also from the perceptual field toward the perceiver), 
called that the "beacon model".

Chinese Buddhist (and Daoist) literature tout a slogan: "Turn back the 
light". I.e., instead of scattering your light outward, turn it inward, 
introspect. One finds that slogan, by the way, repeated in Linji (Rinzai), 
Dogen, and countless other "classics" (it was also the title of Buswell's 
abridged treatment of Chinul). Worth keeping that in mind when working with 
the "luminous mirror" metaphors in Buddhist texts.

So the light model does not conform to transcendent other-power paradigm 
both you and Artur are wary of.

Dan