practice2

True Practitioners of Buddhism

|Have you ever tried to play chess (or baseball) with no rules?  How would you 
|ever begin, let alone "win?"

cf Carse and _Infinite Games_, wherein he describes the infinite game as
 having as its definition a winning result of continuing the game, whereas
 finite games focus upon 'winners' and 'losers'

it is similar to what Smullyan calls 'making something of oneself' or
 what I might say is the esteem of joining in, yet it is not obvious to
 me that it is superior practice in all cases to require or abandon rules

human beings are too variable for clear and defined practice to be 
 expressible in our relative and incomplete communication device we call 
 'language'.  you can say 'sit!' with all your heart's intent, but only
 that reflective pathway that consistently inspires its recursion will
 bring about even the semblance of satori