fishing

those around me are bright and full of learning.  only I am dull
 and lacking in certainty.  day by day the scholars increase their
 store of knowledge, day by day I dispense with learning and
 decrepit assurances 
	(a subterfuge of the Old Boy)

| Let me ask you a question:  If you were to come across a hungry man,
| would you feed him?  Or teach him how to fish?  

I would smile and say hello.  if he asks me for food I may give some
 food to him.  if he asks for more or how I came by mine, then I might
 instruct him on how to go about fishing (getting food).  the problem
 is that fishing is becoming more and more difficult to engage, the
 waters are turning sour because of all the fishers and industrious
 do-gooders are instructing the hordes to fish out the stream.  perhaps
 I would say 'no, I have no food for you' and send him on his way,
 watching to see if he is truly in need.  perhaps I would slap him
 with my zenschtick and wake him up somehow

| Surely if he was
| hungry, he would appreciate food more.  But the gift of knowlage will
| keep him from hungering when you are no longer there to feed him.  

hunger in and of itself is not an evil.  avoiding it, we avoid discipline

| I do not say feeding the man is wrong, as also I do not say that
| answering someone's questions with your idea's is wrong, but to show
| someone where to find the answers himself, to point him to the
| referance books or people where from you formed your opinions, and let
| him form his own, in that way he can understand and continue to learn
| in the future.  

this is a valuable argument.  the problem is that the popular texts and
 disempowering rhetoric propagate as 'knowledge' much more quickly than
 does any sort of revolutionary exposition of upaya.  exemplifying neither
 knowledge nor ignorance, pointing to neither certainty nor ambivalence,
 I walk along the sword bridge of tao

| For all can be confused by other's opinions and
| beliefs, but it is very difficult to be confused by your own

beautiful!  if one has opinions and beliefs, then perhaps it is so.
 it can also be said that opinions and beliefs are the very SYMPTOMS 
 of confusion and that the tao lies somewhere beyond these (p'u)

| In response to some questions, I would like to see postings of books
| and other referances, quotes and "first-hand" ideas (not answers).
| This helps me to understand and grow, as it would others.

I have done this quite a few times.  what matter the authority as long
 as the response is sound?  sure, spew some Hui-neng, Liu Tzu or a bit
 of Legalism our way.  does this assist the reader any more than the
 blatant Answers from other quadrants?  perhaps those who do not 
 provide Answers are the ones who know best (how not to know at all)