trains of thought and speech

was shooting the breeze with b and p (who work here at mayo and are very minnesotan- pleasant, respectful and friendly) the other day and somehow the conversation came to the topic of names. it jumped from mia to maia (mother of the muses and incidentally the name of garrison keillor's daughter) to maya. when i mentioned that maya means illusion in sanskrit, it jumped to religion and before we knew, there was a lively conversation on creation, prayer and meditation. and inevitably buddhism.

it is strange that most people don't realize that buddhism is an non-theistic (apropos atheistic) religion. true, in some of the mahayana countries, people do "pray" to the buddha but for the most part there is no belief in an external power even though the hindu gods are recognized- indra, brahma and yama make frequent appearances and mara of course. and the vajrayana tradition shows traces of vedantic/hindu influences. it is an universe populated with gods, demons, beasts, hell realms which can easily be interpreted also as mind-states. the buddha himself was famously silent on metaphysical issues, refusing to be drawn into it. it was a very practical stance, given the polemic nature of the debate. anyway we got from there to reincarnation and chatting about body, soul and spirit and when i mentioned that the hindu-buddhist worldview and goal is to end the cycle of birth and death, p asked me where one goes if one is not born. good question to which i could only reply (at that time) who am i?. maybe a better answer would be there was nowhere to go just as there is nothing to attain. anyway, as the conversation continued, i realized that we or at least i was "shooting the breeze". seung sahn sunim's admonition comes to mind, albeit late- open mouth, already a mistake. oh well, time to brush up on merton and listen to his meditations on prayer and meditation. and whilst at it, to pick up aurelius as well. yes the same aurelius which is agastya's favourite in english august.

here is the famous creation hymn from the rig veda translated by vv raman

Not even nothing existed then
No air yet, nor a heaven.
Who encased and kept it where?
Was water in the darkness there?
Neither deathlessness nor decay
No, nor the rhythm of night and day:
The self-existent, with breath sans air:
That, and that alone was there.
Darkness was in darkness found
Like light-less water all around.
One emerged, with nothing on
It was from heat that this was born.
Into it, Desire, its way did find:
The primordial seed born of mind.
Sages know deep in the heart:
What exists is kin to what does not.
Across the void the cord was thrown,
The place of every thing was known.
Seed-sowers and powers now came by,
Impulse below and force on high.
Who really knows, and who can swear,
How creation came, when or where!
Even gods came after creation's day,
Who really knows, who can truly say
When and how did creation start?
Did He do it? Or did He not?
Only He, up there, knows, maybe;
Or perhaps, not even He.

and just for kicks a link to what the wiki says about the big bang.