THE WANDERLING:

TAKING HIM WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

"I would take the information so provided by the Wanderling with a grain of salt."

REALLY?

-------------AS SO GRACIOUSLY OFFERED BY
-------------A READER OF MY WORKS

Not unusually so, there is a ruckus about something I've written on one of my pages, and of which was not so universally well received by those that think otherwise. The quote below shows up on the page as part of my response. After reading the paragraph a few times I found the contents of the quote to actually be applicable to a much wider scope generally of my works than simply as my response so I've moved the quote here to reach a much wider audience. For those who may be so interested, to jump to so said ruckus click HERE, otherwise, please go to the following:

"(As for implying what I have written was done) by simply weaving stories from information freely available on the internet, the question for those who say it and think it I would ask, what would be the point? Nobody knows who I am because I'm not anybody. I make no claim to being a teacher, guru, holy man, or sage. I don't sell, market, promote or teach classes, seminars or Satsangs. My pages are all free, there are no subscriptions or sign ins. I don't hawk or sell anything. There are no advertisements. No books. No ballcaps, T-shirts, or ballpoint pens. I don't ask for, solicit, or accept donations. My meager Zen dropping are available to all who may be so interested. As for Pulyan in the first place, he shows up in my works because not only did I spend nearly three months living and staying on his compound during the summer after being discharged from the Army, but so too, one of his most ardent followers and advocates, Richard Rose, was connected directly back to me through both my Mentor and my Merchant Marine Friend. The brother of Rose was killed in World War II when the ship he was on as a merchant marine was sunk by a U-boat. Two days later the ship my Merchant Marine Friend was on, and in the same convoy as Roses' brother, was attacked and sunk.

"The thing is, a good portion of those very same 'stories from information freely available on the internet' about Pulyan that exist now have been derived directly from my well over 15 year old, albeit updated on occasion, Pulyan site. Search Alfred Pulyan on Google and see what comes up and where my page is ranked and why people often start there for information that they put on the internet. It is almost like being caught up in a Bootstrap Paradox:

'The action in the future only happened because the action in the past happened,
but the action in the past was explicitly caused by the action in the future.'"

"If you have a hard time believing what I have to say, a mere online Zen hack, about people using what I have written on my Pulyan page instead of the other way around and that it carries no amount of credibility I suggest you go to Amazon.com and search down a book titled 'LETTERS OF TRANSMISSION: The Enlightenment Method of Zen Master Alfred Pulyan' with an initial copyright date of 2019. Go to the introduction Amazon allows in their Look Inside feature and read through the Introduction. If you compare the author/editor's Introduction with my over 15 years online version of Alfred Pulyan you will see good parts of the Introduction are pulled practically verbatim from what I've written. You can easily substantiate the length of time my page has been online and what I've written by going to Archive.org and search how far back my page goes."

THE WANDERLING: Getting Letters and Emails

I can see why one might take Shikantaza or my page on Jhanas titled Jhana Factors: Traditional Factors of the Eight Jhana States, or The Ten Fetters of Buddhism with a grain of salt.

But my page Klondike Big Inch Land Company, wherein I describe how I came about having still in my possession a deed in my name to one whole square inch of land in Canada's Yukon Territory making me landed gentry while the rest of the underling landless indentured servants are trapped in a forever ongoing endless quagmire of squalor as falling into a taking it with a grain of salt category I find to be questionable at best.

Like Reddit and Quora YAHOO: Answers is an online internet question answer forum. Sometime back the following question was asked on YAHOO: Answers:

Are there any online Buddhist teachers?

Not long after the question was posted on the Yahoo site, one Arjuna Ranatunga replied. Arjuna, who goes by the screen name Goodfella, and who holds an earned Master's Degree in Buddhist Studies with Merit from the University of Sunderland, North-east England (2011) as well as a YAHOO: Answers respondent for over 15 years offered the following:

The most famous site with perhaps the most integrity is "Awakening 101", authored by "the Wanderling". I met an Enlightened person who'd used it in His approach / initial studies / on His journey.

It has facilities to ask questions of the Wanderling, too.

http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/index.html

http://sped2work.tripod.com/web_ring_list.html

http://the-wanderling.com/zen_enlightenment5.html

https://wanderling.tripod.com/zenlinks.html

Best Wishes in your Quest, Friend,

Arjuna

In the realm of things, Arjuna Ranatunga is no small-potatoes guy. Click the above link with his name and see what comes up.

Please note the second of the two links above has been sub-planted from the original post with two additional albeit equivalent links. The site initially so cited by Arjuna had not been kept current within it's own links.by the site originator, although a recent check has shown otherwise, hence it's return.

SEE ALSO

THE WANDERLING: UNKNOWN ZEN MASTER

GOOGLE'S ALL WANDERLING PAGE