Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

The recent thread about turn processing time has got me thinking about better ways for me to spend my between- turn time.

I have always had an interest in Buddhism and certain eastern philosophies, and so I was wondering if anyone knew of any good Online resources for learning about meditation. I'm particularly interested in any kind of speed meditation, which could be practised in periods of, say 6 or 7 minutes spaced 15- 40 minutes apart, with occasional short breaks for tactical combat.

Hopefully, through patient and detached study of my own mind and self, I can gain a wider knowldge of the nature of the universe, perhaps resulting in some gnarly new stellar manipulation techs.

Remember, all compounded things are impermanent. Especially when Null Space Cannons get involved.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

--
Dogscoff: about 24% serious.

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu" http://www.sonshi.com/learn.html

Not exactly meditation philosophy, but it is Eastern, and makes for good reading. Might actually help you win a few games. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

Geo

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

That's a great read. Is that really it though? I'm into chapter 6 already, I thought the famous Art of War would be a huge, 10,000 page tome which takes 6 months to read and 12 years to understand.

I'm not belittling it because (according to that website) it can be read in 45 minutes, I'm just surprised.

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SE4 Code:
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/SE4 Code
Work out your code at http://www.sandman43.fsnet.co.uk/se4main.htm

[This message has been edited by dogscoff (edited 29 August 2001).]

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Art of War by Sun Tzu<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have the original Chinese Version at my place, and once upon a time I even attempted to read it but I gave up. The grammer they used so many years ago was totally different from modern Chinese. Ancient generals used to MEMORISE the whole book, I wonder how they did it!

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

QUOTE:
Ancient generals used to MEMORISE the whole book, I wonder how they did it!
/QUOTE

It probably wasn't such a big deal back then. Before telecommunications, widespread literacy and post-it notes people had far better memories, just out of necessity. Think about all the long and complex mythologies, stories and songs that were propogated for genrations by illitrate people by word of mouth.

Think about your average soap actor, commiting hundreds of lines of drivel to mmory every week...

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SE4 Code:
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Work out your code at http://www.sandman43.fsnet.co.uk/se4main.htm

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogscoff:
That's a great read. Is that really it though? I'm into chapter 6 already, I thought the famous Art of War would be a huge, 10,000 page tome which takes 6 months to read and 12 years to understand.

I'm not belittling it because (according to that website) it can be read in 45 minutes, I'm just surprised.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I believe it is complete. I think I know what Suz Tzu would say...Do not confuse a quantity of words with a quality of wisdom. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

Geo

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

Just for grins I looked at copies for sale on some book sites. Some were as small as 130 pages, and that's with pictures and other annotations, examples etc. I don't know exactly how much of that is Sun Tzu's words...

Geo

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

Trivia question. How many people on this list know that The Art of War was only one volume of a larger number studied by ancient Chinese generals?

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

I do. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif And I wonder how they memorised so much! (yes I MEAN memorising!)

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

Another good book on strategy is "A Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi.

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

Not Zen or anything, but "The Prince" by Machiavelli is also great Evil Emperor strategy guide, and also short.

More on-topic would be "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull." Also short. I don't agree with its underlying philosophy (reincarnation), but I liked how JLS kept striving to be better. Supposedly Winnie the Pooh is Zen-like, at least according to "The Tao of Pooh." And physics is Zen-like, according to "The Tao of Physics." Personally, I think you'd be better served by just reading the Pooh books and studying physics. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon10.gif

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogscoff:
I'm particularly interested in any kind of speed meditation, which could be practised in periods of, say 6 or 7 minutes spaced 15- 40 minutes apart, with occasional short breaks for tactical combat.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
"Speed meditation??!!" LOL! That is SO typically American. This reminds me of one of the few Zen stories that I know:
A young man goes to a monastery and says he wants to achieve oneness with the universe (or enlightenment, or something like that), and asks how long that will take. "10 years," says the head guy (priest or lama or something). The young man is dismayed; he has a life to lead, things to accomplish. "That's too long," he says. "What if I work at it day and night, much harder than anyone else here?" "Ah, in that case," replies the head guy, "it will take you 50 years."

Also reminds me of the "I'd like a half a cup of God, please" email that gets circulated periodically.

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

If you want something along this line that will take 6 months to read and 12 to understand, then check out "On War" by von Clausewitz.

900 pages of 19th century German.

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

QUOTE:
Supposedly Winnie the Pooh is Zen-like, at least according to "The Tao of Pooh." And physics is Zen-like, according to "The Tao of Physics." Personally, I think you'd be better served by just reading the Pooh books and studying physics.
QUOTE

Don't know about Winnie the Pooh but there is a very strong crossover between physics and Zen. Both (as I understand it) are essentially studies of cause and effect in an impassive and chaotic universe.

An excellent TV series for understanding Buddhism (not necessarily the same thing as zen, but again there are crossovers) is the 70s kungfu comedy masterpiece Monkey Magic. It uses a load of mythological metaphors to demonstrate the buddhist way of thinking. Loads of cool kungfu, character comedy and improbable magic too. It's a really good watch, try to find it on video. (Then lend it to me=-)

(BTW, I wasn't really serious about speed meditation. Just in case anyone missed the mile-wide sarcasm=-)

------------------
SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M&gt;M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Work out your code at http://www.sandman43.fsnet.co.uk/se4main.htm

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Just for grins I looked at copies for sale on some book sites. Some were as small as 130 pages, and that's with pictures and other annotations, examples etc. I don't know exactly how much of that is Sun Tzu's words...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>My copy of _The Art of War_ is 172 pages. The actual text by Sun Tsu doesn't start until p. 41, and his own words tend to run less than 20% of each page, with the rest being commentary from other interpreters. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogscoff:
I'm particularly interested in any kind of speed meditation, which could be practised in periods of, say 6 or 7 minutes spaced 15- 40 minutes apart, with occasional short breaks for tactical combat.
"Speed meditation??!!" LOL! That is SO typically American.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Check out the book _Zen to Go_ by Jon Winokur. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 30 August 2001).]

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 30 August 2001).]

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

It's amazing how someone can say so much, with so few words.

It's also an amazing thing that it has Lasted thousands of years and is still required reading at military academies all over the world. There are even buisness schools adapting it as curiculum for their students.

Geo

Re: Zen and the art of interstellar genocide.
 

Speaking of ancient memorization, did you know that to gain admission to the University of Cairo during most of the Middle Ages you had to pass an entrance exam. The exam was to orally recite the entire Koran to a panel of judges. It usually took a few days. Bit tougher than getting a B average in high school.