Were You Conscious Of The Overkill?
Suppose there is a bandit, a criminal under arrest.
They take him in the morning before the king and say: ‘Punish him as you will!’
The king says: ‘Strike the man this morning with a hundred spears!’
— and they do it.
Then at midday the king says: ‘How is that man? If he’s still alive, strike him this mid-day with a hundred spears!’
— and they do it.
Then late in the afternoon the king says: ‘How is that man? If he’s still alive, strike him this late afternoon with a hundred spears!’
— and they do it.
What do you think? Would that man experience pain and distress from being struck with three hundred spears a day, let alone one spear?
It’s the same way for the nourishing consciousness of name and form, like the striking of a spear can become the overkill of three hundred spears.
When the nutriment of consciousness is fully realized, as a strike of name and form! — then, there is nothing further to be done with it.
(SN 12.63)
https://suttacentral.net/sn12.63
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Conversely here is a quote demonstrating a measured response (strike) from Fuke Zenji.
“Light comes; light strikes.
Darkness comes; darkness strikes.
All directions come; the whirlwind strikes.
Nowhere comes; the one-piece stance strikes.”
—Fuke Zenji, preserved in The Complete Book of the Five Lanterns; translated by OLD SICK DEAD
——
Consciousness is a nutriment, that is to say it’s necessary in order for us to find nourishment. Knowing the name and form, being aware of a thing - is required for us to be aware if it nourishes or it doesn’t.
And to become aware of something is to both know its form (shape, physicality) and its name (information, codification). But beyond that is the over application of this consciousness, driving definition into something over and over again, like the overkill of three hundred spears.
What does three hundred spears do that one does not? If the criminal is defined ‘a bandit’ 100 times in the morning, 100 times mid-day, and 100 times in the evening; when can he change? When can he reform? When can he grow?
So restraint of the consciousness is a compassion, rather than an overkill of persistent definitions and fixed views.
