No Great Future Attainment

By Wu Hsin and Roy Melvyn

In this final volume, Wu Hsin continues his onslaught on the seemingly known while providing new insights into the mystery called Awareness.
One aspect that does not receive a lot of attention is that the reader should approach Wu Hsin with unwavering trust. Set aside all notions of what is already known and evaluate this message on the merits of its resonance with the reader. The math teacher is not questioned that 2+2 =4; it is taken as a priori.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312636811

Book preview

No Great Future Attainment

No Great Future Attainment

The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin Vol. 5

Translation by Roy Melvyn

No Great Future Attainment

The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin Vol. 5

By Roy Melvyn

Copyright 2011 Roy Melvyn

Summa Iru Publishing

Boulder, Colorado 80020

Forward

There really isn’t anything to add to what I have written in the previous Forwards.

In this final volume, Wu Hsin continues his onslaught on the seemingly known while providing new insights into the mystery called Awareness.

One aspect that does not receive a lot of attention is that the reader should approach Wu Hsin with unwavering trust. Set aside all notions of what is already known and evaluate this message on the merits of its resonance with the reader. The math teacher is not questioned that 2+2 =4; it is taken as a priori. The same attitude is required here.

Otherwise:

Wu Hsin may talk for years on end.

However, he can never convince a blind man of

The beauty of a rainbow.

Brief Background

It is widely believed that Wu Hsin was born during the Warring States Period (403-221 BCE), postdating the death of Confucius by more than one hundred years.

This was a period during which the ruling house of Zhou had lost much of its authority and power, and there was increasing violence between states. This situation birthed the hundred schools, the flourishing of many schools of thought, each setting forth its own concepts of the prerequisites for a return to a state of harmony. The two most influential schools were that of Confucius and the followers of Mozi (Master Mo), the Mohists. The latter were critical of the elitist nature and extravagant behaviors of the traditional culture. The philosophical movement associated with the Daodejing also was emerging at this time. Wu Hsin's style of Daoist philosophy developed within the context defined by these three schools and appears to be most heavily influenced by that latter. In addition, it most clearly contains the seeds of what would become Ch’an Buddhism in China or Zen in Japan.

Wu Hsin was born in a village called Meng, in the state of Song. The Pu River in which Wu Hsin was said to have fished was in the state of Chen which had become a territory of Chu. We might say that Wu Hsin was situated in the borderlands between Chu and the central plains—the plains centered around the Yellow River which were the home of the Shang and Zhou cultures. Certainly, as one learns more about