Diagramp. 22.4

Reality Maps

Hanukkah candles lit night by night as "reality maps" of Hillel, Shammai, Hellenists, Soto and Rinzai Zen, and Here and Now.

Machine-read text of this page

Reality Maps First night Second Third night Fifth Fourth night night night Sixth Seventh Eighth ao ao ao night night night HUld NO 8hammat ar oD OD OD Hellenists Soto Zen Buddhists NO ~~aNO ~NO NO N N N NO NO N N NO (Jtj Here and Now OO

Reb David’s note

was, as you can see, an attempt to deliver a visual message about Khanukah by placing the word NO on the unlit candles. This derives from a discussion in Habad literature about the difference between Hillel and Shammai ( Hillel says: On the first night of Khannukah, light one candle and increase; Shammai says, eight candles and diminish) being that Hillel looked at the current actual as growing over time and Shammai looked at the potential as diminishing. My take on the Hellenists and Here and Now is a personal one, let me say, a hunch. Soto Zen doesn't believe in sudden jumps into enlightenment as does Rinzai. As many Meta-Siddur pages, this is an attempt to think creatively and it is permissible, in my mind, to substitute Koan thinking, that is, irrationally intuitive thinking for the didactic explanation which may oversimplify and one-dimensionalize. See the Hellenists again. As always, your feedback is invited.
On p. 22.4 · his notes, p. 190

Machine-read from his typed notes; the original page is linked.

Sources

Texts open from Sefaria, to read beside Reb David’s version.

Threads

41Hassidic Teachings and Zen Art, Side by Side 158.9If the World is Bad...132.7Hopi B'raysheet Baskets 22.6Hillel and Shammai: Differing Views of Reality

Subjects