5月讀書會週知May Study Club Notice

 5月讀書會週知

昨天4月的南禪讀書會，提議要講

斯里尼瓦瑟·拉馬努金（Srinivasa Ramanujan）

故事的純德社長，負責任的去找出

拉馬努金的數學解題，

出來解釋一下，引發大家的興趣，頓時熱鬧！

然後有人認為數學跟禪宗的頓悟與漸修一樣，我提出了不同的看法，

一個半小時很快就沒了！

因為我帶的大德們，大部分是學理工的，

我必須面對各式各樣的問題，

也早就習慣！他們的腦筋速度都很快，我一個字都不能聽誤，

一張照片、一幅畫，技法無論如何變化，都是可以就著實體討論的，

但佛法沒辦法，

如果在很多的譬喻、比如，裡面沒有拿捏好，

再下去「主題」就丟了！

半寄

 

May Study Club Notice

 

At the April NanZen study club yesterday, someone suggested talking about the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

 

Our president, Chun-De, took responsibility for researching Ramanujan’s math solutions and explaining them. This quickly made the discussion lively and interesting.

 

Then someone proposed that mathematics resembles Zen Buddhism in its concepts of sudden enlightenment and gradual practice. I shared a different opinion, and before we knew it, an hour and a half had passed.

 

Most of the participants I guide come from science and engineering backgrounds, so I regularly face a wide range of questions—and I’m already quite used to it. Their minds are quick, and I have to listen very carefully, without missing a single word.

 

With something like a photograph or a painting, no matter how the techniques vary, we can always discuss it based on something concrete.

 

But the Dharma is different.

If metaphors and examples are not carefully handled, it’s easy to lose the main theme as the discussion progresses.

 

Master Banji