Hey Gunbei,
Great response!
It is indeed my wish to partake in a journey.
First, in regards to Mes' response, I have no idea what "dlr" means. However, as Gunbei pointed out, Mu is the concept of emptiness, according to the Dogan school, I think. I am not familiar with Japanese Zen, however, I believe the concept of Mu is derived from the Daoist Wu Wei, and Wu Wei is derived from the Hindu/Buddhist Sunyata. I can be wrong.
Also, as his response points out, the answer to part A is totally related to how one answers part B:
A) Since quality is subjective, should we tune our taste to our existing system accordingly to achieve audio nirvana or,
B) Does audio nirvana arrive only after achieving system synergy?
Back to Gunbei's response, and I do feel his response is a good one if I haven't mentioned it already, eventhough the analogies can be a little contrived. First I want to establish and understanding of he concept of Mu, and I shall use concepts of other disciplines to do so since I know jack sh*t about Japanese philosophy.
The earliest derivation Mu is perhaps Heracletian philosophy where everything in the world is relating and static. He perhaps thought since everything is relative, there are isn't anything that is eternal. In other words, the only truth is "nothingness."
Alexander the Great's conquests which was about 300bc. This is important because perhaps Hercacletian ideologies were spead into Asia through this channel. About 300ad, Nagarjuna thought every human proposition is a contradiction, and the only truth is nothingness.
After the fall of Qin dynasty, Buddhist monks trekked to China and gave the Chinese very bad translation of sutras. During this depressing Chinese medieval age, people thought relief by practicing Buddhism, but they have no previous concept of sunyata, so they adopted Daoist concepts of wu wei in place of sunyata in trying to understand Indian sutras.
Wu wei isn't nothingness as expressed by Heraclitus and Nagarjuna, but it is they way of the Dao, the natural way, the way of spontaneity, non-interference, simplicity and so on and so forth. However, as described in the Dao Teh Jing, the Dao that is named is not the Dao. To make a long story short, to live the Dao you have to be one with the Dao and to be one with the Dao you have to be no-name or no-being or no-thing, nothingness.
Zen, not saying is a concept derived from Daoism and Buddhism, yet it probably borrowed its beliefs from them. As I am writing this, I think Zen have more similarity with European philosophies as well, such as phenomenology and existentialism. I am too tired to explain this, I didn't sleep lastnite. As you know I started this thread because I can't sleep: I have insomnia.
Anyhow, Mu is the concept of this:
1) Nothing is the only eternal truth.
2) The only way to understand Mu is to experience it through personal experience, or as close to it as possible, such as the phenomonologist or existentialist.
What does all this mean? Man does not go off in search of nothingness. The nothingness comes in search of him.
The nothing is personified as the journeyman, the missionaryman, the jingoist, the thing that claims to be the everything by being itself, the nothing. It is an component of the main idea from where it is derived, and it is the component of the main idea where it gives birth to its origin.
It is the nothingness that carries the sword and consumes his enemies with the purity of his mundacity.
It is not I who must find my way, but it is my way that must find me.
But does this mean I will never upgrade? Hellz Nah!!
