The Buddha's raft parable. The origin (as it appears to be but it probably came before) of not clinging.

Here's the raft parable if you haven't read it already or want to read it again.

The excerpt here is relevant:

“In the same way, monks, I have taught the Dhamma [dharma] compared to a raft, for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto. Understanding the Dhamma as taught compared to a raft, you should let go even of Dhammas, to say nothing of non-Dhammas.”

This is apparently the Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation.

One of the problems with /r/Zen, is that many people have absolutely no clue at all when it comes to Buddhist terminology, history, the historical Buddha and what he taught, and thus they fall into all sorts of errors.

They read 'Zen Masters' saying things, and have no idea that in a lot of cases they are more or less quoting the Buddha directly, or referring to sutras, referring to Buddhist terminology and teachings and thus they are prone to all sorts of errors.

From the very beginning the Buddha spoke directly against 'clinging' and against appeals to authority, lineage and what is written, and the Kalama Sutra explains this in detail in very clear terms.

While clear, many people who haven't studied rail against this.

What I found out today, and I may well have learned it before and forgotten it, is the parable of the water snake which follows right after the parable of the raft.

"It turns out there is some disagreement as to exactly what the raft parable is trying to tell us, and the water snake story ties into that. In the snake story, a man picks up a water snake by the tail instead of by the proper way, by the head, the way the wildlife experts on the Discovery Channel always do. Of course, the snake gives the man a venomous bite, and he was very sorry and probably died. The moral of this story is that if we “grasp” the dharma improperly, we could fall into all kinds of spiritual dangers."

Now that's just the commentary by the author on https://rethinkingreligion-book.info/the-raft-parable/ and I have not had the time as of yet to study it in detail. But if you look around both at yourself and others, it may become clear.

I will work further on this and if I think there is something I can share that will benefit others I hope I manage to do so with some measure of skillful means.

I have done what I can to make this as clear as possible in the time available, and may it help you to clarify your mind, gain insight, and ultimately liberation.

Those of you who have committed yourself to the path of the Buddha Dharma, I salute you throughout time and space. May we be worthy!

Take good care of yourselves.

Submitted April 02, 2018 at 08:21AM by TheSolarian https://ift.tt/2pWhfGq