From the diamond sutra

The Buddha said, “Tell me, Subhuti. Do those who are free from rebirth think, ‘I have attained freedom from rebirth’?” Subhuti replied, “No, indeed, Bhagavan. Those who are free from rebirth do not think, ‘I have attained freedom from rebirth.’ And why not? Bhagavan, there is no such dharma as ‘freedom from rebirth.’ Thus are they said to be ‘free from rebirth.’ If, Bhagavan, those who are free from rebirth should think, ‘I have attained freedom from rebirth,’ they would be attached to a self, they would be attached to a being, a life, and a soul. The fourth and final stage of Hinayana attainment is that of the arhan. The arhan cuts off the seventy-two deluded thoughts of the realms of Form and Formlessness and suffers no further existence. In the arhan’s mind, even dharmas aren’t present. And because dharmas aren’t present, the birth-death mind is at rest. As such attainment was considered beyond the capability of lay members, the word eventually became a synonym for bhikshu (monk). And it was often used in this sense in China. The word itself has many meanings depending on how it is parsed and from which root it is derived. For example, it can be read as arhati (worthy of offerings) or ari-han (slayer of the enemy), but it can also mean “beyond learning” and “beyond rebirth,” and it is this last meaning that is intended here, where it represents the stage beyond the previous stage of “returning no more.” Commenting on this, Tao-yuan says, “As long as there is birth, there is death. If there is no birth, there is naturally no death. This diamond assembly is only interested in explaining the truth of no birth.”

My comment The definition of beyond is interesting.from the either of nothingness or emptiness does all knowledge come from.i have no reason to love zen Buddhism so much.i have wanted to devote my life to it since fight club came out.in jail I could only find one sentence of zen in a book and that was the only sentence I would look at for hope.all I do is think about zen and meditate when I wasn't being yelled at for 13 years.how far beyond happiness are you willing to go for zen?

Submitted November 02, 2019 at 04:58PM by acidrain69420 https://ift.tt/2PQagwz