Note: Trying to share something thoughtful. I am deliberately evoking "Zen Buddhism". Anyone who dismisses the Zen Buddhist framework my question to you is "Which framework did you use and how many students have you enlightened using it?"
I'm truly "framework agnostic".
To answer my own question, a combination of several frameworks not limited to Zen and Zen Buddhism. One.
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I just had an "aha" moment.
To be clear, I'm using "Zen Buddhism" to mean the Buddhist frameworks for achieve the various levels of awakening/enlightenment minus anything superstitious, "dharma transmission", or related to gods/spiritual entities. I'm primarily focused on the Four Noble Truths (4NT), 8 Fold Path (8FP), sutras, and various meditative practices.
I use my experience with martial arts as metaphors/analogies for many things in life. A Zen thing hit me today.
My taiji teacher is the highest level practitioner of taiji I've met and I've invested a lot of time and money to seek out the best of the best. The interesting thing about him is he's also probably one of the worst teachers of taiji I've met (for most people). A major problem with people learning from him is that they don't have a deep enough general martial arts background. To make matters worse he'll often say that this background isn't necessary to reach his level. This problem largely stems from him having been so good for so long that he's kind of forgotten what it's like to be a beginner.
He's cultivated a dedicated following of students, many who have been with him for more than 30 years who deeply understand many elements of his philosophy and teaching, but are unable to do what he does. In taiji you're able to do some impressive things using very little force so he talks about how force isn't necessary and people buy into that. This isn't just a problem with him and his students. It tends to be a problem with taiji in general.
I think some of the stories in "Master Ma's Ordinary Mind: The Sayings of Zen Master Mazu Daoyi" made this connection. I'll go grab one…
Lecture Master Liang came to see Mazu. Mazu asked him, “I hear that your lectures on the scriptures and commentaries are quite good. Is this true?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” said Liang.
“And what do you use to lecture?”
“I use my mind to lecture.”
Mazu said, “The mind is like an actor, and thought like a clown. How can you explain the scriptures?”
Liang replied angrily, “If the mind can’t lecture, then I suppose you’d suggest that nothingness can?”
“In fact, nothing is quite good at lecturing,” said Mazu.
Unable to assent, Liang went out and started down the stairs.
Mazu called after him. “Lecture master—”
Without a thought, Liang turned to face him, and was suddenly enlightened. He immediately bowed reverently.
“This crazy monk! What’s he bowing for?” said Mazu.
Liang returned to his temple and addressed the monks there. “I thought that no one could better me when it came to lecturing on scriptures and their interpretations, but today, one word from Master Mazu has smashed to pieces all that I’ve done up until now.”
Liang immediately retired to the Western Mountains and was never heard from again.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of encounters like this recorded. Encounters between two people with a deep background in their "martial art" (Zen/Zen Buddhism). They appear to suggest the idea that "you don't need strength/martial experience". It's "so simple".
It really is simple but… the vast majority of people will need to put in the work (meditation, sutra study, reflecting on/testing the 4NT, 8FP, precepts, meditation, other frameworks, etc.) in order to catch the simplicity.
There's a tendency for the "blind to lead the blind" in the world of taiji. This regularly happens with a martial art that can very easily be tested through physical encounters but… the blind figure out how to avoid them and maintain the illusion of mastery.
In the world of Zen (historically and presently) it has to be even worse than with taiji! There are no equivalent physical tests for Zen. I mean the kind of objective encounters where even layman can easily determine the superior practitioner. You don't need to be a martial arts master to understand who won a UFC fight and why.
Because if this, it's really easy to sell people on the idea that "You don't need to put in the work. Look! A single phrase enlightened him." What tends to get left out is the serious amount of training which proceeded the enlightenment/awakening experience.
To be clear, I'm not saying anyone needs to study the Zen Buddhist frameworks I've listed above. "The work" could be found in any number of places I'm sure. A guy who says "fuck it" and go lives in a mountain cabin is probably doing (or has done) "the work".
I suppose what I am saying though is "the work" must be done and the Zen Buddhist framework isn't a terrible path to take assuming you don't get "trapped" in it (caught up in organizational drama or superstitions).
tl;dr Zen Master were high level practitioners for high level practitioners. Studying (the works of) masters with novice skills is a waste of time. Better to build fundamentals.
Submitted January 28, 2020 at 09:11AM by CaseyAPayne https://ift.tt/30XrJ9A
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