The great fear of the untrained.

Many of the untrained are beset by a great fear that there may be something very far beyond their understanding.

They spend years, and sometimes decades, idly discussing things that they do not understand, and every now and then, as if something vast and utterly beyond their comprehension turns it's head just a fraction such that a touch of their gaze is palpable, they run away shrieking in terror.

The slack jawed loose boweled excuses make little enough sense at any point, yet they shriek them all the same.

They don't need to train, because somehow, idly browsing quotes on the internet is 'good enough'.

How completely absurd!

Never having gained the ability to sit in any of the postures correctly, they proclaim they don't need to. Hunchbacked, slack bellied, with poor lungs and posture, they mutter without any trace of understanding at all, that they do not need to do such things.

How completely absurd!

Never having made the effort to study the sutras even briefly, looking upon the vast body of work they proclaim they don't need to, again, without any understanding at all.

How completely absurd!

I could go on, but it is just more of the same in different iterations.

It is your life. If you wish to ignore the recommendations of Bodhidharma, that is your choice of course.

If you never wish to experience that which is commonly called Zen, Chan, Seon, Thien, and anything else directly and personally for yourself, that is your choice.

If you wish to understand personally and directly for yourself, then that is likewise yourself.

But if you expect to be taken seriously when you've never trained for a single day in your life by anyone that has, let alone anyone that has gone a bit further, and you mutter your excuses, you may well be in for some measure of disappointment.

If you choose to embark upon the path, whatever school you end up following is likewise up to you.

But if you think that you, who have never trained a single day in your life, truly understand, well, it is something of an oddity in that you largely quote those who did without exception.

As I have invited many on this place to do, find a single 'Zen Master' that you quote that did not seek out a good teacher and train with great diligence.

Other than that, take good care of yourselves.

Submitted May 31, 2020 at 11:46AM by TheSolarian https://ift.tt/3dhHttq