Even jumping off the 100 foot pole is not an act of surrender, its an act of life, of freedom, of being alive. Its jumping into mystery, its not jumping into something you have mastered already, something you are prepared for, something you believe in, something you know, wish, or hope is going to save you.
So, a guy cut his arm off, or waited a long time outside the gate in the snow, or another guy faced a wall for a decade or so. Or that same guy who faced the wall came all the way from another land so far away, to what, save people? Pass on some magic solution with the special sauce from the ultimate magic man?
Its not what we are being told by the priests who want you to submit. Zen does not ask that of us. Zen does not continue the infantile dependency of sheep to a shepherd.
So what IS going on when Joshu put the sandals on his head after the cat had been killed, why wasn't there a story about Joshu SAVING the cat? Where is the good news, the light at the end of the tunnel? Joshu's place was one of the first to fall into ruins and be forgotten. Can you name just a single one of Joshu's students who would carry on?
When the Buddhists of Japan look back at a lineage that took a detour through the thicket of zen characters on the way from Nagarjuna to Dogen, take a look at who they really cling to, its not the zen characters in the zen stories, cases, and conversations.
But who here even cares about the modern Buddhist priests? If you did, you would be over at another sub. If you have turned your life over to some Shunryu Suzuki type, and are still here, you are just a hungry ghost looking for someone confused you can lay your claws into. Or maybe you just can't figure out how to shake off that mental virus a Buddhist priest laid on you, and you hope that somehow, someone here is going to lead you to a crack in the wall of your prison from which you can escape. Hopefully you don't turn your life over to anything else, once you get free.
In the meantime, no wonder people like that leave a bitter aftertaste. Don't let it rub off on you.
I was once also taken in by these people. If I had not later met real Buddhist teachers, I would perhaps have wasted a lifetime. Every time I think about this, I can't bear it. Therefore I don't fear the bad karma, but work with all my strength to save people from this evil. Dahui's letters
Submitted September 16, 2020 at 07:01PM by rockytimber https://ift.tt/35Gb8vx
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