Hello friends and fellow wayfarers! It’s another good day, so why not talk about Zen and Buddhism for a little bit? There’s nothing else to do.
This is a bit of an odd post coming from me, but I’ve once again been mischaracterized by Buddhists, judged and weighed, labeled and denigrated, by those who are so holy.
For some reason, I don’t think such actions are in accord with Buddhist teachings, and it really boggles the mind how the peace loving religious fellows can be so full of hateful hostility.
Instead of confronting me personally and seriously examining our ideas so we could understand one another, I was called a cultist, an e-cultist, a practitioner of Ewkism(Wtf?) I was told that r/Zen is a containment zone for troubled people. I was told, can’t read Zen Masters if you can’t read Sutra, which in itself was a pushback from the earlier, can’t read Zen Masters if you can’t read Chinese.
It’s strange right? Zen Masters say that perfection is the standard it’s the norm! Zen Masters say liberation is eminent, it’s right at hand! Yet these Buddhists keep setting up hoops for me to jump through, telling me I can’t possibly understand what’s in front of my eyes if I haven’t read the sutras, preferably in Indian, so that I could understand the Zen texts preferably in the original Chinese.
Pack it up boys! According to these internet Buddhists we’ll only get it after 8 years of language studies followed by 20 years of religious studies. No hope for you lot!
Alright I’ve rambled enough, let’s get to the topic.
Today’s Post will be learning more of our Buddhist friends, examining the beliefs they hold, and comparing those beliefs to Zen statements. Following this, we will all be able to help our Buddhist fellows be better Buddhists, by pointing out when they are failing to follow their ideology.
So to start where it all began....
Buddha’s 4 noble truths.
- Suffering
Life is suffering. That’s why you all are unhappy and miserable little beasts.
- The Cause of Suffering
The reason you suffer is because of attachment and desire, enabled by your fundamental ignorance.
- The End of Suffering
Stop clinging, stop desiring, turn your ignorance around.
- The Path
Following the noble eightfold path will lead to the cessation of suffering.
Zen Masters
- Suffering
Buddha is passion and suffering; passion and suffering are Buddha."
- Joshu
Interesting distinction. Buddha’s being samsaric beings are essentially one and the same with suffering itself. To distinguish the two is a mistake.
- The Cause of Suffering
You are one of those people who force the Un-becoming into conceptual molds, such as the CONCEPT of patient suffering or the CONCEPT of seeking nothing outside yourself. Thereby you do yourself violence!
- Huangpo
You suffer only because you believe you suffer.
Furthermore....
The Layman said, "From out of the clear blue, suffering arises."
- Layman Pang
Suffering is sourceless.
- The End of Suffering
A monk asked Ta Sui, "The conflagration at the end of the eon sweeps through and the universe is totally destroyed. I wonder, is this one destroyed or not?" Sui said, "It is destroyed." The monk said, "If so, then this goes along with it." Sui said, "It goes along with it."
- Ta Sui
When suffering ends, you end.
- The Path
Moreover, whether you accomplish your aim in a single flash of thought or after going through the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva's Progress, the achievement will be the same; for this state of being admits of no degrees, so the latter method merely entails aeons of unnecessary suffering and toil.
As to performing the six paramitas, and vast numbers of similar practices, or gaining merits as countless as the sands of the Ganges, since you are fundamentally complete in every respect, you should not try to supplement that perfection by such meaningless practices.
-Huangpo
"There is no I and there is no other."
How can there be intimacy or estrangement?
I recommend giving up trying to get there by meditation,
But rather, directly seizing the reality at hand.
- Layman Pang
Someone said, "Please, Master, show me a way in!"
The Master said, "Slurping gruel, eating rice."
- Yunmen
A monk asked, "How should one be in harmony with the Way?"
The Patriarch replied, "I am already not in harmony with the Way."
- Master Ma
Someone asked, "The Way of the monk - what is it?"
Joshu said, "Being detached from 'the Way.'"
- Joshu
If you conceive of a way, you are already off of the way. If you step on a path, you are already off of the path.
Ok, this is part 1 of examining our Buddhist friends in a Zen context. Stay tuned for part 2 where we examine the eight fold path in depth, and part 3 where we examine the five precepts! Perhaps even a part 4 where we examine the Paramitas in depth!
Study Questions!
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Do Zen Masters and Buddhists differ on their interpretation of suffering?
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Do Zen Masters and Buddhists differ on their understanding of the causes of suffering?
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Do Zen Masters and Buddhists differ on their understanding of the cessation of suffering?
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Do Zen Masters and Buddhists differ on their understanding of the Path to the cessation of suffering?
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Do Zen Masters posit an existential being?
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Do Zen Masters posit the true existence of suffering?
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Do Zen Masters posit a cause and effect within which there is an existent entity that suffers due to his actions?
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Do Zen Masters posit the ideation of suffering, the ideation of beings to suffer, the ideation of karmic fruit from suffering, or the ideation of liberation from suffering?
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Do Zen Masters tell us to clear our minds of all deluded thoughts, including the above ideations, to realize the liberation we already possess?
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Do Buddhists accept the truth of Zen Master Buddha’s words, do they take his expedient teachings as an inviolable truth, do they live their lives following a path laid down by another? Are they incapable of understanding self evident truths?
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Have our Buddhist friends mistaken the finger for the moon?
Submitted April 19, 2021 at 08:52PM by Owlsdoom https://ift.tt/3twMypZ
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