I got into zen from a recommendation of my AP Psyc teacher in high school. He recommended me Alan Watts. I was immediately obsessed with him and read a couple of his books in high school, devoting most of my free time. It felt satisfying to read his words but the more I read, the more I felt confused.
In college I started reading other "zen" texts. I searched on google on some reputable zen authors, and read Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace is Every Step, and Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. Both of them felt iffy. They initially seemed to give me guidance, but it somehow felt empty. I felt unsatisfied.
I found this Zen subreddit, and found e-w-k. Saw his controversial arguments shitting on Dogen buddhism and anything "Not Zen." I read his book and this helped me understand the confusion I was experienced. I decided to get directly into the original texts, and I read "The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu" and now I'm reading Foyan's Instant Zen.
E-w-k and these orignal text brought me immediate satisfaction. These masters felt much more "authentic." They didn't sound fake or pretentious.
However, the problem with these "real", "authentic works is that I don't understand them. From time to time some of them touch me profoundly and I feel immense satisfaction, but most of the time the texts drive me crazy out of confusion.
I am reading Instant Zen right now, and according to this subreddit's sidebar it's considered "mellow reading." The #*@^?! I'm so very confused. What do I do?
Submitted July 17, 2022 at 01:23PM by GreenSagua https://ift.tt/zOdrfP2
No comments:
Post a Comment