Nanquan vs New Ager Moralizing on Social Media

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/famous_cases Zen Masters' teachings
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/lay_precepts the Lay Precepts taken by everyone in a Zen community.

Busting furniture

When Nanquan was living in his hermitage, a monk came, and Nanquan said, I must go to work on the mountain. Please make some food, eat yourself, and bring me my share." The monk made his own meal, ate it, broke up everything in the hermitage, and lay down and slept. Seeing the monk did not come, Nanquan went back to his hermitage. Seeing the monk lying there he lay down too. The monk got up, and went off. In the years after Nanquan said, "Before I was living here, when I was in the hermitage, this clever monk came to see me. I have never seen him again."

Chopping Cats

Once the monks from the east and west halls were arguing over a cat. Master Nanquan held up the cat and said, “If any of you can speak, you save the cat. If you cannot speak, I kill the cat. ” No one in the assembly could reply, so Nanquan killed the cat. That evening Zhaozhou returned from a trip outside [the monastery], Nanquan told him what had happened. Zhaozhou then took off his shoes, put them on top of his head, and walked out. Nanquan said, “If you had been here, you would have saved the cat. ”

Precepts Backlash -> White Privilege

More than a year ago I reminded everybody that Zen Masters were very serious about the 5 lay precepts: Zen Masters took, gave, kept after enlightenment, and explained when they broke those precepts.

New agers were horrorified. "Zen isn't about precepts" became "I'll tell you how to act, if you don't, ur in a precepts cult". But the way new agers act isn't in Zen texts... so why would they try to impose that here? Why would people complain about precepts in a forum about people who follow precepts? I googled it, because that's how we learn now: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-white-privilege-5070460 When you think your standards should apply to other people who haven't agreed to them.

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µ ^Yo͞ok  Welcome! ^{Meet me}  My comment:

Study Questions:

1. How does Nanquan determine who is a jerk?
2. How do New Agers determine who is a jerk?
3. What forum would New Agers go to discuss who they think the jerks are?
4. What book(s) do new agers read to learn more about what they shouldn't do?

Submitted February 06, 2023 at 08:21AM by ewk https://ift.tt/0QLWV3S