What is "Zen"? Why do people lie about having "Zen experiences"?

Zen's Etymology

1. Bodhidharma's teaching came from China to India.
2. The Chinese called this teaching "Zen"
   • "Zen" sounded like the indian word "dhyana",
   • "dhyana" it lost it's old meaning.
   • Bodhidharma's lineage wasn't called "Zen" in India
3. Factions of Japanese Buddhism claimed to practice this "Zen from China
   • Japanese Buddhists explicitly claim to be practicing Bodhidharma's teaching, just like Chinese Zen

Zen Masters' Famous Enlightenment

1. Zen Masters' teachings, characterized by the 4SZ in the sidebar,
2. Zen has a very specific enlightenment incompatible with Theravada and modern Mahayana religions that teach 4thNT of the 8FP.
3. This teaching has a very specific transmission
   • Not dependant on records... that is, you don't get the enlightenment from knowledge of Zen history
   • Not transmitted in words... that is, you don't get the enlightenment from doctrines

Claiming to be "more Zen than Zen Masters"

• Japanese Buddhists outright lied about their relationship to Zen
  • Dogen lied about Zen being a Soto Zen practice; Dogen never studied Soto Zen
  • Hakuin lied about koans being "riddles" that only Hakuin knew the secret answers to; that's why Hakuin's secret answer sheets (published as "Sound of One Hand") were secret in his culty church.
• New agers from America tell the same lies about Zen
  • "head monks debate each other" - That's a blatant lie about the Zen Dharma interview tradition
  • "we have the paradox of zen students" - Another fraudulent claim... Zen Masters DO NOT TEACH PARADOX
  • "ego masquerading as insight" - (a) "ego" is pseudoscience, and there is no insight in Zen.
  • "Zen texts do not trump the zen experience" - ...claiming to have "Zen experience" is rejected by the texts.
  • "we come to zen to take off blinders" - again, another lie. Zen Masters don't teach you have blinders on.
  • "I don't detect an inch of sectarian tendency in the real zen masters" is 100% fraud; Zen Masters love to be sectarian.
  • "a sect or group that wants to have authority over all Zen"... and again, total outright lying... how could anybody but Zen Masters be... Zen Masters, especially with a totally different doctrine?

The big lie of New Agers

Magical experiences doesn't make you an authority on Zen.

1. Zen Masters didn't claim to have "experiences" that made them genuine or legit.
2. Zen Masters teach a "show it" not a "tell people you have it" tradition
3. Zen is aggressively sectarian, and Zen Masters' distinct flavor IS THE ONE FLAVOR OF ZEN

If you can't read and write at a high school level...

New agers can't quote Zen Masters, can't write high school book reports on the Zen that they claim they've inherited (just like Japanese Buddhists), and spend all their time pretending to wear the robe of a 1,000 year tradition when they can't even follow the five lay precepts.

The next time some new ager says Zen Masters don't have a copyright on the name "Zen", just remember...

That's exactly how names work.

Submitted February 04, 2023 at 03:27PM by ewk https://ift.tt/ie3PqAd