🦄🌈🍃OPINION🍃🌈🦄 After recent success with pig's head our Remedial School of Buddhism for Late Adults will continue with explaining contemplation, using also help of popular, old, and cynical Chan instructor abbot Huangbo!
People like explanations, great ideas, knowledge "how everything works"; The Universe for example is quite popular as whole; with increasing level of testosterone we like more and more "space" (where everything is going on at least in the sphere of perception). So the people trying to start with zen are asking: "What is it about?", "Where to start", "What should I know?". As we are accustomed to have at least something to grasp (it can be pure imagination like God; or Scientific Truth of Sacred Knowledge preferably based on math nobody understands except Einstein and two other guys; or authority personified in Teacher, Master or anybody who can tickle our glands), we look for SOMETHING also in zen. That's the big moment for every Zen Master, because that's the moment when they can employ their expertize. As the Buddhism is most economical teaching, at least in Chan presentation, they will offer exactly NOTHING, and even about nothing we are not supposed to think. (Thinking is not forbidden, because we are working on removing everything, so such ban would have paradoxical effect of creating new barrier) .
Whole zen thing can't go so smoothly in many cases, so people need some helping tools in form of practical exercises, various, often religious, imaginery and other EXPEDIENTS. Expedients can vary based on particular school or sect and needs of zen adepts.
Probably most general expedient is old gold prajna-dhyana, what is nothing else than staring without thought and obviously without speech into emptiness. They call it staring in our mind, because in this quiet state anything what moves (what is always mind) arouses our attention. What is difference between often by zen masters criticized quietism, suppression of thinking, and prajna - dhyana contemplation? In contemplation we are not suppressing anything, not thinking is natural, because (I know, it is surprise for non buddhists) we have nothing to think about!* Also this quiet state is not quietism, because we are contemplating our mind to be accustomed to it, to understand it, but this quiet state is not our goal. On the contrary zen goal is living full life, either lay or monastic.
This part full ascetics can skip:
(* again my favorite piece of text from Baizhang, to illustrate how that can happen that we have nothing to think about. For the record, I don't think going full ascetic is necessary, there are other ways how to calm mind, but Baizhang's manual is certainly traditional way:
Before the nine-part teaching had been expounded, living beings had no eyes; it was necessary to depend on someone to refine them. If you are speaking to a deaf worldling, you should just teach him to leave home, maintain discipline, practice meditation and develop wisdom. You should not speak this way to a worldling beyond measure, someone like Vimalakirti or the great hero Fu. If one is speaking to an ascetic, the ascetic has already given his assent three times and his discipline is complete. This is the power of discipline, concentration, and wisdom. To still speak in this way to him is called speaking at the wrong time, because the speech is not appropriate to the situation; it is also called suggestive talk. To an ascetic one must explain the defilement in pure things - you should tell him to detach from all things, existence, non-existent, or whatever, to detach from all cultivation and experience, and even to detach from detachment. While in the course of asceticism, one strips away influences of habit. If an ascetic cannot get rid of the diseases of greed and aversion, he too is called a deaf worldling; still he must be taught to practice meditation and cultivate wisdom.
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Contemplation will not simply work when stream of our thoughts, requests, reminders, memories and fears will poping up all the time on our display( or as they said in 8th century in China, in our mind)...
Well one time we are sitting in chair, or lying on back or walking outside, and our mind is calm and empty like space, we are quiet, we have not one thing we are looking to achieve and not one thing in the past we must think about(this is still contemplation, I am only trying to avoid mention directly sitting in meditation). We can take quick test if we are not cheating ourselves: sit five or ten minutes in calm, with nothing "important" poping out in our mind, not suppressing anything. If not a single thing exists,
Nothing is born, nothing is destroyed. Away with your dualism, your likes and dislikes. Every single thing is just the One Mind. When you have perceived this, you will have mounted the Chariot of the Buddhas.
Huangbo
Well this can look like let down for many people, especially comparing with sex, alcohol, LSD, marriage, children, bitcoin or anything else we need right now. I can assure anybody it's enough and even more (especially because somebody who doesn't want one thing can't miss something)! For example I am in emptiness like fish in water but emptiness didn't prevent me to invest all cash into gold in March, and now I have nice 20% profit, despite that
...from first to last not even the smallest grain of anything perceptible has ever existed or ever will exist.
like Huangbo said. And he is right!
🦄🌈🍃OPINION🍃🌈🦄 Submitted September 11, 2020 at 07:34PM by OnePoint11 https://ift.tt/2GRGYuV
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