Meta: What role does honesty play in your practice?

There appears to be many levels to "honesty in practice".

1. Some Christians, for example, acknowledge that proof of the Resurrection is contrary to faith... they are honest about it not being provable. Other Christians (like Bishop Spong) argue that the Resurrection doesn't have to be a fact to matter.

2. Other religions, Mormons, for example, believe that their founder Joseph Smith had a conversation with a time traveling Jesus from after the resurrection, which seems to create more doctrinal problems and less honesty.

3. Dogen Buddhists follow a messianic leader with no doctrinal or historical connection to Soto Zen, yet they call themselves a "branch" of Zen. Scholars from their religion have gone as far as claiming that Chinese history and secular Zen are less reliable than the Japanese faith-based messianic teachings of Dogen... even after Dogen's outright frauds have been established as historical facts.

4. There is also the concern that with religions that demand more deviation from facts are also more likely to be involved in abuses of power, as with Dogen's religion: /r/zen/wiki/sexpredators

5. Science tells us that meditation can increase one's vulnerability to misinformation and a failure of critical thinking: https://www.reddit.com/r/zensangha/wiki/ewk#wiki_problems_with_meditation.3A

6. What about secular Zen? Zen without belief in the unverifiable? This particularly interesting passage from the Zen manual of instruction called Blue Cliff Record, written by Yuanwu, sheds some light:

   According to tradition, Master Chih died in the year 514, while Bodhidharma came to Liang in 520, since there is a seven year discrepancy, why is it said that the two met? This must be a mistake in the tradition. As to what is recorded in tradition, I will not discuss this matter now. All that's important is to understand the gist of the matter. Tell me, Bodhidharma is Avalokitesvara, Master Chih is Avalokitesvara, but which is the true Avalokitesvara? Since it is Avalokitesvara, why are there two? But why only two? They are legion.

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Welcome link; ewk comment: ^who? Yuanwu doesn't seem interested in facts, he wants to know if you get the moral of his little story. That's in contrast with many religious people who insist that counter-factual or even outright lying be accepted as truth.

What's your interest, if any, in the crossroads of honesty and practice as far as you are concerned?

Submitted April 21, 2021 at 06:23AM by ewk https://ift.tt/2Qn4tRs