First Case (Bonus Content): The Highest Meaning of the Holy Truths
What do Zen Masters teach? Do they teach Zen? Let's find out!archive
I couldn’t figure out where to place this episode, since we didn’t really went through the whole case, but a lot of stuff was brought up during my awesome conversation with u/wrrdgrrl and I wanted to find a good way of including it. I'm not really quoting her so much as using the conversation as a launchpad to think more deeply about Zen and steal a bunch of ideas from her in the process.
IMPORTANT: I extend the invitation to anyone on r/zen who'd like to get on a call (via discord) and go through a case with me to bunny up and speak out. You don’t have to be Zen Masters or Zen experts or anything. This is just about getting involved and seizing the opportunity to engage with the community in an interesting way.
Case
Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma, "What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?" Bodhidharma said, "Empty, without holiness."
astrocomments:
-Emptiness doesn’t mean there’s nothing there, at least in the conventional sense. Last time I talked about emptiness someone called me out for contradicting myself when I said there was nothing in the world and then went on to talk about things that existed in the world. I don’t think there exists such contradiction and we couldn't come to an agreement. Have you heard about the principle of charity? It’s a philosophical principle where you interpret what the other person is saying in its strongest form. Now, I’m not saying everybody needs to do it, or that I’d like you to do it when interacting with me. But, if you are trying to challenge yourselves and want to grow and learn from your interactions around here, it’s way more fun to try and beat a good argument than a bad one. Anyways, when I say there is nothing it’s an expedient device like One Mind is a expedient device. It is not possible to touch the heart of the matter without using expedient devices. Bodhidharma couldn’t do it, I’m not gonna pretend to be able to.
-The value of discussing cases in terms of Zen is nothing (which is okay). However, if I’d said there is no value to it in terms of our feeble human lives I’d be dishonest. We have this things that drive us and make us engage in the world. For me, personally, I love solving stuff. Making sense out of something that at first seems difficult is a really satisfying feeling for me. I love using my brain to the fullest. For a long time I mistakenly tried to use that approach on reality. I wanted to figure everything out to feel ready to head out into the world and start living. Obviously, I failed, so I just started living anyways. For me, cases scratch this itch. Zen scratches that itch. And it can be something else for other people. I know a lot of you like the literary aspects of it (I do too), or the humor (it’s awesome), or a lot of other stuff that engaging with the Zen tradition on r/zen can give you. It’s not that Zen is about those things, but everyone has their own connection with Zen and I think it’s nice to talk about it. Tell me about your connections in the comments!
-We on r/zen have a really interesting relationship as students of Zen (outside of words) who engage with each other on a text-based forum. I was telling wrrdgrrl about how I’m trying to learn how to engage with the widest number of people and do it in terms that are significant to them. I equated it to a dance, where you have to learn how to dance with each other for a bit before you can both look good and have fun while doing it. She said something (no quotes because I don’t have a good memory) about not everybody wanting to dance with me. The obviousness of the Zen meme that was appropriate in this instance hit me in the face
"What is the actual point [the Sixth Patriarch of] Caoqi is driving at?"
The Master said, "I like to be outraged. I don't like to be pleased."
"Why is that so?"
"If one encounters a swordsman on the road, one ought to offer him a sword; and to someone who is not a poet one doesn't present a poem."
I’d imagine there are other kinds of people, but in general it makes sense that not all people want to dance. I like that the real advice is not in the action.
Yunmen says offer him a sword
Dahui says show your sword
Linji says give up your sword
It’s not about fighting. It’s about acknowledging where the other person is coming from. Without that, there’s no possibility of making an appropriate statement. So come out with your swords and poems, let's see if we can tell one from the other.
You’ve been browsing reddit for a long time. Take care of yourselves.
Submitted September 09, 2021 at 02:24PM by astroemi https://ift.tt/3jUoGKo
No comments:
Post a Comment