Blue Cliff Record Book and Art 101

The Blue Cliff Record book was written by r/zenner and knotzenner Brian:

This is from the intro about credentials:

when reading the great works for ourselves, the original sources, our very present and personal consciousness absorbs the art.

This is one of those statements that is deeply rooted in Western philosophy, spanning more than 2,000 years of debate and discussion. But is it true?

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Let's acknowledge that this statement about the connection between art and consciousness spans more that 2,000 years of Western Philosophy... it's one of the "big questions".

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1. We get people in here from Japanese Buddhist churches... churches that don't show their faces in public and require "initiations" to even pass a their "masters" in the hallway... and these church people claim that BCR is a part of their daily study!

2. I distanced myself from knotzen, a podcast group that often produces podcasts about BCR, because knotzen's policy isn't one that demands public accountability from it's podcasters. Yes, you read that correctly. They read BCR, they discuss BCR, but they don't require accountability from each other like Yuanwu does.

So what does it mean to "absorb the art" of Blue Cliff Record? Yuanwu bathed in public accountability... it oozes from every word of his written instructions. Can you "absorb the art" of BCR without absorbing that affinity for public accountability?

The church people who come in here aren't able to write at a high school level about BCR despite claiming to study it like every day and stuff... did they absorb the art? Or just read it without understanding it?

Does the knotzen crowd read it, understand it, but not absorb the art either? If so, what does it take to absorb the art of something?

Consider that lots of people read books on "How To" and some really take it to heart and other people don't seem to ever grasp the how to... is that because books can't teach? Or because some people can't absorb art?

I cannot overstate the significance of this question since nobody in this forum has ever been face-to-face with a Zen Master. Our access is through their written instructions, like BCR and BoS, and the historical records of their teachings.

Why did Zen Masters write books of instruction if the didn't think that fundamentally the "consciousness absorbs the art"?

Get out ur knife and fork: More from the Blue Cliff Record Book coming soon to a theater near you.

PS: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cliff-Record-Book-Qualities/dp/B09C1Z9654/

You'll notice that some guy who I think is from the now defunct Songhill cult has already given it one star! Yes, that songhill: https://www.reddit.com/r/zensangha/wiki/whoistrolling/holleringstand

Submitted February 10, 2022 at 08:27AM by ewk https://ift.tt/Au4RTcJ