Zen Take: Layman Pang and the 5 Lay Precepts

Modern Zen students have two problems:

1. Learning about what Zen Masters teach
2. Learning to identify people who lie about Zen teachings.

From Layman Pang's Record, we have this:

One day Shih-t'ou said, "I've come to visit have you been doing?" you. What

The Layman said. "If you're asking what I do

every

day, there's nothing to say about it." Shih-t'ou said, "What did before I asked you about it?" you think you were doing

The Layman made up a verse:

What I do every day

Is nothing special:

I simply stumble around.

What I do is not thought out.

Where I go is unplanned.

No matter who tries to leave their mark,

The hills and dales are not impressed.

Collecting firewood and carrying water

Are prayers that reach the gods.

Shih-t'ou approved, saying, "So, are you going to wear black or white?!

The Layman said, "I will do whatever is best." It came to pass that he never shaved his head to join the sangha.

This particular Case is, I would argue, the most misrepresented and misappropriated Case in Zen history.

.

Welcome! ewk comment: There are people in this forum that are really upset about the fact that they are drug and alchohol dependant. That's the bottom line. Nobody in this forum thinks that rape-murdering is acceptable, or stealing, and that only leaves the precept against drugs and alchohol.

The question is, are people who put drug-drinking ahead of Zen in their lives really enlightened? As a following question, consider whether Dogen's sex predators would have done what they did, gotten where they were, or kept all their followers if it weren't for drugs and alchohol?

Layman Pang never becomes the leader of a monastic community. He wears the white robe, set aside for lay people who have taken the precepts but have not become professional monks.

What does this tell us about the role of the 5 lay precepts in Zen communities?

I've once again started work on the Zen Precepts book now that the 4 Statements book is done and I've upgrade to Linux. It's my last project before Annotated Blyth, Vol 1.

The Precepts debate, and the importance of drugs/alchohol to people suffering, is not going anywhere.

Submitted September 01, 2022 at 08:20AM by ewk https://ift.tt/tO8L2Hc