![]() ![]() But it's traditional in Zen to just accept the colors of the rainbow as what they are, not needing to explain them. What are colors anyway? How do they have the Quality that they do? Red isn't blue-er than yellow. In a similar way, I was perplexed for a long time by why the colors of the rainbow were the way they were and not other colors that we can't imagine. Then the cook came over and kicked it over. He put out a pitcher and asked, what is this? A monk said, “It's not wood”. A master, Xuyun, was so good he had 100s of students. I think a few more stories would help, before we get back to the koan on the sound of one hand clapping. A quality of being what you are, and not separating yourself from yourself or from the Universe flowing through you. It's just funny (it has a quality of being humorous). That just ruins the joke (because it has become intellectual). You don't think about explaining a joke with words. The ordinary mind of clear headed attention to washing your bowl, and really becoming that action fully, is the true mind. For instance, a student said to Joshu, “I've been here a while and no one has told me anything.” Joshu replied “Then go re-wash your bowl”. Zen is referred to as the “barrier with no gate”, or “the gateless gate”. The friend said, “I haven't understood a word of it, but it's cheered me up enormously”. I mean that.” Alan Watts gave a book of dialogue of the interchange between student and master to a friend. Hasegawa said, “It may take you 3 seconds. For example, contemplative prayer in Christianity takes a long time and a guide. Zen is notable for it's occurrence of sudden insight into something that's supposed to take years and years. One master described practicing these dignities as, “When hungry eat, when tired sleep.” It's about acting while you act. When you do these four, it is possible to maintain the state of Zen. These are: walking zen, standing zen, sitting zen, and lying zen. In a way, Zen is spiritual ophthalmology. Zen is a field of inquiry, as a physicists might look into how the Universe works at it's most basic level. It's not really a framework of moralized rules. Zen isn't a serious practice, but it is sincere. There's an appeal of Zen in the West because of its unusual kind of humor. It's direct pointing into one's own mind, seeing the Buddha mind. There is no dependence on words and letters. He described Zen as a mode of transmission apart from religious texts. And philosophy means the pursuit of the kingdom of reason.Īlan watts was an excellent ambassador of Zen and Eastern thought in the West (Alan Watts Youtube video: Zen). ![]() ![]() Because it isn't graspable by the intellect. Zen could also be thought of as anti philosophy. But at the same time, how could it be separate from the causes that made it outside itself (evolution, culture, free will of choices of your past or the past of those you interact with). On the other hand, “not one” rejects non-dualism because it disagrees with the practitioner being whole as one. Or the positionless position where “not two” means a negation of the belief that you can cut the whole (of the universe as it is manifesting as you now) in two. There is also the idea of “not one” and “not two”. Zen is simple and straightforward in getting at reality and acting in the here and now because it believes that thing-events that are happening before on'es eyes or under ones foot is the very manifestation of “suchness”. The process of discovering wisdom causes an experiential change where the thing-event is perceived differently. Zen teaching is of non-discriminatory wisdom (Stanford Education: Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |