Turbulence from the splash of Jeff's post last week in ZenDiary.org continued to roil, focussing on a comment to his own post where, in one paragraph, Jeff wrote ...
I'm sure many won't agree with me, but I think Zen Buddhism is meditation for realizing the “truth” of existence, and self-transformation for living according to the precepts. That's probably not a great way to put it, but what Zen is certainly not is maintaining the current status quo in one's life, or finding ways to feel warm and fuzzy. I won't point fingers or name names, but I think too often Zen is something along the lines of “it's all good.”
Followup comments included Gareth's of Green Clouds who wrote “I feel that if I'm simply ‘life blogging’ then I'm betraying the focus of my site.” Nacho of WoodMoor Village said, “Jeff, you are right about what for some Zen becomes. I've certainly encountered that ‘it's all good’ disposition. … Spiritual Materialism [definition] does rear its head here.” Zenchick of Zenchick wrote, “although serious practitioners may be turned off by those doing ‘zen light’ or ‘buddhism for dummies’ they are on their path as well. I was one of them, when I first started out.”
A day later, Nacho posted an entry in WoodMoor Village that, while not directly alluding to the conversation above, was sympathetic to a more-open sense of what Zen is. The post quotes Thich Nhat Hanh with respect to Thien, Vietnamese Zen:
“… The attitude of Thien toward the search for truth and its view of the problem of living in this world are extremely liberal. Thien does not recognize any dogma or belief that would hold back man's progress in acquiring knowledge or in his daily life. Thien differs from Orthodox religions in that it is not conditioned by any set of beliefs. In other words, Thien is an attitude or methodology for arriving at knowledge and action. … [The] aim is to attain, to penetrate, to see. Once he has attained satori (insight) his action will conform by itself to reality.”A comment thread ensued, focusing on whether Thien is the anything goes Zen that Jeff objects to. Gareth of Green Clouds addressed the issue foursquare in a long comment. Here's some of what he wrote:
I think the first hint that Thich Nhat Hanh is talking about something different to the ‘anything goes’ Zen (can we think of a better term for this?) is that he writes: “The practice of Thien is by no means easy.” Aren't the misconceptions of Zen, the ‘anything goes’ approach often the result of a making easier of Zen? A false spiritual gratification that misses the essence of Zen?
It is true that Thich Nhat Hanh recognises the liberal nature of Thien Buddhism; But I do not believe this is the same as the existential liberalism, that the ‘anything goes’ school practices. I believe that Hanh uses the term ‘liberal’ to contrast Thien with other dogmatic religions, with strict belief systems, and models of the universe, including some other schools of Buddhism, which suggest a specific way of viewing the world: “A person who practices Zen meditation does not have to rely on beliefs of hell, Nirvana, rebirth or causality;”
In a post perhaps not disconnected to the ZenDiary conversation, James of The Buddhist Blog quotes Geshe Rabten, "We should not merely expend all our energy collecting pieces of information, but make an effort to experience their validity through insight in our daily life." Says James, "In other words, avoid spiritual materialism. This is an obstacle that I often come across." The post motivated several to comment. Shadow Dancer wrote, "Sitting on your mat with insence burning is only the most base of meditations. Allow life itself to become a meditation. Watching is all it takes."
Taking his own advise from last week to fight the blogroll heirarchy, Terrance of The Republic of T posted a top-ten list of best blog entries for the week. Says T, “there's something to the old adage that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
 Hook © Erik Lutz 2005; posted with permission. |
The picture above appeared this week in Eric Lutz's blog virtual zen, in an entry titled Preview …. Eric works in marketing but has worked in many various fields, currently living in Toronto. In addition to blogging, photography is one of Eric's prime interests. Others of his photos can be found on his photoblog, virtual zen::photo. virtual zen is the winner of the 2004 Queery Award from QueerDay for Best Canadian weblog. |
Green Clouds' Gareth recommends an essay that was brought to his attention by Moose of The Contemporary Taoist. The essay, “What You'll Wish You'd Known” by Paul Graham, tells high school kids that in our fast-changing world you cannot directly prepare for your future; you must keep your options open so as to be flexible enough to fit into a world we cannot conceive. Gareth applies something else in the essay to his own life: “Graham suggests that those we consider great, Einstien, Shakespeare and others were merely curious about a ‘big question,’ and enjoyed their work. Looking back over my life, I can see how it has been a search for something for me to become curious about. I think that I've found it in the arts, and specifically in performance.” [BTW, The Contemporary Taoist has launched a new website, Moose Cafe, a portal for all the words, tunes and doings of Seamus Ennis, the Aussie Moose. Polish your antlers and dine.]
Partially inspired by Andi Young, John Soper of Dharma Path feels like it is now time to turn on the thrusters and put his spiritual life in a higher orbit. “I want to take the 5 precepts of a lay buddhist now more than ever. ... I want to engage my teacher at Mt. Equity Zendo in earnest. I don't want to let this gut feeling [that I feel ripe] come and go without seeing if I really have what it would take to take this formal step towards a life I know will bring me more contentment and peace.”
Dave of Via Negativa can write about himself or what's going on in his life, and even if he whines a tad, it is all still literary and examined. Here, a central paragraph from "The double-take":
The problem with wildlife-watching, it seems, is that the wildlife watches back. This elementary truth sometimes seems lost on those who want nature to resemble a made-for-television drama. I remember a visiting friend one time declining my offer for a guided tour of our woods: "I've seen trees before. Boring!" Indeed. Where's the drama? Most animals spend most of their waking hours doing nothing, wildlife researchers tell us. They have plenty of time to sit and contemplate the frantic to-and-froing of human beings.
In a long, thoughtful post, eric of virtual zen tackles the question "Where do your joy and pain meet?" and faces down a radical life-altering event and the question of whether he is coming to the heart of Zen, or flying to its furthest margins.
Chris the CyclingPlatypus recommends great coffee, but keeps secret the ingredients of CP Blend.
Tobe of Dharmacrank cites an article in the current edition of an interreligious journal that includes this quote:
Westerners who convert to Buddhism are frequently attracted to a form of Buddhism that is the creation of the modern world. Western converts are often attracted to precisely those features of Buddhism that owe most to liberal Protestantism: tolerance, elevation of reason, compatibility with science, hostility to elitism and hierarchy in religion and so on.
Siona of Nomen es Numen, in a post about a freaky bit of weather, gives a recommendation of sorts for a new film. "… Crash ends with a similarly freakish scene: snow falling in LA. It made me wonder about the various meanings of that moment in the film, which before I'd not given much thought to. The strangeness of what had happened here drew everyone together, and while this is admittedly a very simple reading, it made the movie, with its heavily racial themes, all the more poignant."
