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It means that so-called reality is actually our interpretation. When our perspective changes our experienced reality changes. This is why the boy says, don't try to change reality (bend the spoon). Change your mind, and your reality will change automatically.
There is no enemy to fight, no prize to attain. It is your mind that creates these interpretations &...
12
Zen Buddhism is part of East Asian Buddhism in general and accepts the entire Chinese Canon, although they don't find a lot of it to be relavent to their practice. Zen Buddhism has always been based primarily off of the meditation practice itself combined with oral teaching, but even if Zen isn't purely derived from the Sutras in the way other schools are, ...
11
No, satori is not complete enlightenment, it is an a-ha moment when the practitioner finally realizes "how things are":
Seeing his own original nature, he discovers that the ground of this
nature is innately free of defilement, and that he himself is
originally endowed with the non‐outflow wisdom‐nature which is not a
hair's breadth different from ...
11
Actually, the answer is very simple: meditation is practiced to achieve tathata (suchness), which is a state of realization of the Third Noble Truth. Because tathata involves cessation of aversion to any "this" and of longing for any "that", its attainment requires a mindset without a goal. It would be more precise to say that no-goal is a method of ...
10
I'm not sure if it corresponds in every respect with stream entry but in Japanese Zen they generally distinguish Kenshō, the initial seeing of one's nature, from full Buddhahood so I think it is at least analogous to stream entry.
I'm not sure how this is talked about in forms of Zen outside of Japan (such as Chinese Chan, Vietnamese Zen, and Korean Seon) ...
10
I am not sure about the origin of this quote but possibly as it used as a Zen message it may have come from Bodhidharma. I am sure about its meaning however. It relates both to Enlightenment and Mindfulness. The true practice of mindfulness which means watching the mind to find the Essence of the Mind will lead to Wisdom and Enlightenment. In simple terms we ...
9
The Gateless Gate. The Heart Sutra. The Diamond Sutra. The Shōbōgenzō. These are the first ones that come to my mind as a Zen Buddhist.
Here is more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_Sutras
9
Someone else will answer this better than me, but I'll get the ball rolling.
Chan is the form of Buddhism that came to dominate Buddhist life in China up to the time of the communist revolution. It was a lot of meditation, mixed in with a lot of Pure Land Buddhism, scholarship and the whole gammut of Buddhist practices, including prostrations, repentance, ...
8
Supposedly it is used to help meditator fight drowsiness. It is said that drowsiness comes from stiffness, from meditator trying to artificially restrict their micro-movements and to severely narrow their scope of attention. While right concentration is said to feel open and flexible, with body actively balancing in meditation posture and attention wide open ...
8
the relative simplicity of Zen and the baroque belief systems of the
other Mahayana traditions
Are we talking about style? Yes, the records of the Zen masters resemble the style of the Zhuangzi more than they resemble the style of the Avatamsaka Sutra. But we should be more interested in content when evaluating where a tradition belongs. - The Sutras are ...
8
It's, in a way, like comparing apples and oranges. Theravada means teaching of the elders; all it means is taking the Pali tipitaka and commentaries as more or less orthodox, and denying any teaching that contradicts them. Within the Theravada, there are many Zen-like practices, and many practices wholly foreign to Zen.
Zen, on the other hand, is I think ...
8
Does the Theravada canon have such ideas anywhere at all?
This is a far-fetched example which barely answer your question but IMO the Buddha himself kind of returned to the market-place: not as a tradesman nor even a customer, but he did leave his solitude.
The description could almost fit him:
In the World
Barefooted and naked of breast, I ...
8
This meta-topic mentioned the Pañha Sutta, which includes,
There are these four ways of answering questions. Which four? There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms]. There are questions ...
8
Of course you can. Think of the etymology - zen -> chan -> dhyana -> jhana. It's the same word bastardized and modified over the course of four languages. Zen is absorption practice. It's what the Buddha taught although to be fair the methodologies are slightly different.
But get off the idea of jhana. It's not important. Whether you are in ...
7
Shikantaza means "just sitting" or "single-minded sitting". It is a state of being where you are present here and now, no matter on what you experience, in body or mind.
About losing your religion: the Buddha said that there are three marks of existence, one of them is impermanence of all compound things (anicca). In other words, anything that once begins ...
7
"Chop wood and carry water"
This was first told to me as a story. Here is an abbreviated version.
A young boy became a monk. He dreamed of enlightenment and of learning great things. When he got to the monastery he was told that each morning he had to chop wood for the monks fires and then carry water up to the monastery for ablutions and the kitchen. He ...
7
From a Theravada perspective, there is absolute good and absolute bad. The 2 can exist mutually exclusively.
Suffering is absolutely bad and the mind states that lead to suffering are absolutely bad.
Nibbana is absolutely good and the mind states that lead to Nibbana are absolutely good.
There is no suffering in Nibbana and there's no Nibbana in suffering....
6
The main idea is pretty Zen yes. The premise of the book is that Western philosophy made a wrong turn at Aristotle, who placed (conceptual) Truth at the top of the hierarchy of all knowable, thereby subsuming the Good (aka Quality aka Beauty) as a byproduct of Truth. Through this sleight of hands the conceptual has falsely acquired status of universal, while ...
6
Buddhism changes as it goes into different cultures and adapts and is influenced by local and preexisting culture. It changed when it went from Indian into China and again into Japan and again into Tibet. I believe it is changing still as it goes into the West. For instance my group the Triratna Community is an explicit attempt to bring Buddhism to the West ...
6
Buddhist philosophy, or even philosophy in general makes words difficult to use consistently. The concept of everyone is one of those words. Which makes the answer yes and no to the question: Can everyone be enlightened?
In, I believe, all schools and branches of Buddhism, all sentient beings can eventually gain enlightenment. With emphasis on "eventually". ...
6
Thich Nhat Hanh made an error because he was attempting to rationalize another error. If Thich Nhat Hanh actually understood the teachings, he would not state the teaching of 'samskara dukkhata' is false but instead, simply rectify the error in the interpretation of the teaching.
The spirit of what Thich Nhat Hanh said is correct, namely, there is no ...
6
I don't think so.
it predicates detachment from material possessions
That's not enough to call it Buddhist.
Buddhism might be known for what it is, rather than for what it isn't. Maybe Buddhism isn't material possessions, but, what is it?
That ("what is Buddhism?") is addressed e.g. in many other topics on this site, for example:
What teachings do all ...
6
Before Enlightenment, you hate your life. You chop wood and carry water, but secretly wish to get out of it all. You bear with these activities through habit and out of hopelessness, but you really wish you could do something else. In a way, you are a victim, a slave - the wood chops you and the water carries you, and there is no way to escape. This could go ...
6
Because the question is supposed to "point directly at your mind" like the finger pointing at the moon. The answer could not do better. In fact, you learn more from trying to solve an apparent contradiction. If anything, you learn at least that you are frustrated over not getting it. What matters most is not the object (a koan, a hua tou) but how you hold it ...
6
Samma Sankappa (right thinking) is the result of right view (Samma Ditthi).
If you have the wrong view your thinking will be wrong thinking. (Mittcha Sankappa)
Generally, right view is the forerunner for the rest of the Noble Eightfold Path.
For example seeing things as impermanent is the right view and seeing things as permanent is the wrong view. With the ...
6
Very good question.
Buddhist meditation is based on the understanding of the mechanism of arising and cessation of suffering. Suffering arises whenever there is a conflict between "is" and "should". Craving for any "should" because of attachment to that (usually to a concept within a framework) is the generator of suffering. Letting go of the "should", or ...
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