Search found 114 matches

by Beatzen
Thu May 23, 2013 6:13 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: Talking About Kensho
Replies: 52
Views: 12679

Re: Talking About Kensho

Now the question can be asked: Are you trying to show off by pointing it out? ;) Read letters of Hakuin, a guy that took Zen practice too serious (zen sickness). They are full of "all kinds of self-justifications, rationalizations, and attempts to show off". Welcome to multidimensional wo...
by Beatzen
Sat May 18, 2013 3:28 pm
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: what is enlightenment ?
Replies: 36
Views: 7135

Re: what is enlightenment ?

Dogen wrote:Delusion is when the Self goes forth to illuminate the Dharma. Enlightenment is when the Dharma comes forth to illuminate the Self.
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 3:43 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

Song Dynasty Chan (this is where everything got a final a mature form with all the lineages, transmission texts, rhetoric, etc.) - Yongming Yanshou, who fought against the arising (and winning) Chan style and taught a combined approach, influenced Korean and Tangut Chan, eventually became prominent...
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 12:40 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

I can't believe how fixated I have been on this stuff.

I'm thinking about why I want to know what I want to know, and now that I reflect, and seeing the dead-ends here,

I can see where Robert Thurman says "we just give up" and accept emptiness and relativity.
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 12:16 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

I wasn't saying that I didn't want to study, I was trying to imply that I don't know where to begin.
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 12:12 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

So, if you were like me, and completely fascinated by these contemporary Soto scholars who seem to be railing against Yogacara and Taoism - as if they're trying to purge Zen of what they see as non- or anti-buddhist influences... ...AND you wanted to study abhidharma, ...maybe what I'm asking would...
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 12:07 pm
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

The Japanese Buddhological "critical Buddhism" movement started at least focusing on the tathagata-garbha doctrines, which they called a kind of "dhatu-vada". Only certain parts of Yogacara may fall within this scope. It's not really Yogacara per se that is the target, though. I...
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 11:59 am
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

I should add that, at this point in my study, I'm almost tempted to (after 13 years) drop Zen and take up a Kagyu practice (I have the opportunity to join a Kagyu sangha here in Portland). It seems like it would be less of a culture-shock because I've heard that out of the four major tibetan schools...
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 11:54 am
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Re: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

So, if you were like me, and completely fascinated by these contemporary Soto scholars who seem to be railing against Yogacara and Taoism - as if they're trying to purge Zen of what they see as non- or anti-buddhist influences... ...AND you wanted to study abhidharma, ...maybe what I'm asking would ...
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 11:16 am
Forum: Zen
Topic: Essential Zen Practice
Replies: 24
Views: 8788

Re: Essential Zen Practice

Lankavatara Sutra, 2.31 (tr. Suzuki): "there is no gradual nor simultaneous rising of existence. Why? Because, Mahamati, if there is a simultaneous rising of existence, there would be no distinction between cause and effect, and there would be nothing to characterise a cause as such. If a grad...
by Beatzen
Thu May 16, 2013 10:46 am
Forum: Academic Discussion
Topic: Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)
Replies: 20
Views: 7251

Contemporary Soto criticism of Yogacara (and Taoism)

Several publications, notably Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm over Critical Buddhism and Why They Say Zen Is Not Buddhism: Recent Japanese Critiques of Buddha Nature have turned me on to the recent academic discussions about Ch'an's Yogacara roots, the Lankavatara Sutra, and the apparent fact that...
by Beatzen
Tue May 14, 2013 6:12 am
Forum: Dharma in Everyday Life
Topic: The Buddha leaving his family
Replies: 37
Views: 11596

Re: The Buddha leaving his family

This is something I've always wondered about, and have been questioned by others wanting to know the how and why. When Siddhartha left his wife and child, was this an act of selfishness, or compassion? Did he know, when he left them, that he would succeed at his goal? And another question: does thi...
by Beatzen
Tue May 14, 2013 5:54 am
Forum: Zen
Topic: Essential Zen Practice
Replies: 24
Views: 8788

Re: Essential Zen Practice

Both sequential and simultaneous cause and effect are mistaken, this has been shown by Nagarjuna and even the Lankavatara Sutra has a small chapter for it. That's kind of incredible to me... Can you give us a quote [preferably Nagarjuna] elucidating how effective and formal causality are "mist...
by Beatzen
Mon May 13, 2013 3:45 am
Forum: Zen
Topic: Essential Zen Practice
Replies: 24
Views: 8788

Re: Essential Zen Practice

Zazen is not a matter of body posture, nor is it a method to achieve something. This is what the Platform Sutra (ch. 5) and later generations say. In Caodong (Soto) posture is very important. For Dogen Zenji, zazen appears to be enlightenment. For example, "Sitting is itself the treasury of th...
by Beatzen
Sat May 11, 2013 8:01 pm
Forum: Soto
Topic: Soto views on rebirth?
Replies: 37
Views: 14563

Re: Soto views on rebirth?

With one addition (your mind is/you are /Buddha) that is exactly what Dogen advocated. OK, take it up with Foulk. No that's not what I meant. I didn't realize that zazen-only was under discussion. Dogen clearly practiced other than zazen - for him (and in the best Soto tradition everything) is prac...
by Beatzen
Sat May 11, 2013 7:57 pm
Forum: Zen
Topic: Zen, dhyana, and non-meditation
Replies: 40
Views: 10479

Re: Zen, dhyana, and non-meditation

Interesting. I was just reading Hee Jin-Kim's book about Dogen on Meditation and Thinking (it is a sequel to "Mystical Realist"). There, the professor interprets Dogen as espousing philosophically re-constructive capacities of sunyata (unusual). I forget the particulars of the explanation,...
by Beatzen
Fri May 10, 2013 8:36 pm
Forum: Mahāyāna Buddhism
Topic: Are Satipatthana, Shamatha and Vipashyana interrelated?
Replies: 10
Views: 4460

Re: Are Satipatthana, Shamatha and Vipashyana interrelated?

My understanding is that an "orthodox Theravadin" take on the OP's question is such: [...that] Vipassana and Shamatha were only taught as separate disciplines post-canonically . I like that someone previously stated that Satipatthana incorporates both, because many Theravadin teachers I ha...
by Beatzen
Fri May 10, 2013 8:31 pm
Forum: Soto
Topic: Soto views on rebirth?
Replies: 37
Views: 14563

Re: Soto views on rebirth?

Well, I'm not recommending Dosho Port, but Foulk is a pretty reputable scholar I believe. I only linked to that article because it describes Foulk's essay. Here's an excerpt from the first paragraph: Dogen has often been cast by modern scholars as the leading proponent of a "pure" form of...
by Beatzen
Fri May 10, 2013 8:17 pm
Forum: Kagyu
Topic: Who is my root lama? Please help!
Replies: 10
Views: 4652

Re: Who is my root lama? Please help!

I am not a practitioner in a tibetan context, but my humble attempt at understanding what a root guru might be is such as this: (particularly @ 2:20 during the video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwh5_I4HdnA This "introduction" actually happened to me in the context of a student/teacher ...
by Beatzen
Fri May 10, 2013 8:04 pm
Forum: Soto
Topic: Soto views on rebirth?
Replies: 37
Views: 14563

Re: Soto views on rebirth?

There are plenty of practitioners and teachers who also embrace it because it so nicely aligns with the culturally-conditioned, self-serving dream that makes Western Zen something like a box of chocolates and we get to pick the ones we like and leave the rest. What is with all these white buddhist ...

Go to advanced search