oushi wrote:Has Zen no morals? I don't know what Zen is, to be honest.
About masters, once I heard that there are none, so who is lacking morals? Karma flow continues even after realization, how can it be otherwise? It simply doesn't stack. So, post awakening actions are result of past karma, and circumstances. Enlightenment doesn't break the causality. No walking on water, sorry. Masters are not examples to follow, they are spiritual guides. When you go for a holiday trip, do you care for the sexual life of the tour guide?
Deification is a bad habit.
Zen, is a word that means meditation.
It is derived from "ch'an", the Chinese equivalent, which was in turn derived from "dhyana", the sanskrit version of the word.
It refers to the meditation traditions of Buddhism, and specifically in the "Zen" form to the meditation traditions in Japan, and those descended from Japanese meditation traditions in the west.
Rules, and laws, are for the sake of those who do not understand the consequences of their actions.
We do have rules and guidelines in Zen Buddhism.
It is not a moral free-for-all as the Beats would have had it.
While ultimately, yes, there is nothing that is free from or separate from the Eternal; in a relative sense, we can still do harm, that is do things that perpetuate greed, anger, and delusion, so it is helpful to have rules and guidelines, to show people how to stop doing that.
Because "Delusions in the trainees minds were topsy turvy"
"The setting up of doctrines, practices" is helpful.
Or as Dogen put it in the Shushogi:
"...for it is impossible to escape from karmic consequence if we do evil on the assumption that, by not recognizing an act as evil, no bad karma can accrue to us."
The reason why we have teachers, and doctrines and practices, or rules and guidelines, is because due to ignorance, people don't necessarily know what is harmful and what is not. And even those who have found the Buddha Nature within themselves can still get off-centre after realization.
Teachers serve to show people how to discover this knowledge in themselves.
We also take refuge in the Dharma, and the Sangha, as a checks and balance system against our own delusion, as even after an enlightenment, or spiritual experience, delusion can still come up, as an initial glimpse of our Buddha Nature does not mean we are free from all delusion. The Three Refuges are not just a beautiful saying. There's a practical purpose for why it's there.
Dogen put this very simply in his "Rules for Meditation":
Why are training and enlightenment differentiated since
the Truth is universal? Why study the means of attaining it
since the supreme teaching is free? Since Truth is seen to be
clearly apart from that which is unclean, why cling to a means
of cleansing it? Since Truth is not separate from training, training
is unnecessary—the separation will be as that between
heaven and earth if even the slightest gap exists FOR, WHEN THE
OPPOSITES ARISE, THE BUDDHA MIND IS LOST. However much you
may be proud of your understanding, however much you may
be enlightened, whatever your attainment of wisdom and
supernatural power, your finding of the way to mind illumination,
your power to touch heaven and to enter into enlightenment,
when the opposites arise you have almost lost the way
to salvation. Although the Buddha had great wisdom at birth,
He sat in training for six years; although Bodhidharma
Transmitted the Buddha Mind, we still hear the echoes of his
nine years facing a wall. The Ancestors were very diligent and
there is no reason why we people of the present day cannot
understand..."
To help keep those opposites from arising, and training with them when they do, is why we have rules and guidelines, and doctrines and practices.
Morals, essentially.
In Gassho,
Sara H
Observing your mind is a good idea.