Clarifying Right View: Dharma Study in Zen

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clyde
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Clarifying Right View: Dharma Study in Zen

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Clarifying Right View: Dharma Study in Zen
Written by Kokyo Henkel
From the beginning, Zen has been known as a “separate transmission outside the scriptures, not based on written words, pointing directly to the human mind, seeing true nature and becoming buddha.” These words are attributed to Zen’s founder, Bodhidharma. Directly verifying our true nature and living in accord with this reality is the point of Zen practice. Though intellectual study of the words of the ancient realized ones is certainly not the same as their direct realization, some would say that it is virtually impossible to realize what they did without such thorough and far-reaching study, to unravel our most deeply held false assumptions.
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From ancient India up to today, there have been simple unlearned practitioners who have overwhelming devotion to their teachers, so that by just hearing a few words of pith instruction, or even being struck by a staff or a whisk, they were able to open to awakening in an instant. There have also been many others who didn’t have the disposition of overwhelming devotion, but who studied Dharma with their teachers for a long time, and were eventually able to open to awakening. Though verification of the Way is always the same in essence, there are different types of people with different dispositions. These days most practitioners don’t have such overwhelming devotion, so they need the reliable skillful means of Dharma study, combined with authentic zazen – sitting as “daily maintenance” but also immersion in frequent longer sesshins.

What kind of study is most essential for awakening? . . .

https://www.treasuretheroad.org/magazin ... udy-in-zen
This is well worth reading.
“Enlightenment means to see what harm you are involved in and to renounce it.” David Brazier, The New Buddhism

“The most straightforward advice on awakening enlightened mind is this: practice not causing harm to anyone—yourself or others—and every day, do what you can to be helpful.” Pema Chodron, “What to Do When the Going Gets Rough”
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