----------( Forwarded letter 1 follows )----------------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 27 September 1994 2:31pm ET
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Phil.Shepard@MSU
Subject: Re: Immanence/Transcendence
In-Reply-To: The letter of Tuesday, 27 September 1994 0:11am ET
Hi Anne, and thanks for your response. GOOD Questions! I've wrestled
with them too and do feel they can be resolved satisfactorily, but it would
probably take at least a book to do the job right, even if I thought I
could. Still some shorter responses can be offered here that will perhaps
bear fruit for you.
First on Buddhism and the sacred in the world. You need to realize that
the early Buddhism of the first couple of generations after "the Buddha's"
historical life was greatly transformed in the Madyamika period in India,
largely before it began to spread around the Orient. This led to the
distinction between Mahayana and Hinayana (or less presumptuously, just "
early" Buddhism -- only Theravada survives today). In Mahayana the ideal
of the Boddhisatva prevails; while in early Buddhism the goal is to escape
the wheel of birth and death (go to Nirvana). On the Boddhisatva ideal,
see, e.g. C. Humphreys, Exploring Buddhism. The gist is that the
Boddhisatva refuses to leave the world until all sentient beings have been
delivered from suffering! (See also Gary Snyder,"Amitabha's Vow").In
Ch'an (Zen in Japanese) this turns into Zen is Life. The Buddha nature is
in all sentient beings and this unity of life is manifest everywhere and
everywhen. Nothing is not sacred (in a certain sense); so as Pirsig writes,
the Buddha nature can even be found in the gears of a motorcycle.
(Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- an excellent text)
On the self in Mahayana Buddhism: there are two concepts, not one. The
ego or small self is acknowledged in a way, but treated as fundamentally
illusory. The large Self (or just Buddha nature) on the other hand is the
unity of the world, the totality of all minds understood as really one
mind (see The Awakening of Faith, tr. Hakeda). These points come together
nicely in the Sutra of Hui Neng (or Platform Sutra) -- I recommend the
Wong Mou-Lam translation, out now, I believe, from Shambhala.)
Since I'm out of time for now, I'm going to have to leave it to you to
unfold some of the implications of this telegram. Hope this helps.
Phil
