On Wednesday, June 21 kathychen wrote: Thanks for your questions. They are all very good and important. I will tell you what I think about just one on your list and leave the other ones for other forum participants.
[Kathy...] Can we just sit, as Bill suggested, and find all our knowledge, there, inside? Can we do this with no training or guidance? One of the central aspects of Zen practice is having a teacher. What is their function, if not to pass on knowledge? You can just sit. There is nothing else needed. You won't, however, find 'knowledge' by just sitting - if by 'knowledge' you mean the names and order of the Patriarchs, the content of the 'Five, Eight and/or Ten Precepts', or the names and descriptions for 'The Eight Consciousnesses'. You won't find knowledge by just sitting, but KNOWLEDGE IS NOT WHAT IS NEEDED to 'see your Original Face'. (That is usually the phrase I use to describe the indescribable. You can call it whatever you'd like: awaken Buddha, discover Buddha Nature, experience Satori, etc... - the phrase is not important). Your Original Face will be revealed if you just sit. Now 'just sit' means just what it says: Just Sit. That means you are not engaged in any other activities like thinking about how you are doing, wondering how long you've been sitting, becoming annoyed at your aching knees, being pleased that you are sitting so strongly, etc... You must JUST SIT! Another term for 'just sit' is 'zazen'. That's a transliteration of Japanese and means: za=sit, zen=zen (untranslatable). So how do you learn to do zazen? You can learn by yourself. You don't absolutely NEED a teacher. That's apparently the way Siddhartha Buddha and some of the Patriarchs learned. They just sat, probably at first thinking about all kinds of things, and eventually - maybe from exhaustion or sheer boredom - stopped their mind's activities. That's a tough way to learn. It's probably best if you learned from someone who practices zazen regularly and is qualified to teach. They can give you pointers on helpful postures and techniques (like counting breaths, silent mantras, non-logical sayings or puzzles - koans) that can help you get started in quieting-down your active analytical mind. And, a teacher can most importantly be an example for you so that you will have FAITH and BELIEVE that there IS an Original Face, and that eventually YOU TOO will be able to see it. This is very important. Without faith I believe it is virtually impossible to put forward the effort needed to get to the point where your Original Face is revealed. I think this is the most important factor a teacher can bring, much more important than teaching techniques. There is an old zen saying that goes something like: 'A sincere student can become enlightened practicing under a false zen master; but even the most accomplished zen master cannot enlighten an insincere student.' So, to sum up by referring back to your question: - We can 'just sit'. We won't find knowledge by doing so, but knowledge isn't required. - We can lean to sit with no training or guidance, but I wouldn't advise that path. - A teachers' function is to guide and nurture, but most of all to engender faith. Good Luck! All for now...Bill! ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Hik1AB/bOaOAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today! Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
