Actually, it wasn't me who wrote that but I agree; it's neither correct nor
incorrect to say that in zen we make choices. One the one hand, thoughts often
spontaneously arise giving us the illusion that we created that thought. On the
other, once that thought has arisen it becomes a question of what we do with
that thought. We choose to act on it, or not. The 'how' of moving to another
carriage (for example) lies in the choice/act: When the dog is barking to be
let out at 3am on a winter's night do we choose, "Damn! If I just lie here
maybe he'll stop barking. Ah, but if he shits on the carpet I'll have to clean
it. Right, I'll get up but the mutt's gonna get a kick for this ...." Or do we
choose, "Oh shit"... and just get out of bed and let him out?
Robert Kirbo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:54:11 -0800,
mike brown
wrote:
> Notice there is a complete absence of CHOOSING. To make sure of that I
> would change the word DETERMINING in the third sentence to REALIZING or
> ACCEPTING.
I am deeply familiar with Zen, as a practitioner for more than 30 years.
It is neither correct nor incorrect to
state that if one "practices Zen" that one does not "make choices." As
humans, we make choices, and practicing Zen is a choice.
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