Anthony,
There are two kinds of suffering. Most so called suffering, e.g. most
emotional 'pain', is illusory as it simply depends on how one reacts
to something and that can be let go of. Physical pain of say cancer
is different, it can't be avoided. But one must remember you are not
your pain just as you are not your pleasure. Either can come or go
and consciousness still exists. Pain is a content of consciousness,
one of many. One should hopefully concentrate on the consciousness
itself and not the individual contents and not let something like
pain divert the mind from the Zen of consciousness itself. That is
the best one can do, to ignore the pain and focus on the
consciousness itself. That is the true bravery of Zen which goes
straight ahead on the path and disregards death and doesn't let
consciousness get lost in suffering.
Edgar
On Oct 5, 2008, at 9:12 AM, Anthony Wu wrote:
I would like to come back to Al's profound question. The thread he
started is getting long and branching out. Can you simply say 'this
is it?' How do you react to pain? A famous zen master Daisetsu
Suzuki went through a lot of suffering in his last days. I am
scared to think about that. If he cannot avoid suffering, how can
I? How about you all? Are you sure you will leave this world
peacefully?
Regards,
Anthony
--- On Sat, 4/10/08, Al <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Al <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Zen] Aging and Zen
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, 4 October, 2008, 2:14 AM
As we all get older, and some of us are a lot older, the question for
me now is this: Does Zen give you everything you want? Are you willing
to die sitting on a cushion just saying "this is it?" No Heaven for
you? No Nirvana? No nothing? Just worms??
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