Hi Mike, My understanding is that zen is not a philosophy (intellect) nor a religion (psychology). It's something else, in a "category" by itself. As someone not unfamiliar with both philosophy and religion, I agree.
I agree with you about intellectual head candy, and I think a little goes a long way. (I liked the poetry!) Alan Watts (in one of his books, sorry I don't remember which) talks about 'zen without buddhism'. Carl Jung talked about how zen and other asian disciplines, philosophies, etc, could be dangerous for westerners. Watts talked about the phenomena of the "private buddha"- someone who has a zen experience that blows their mind, and it stays blown, they don't or can't come back to 'regular' reality. To me what they are talking about is the realization that there's no real meaning; the meanings we assign to everything is just one huge house of cards that tumbles down when the wind (a zen experience) blows. Another way to say it is the realization that the meanings we assign to things are completely arbitrary, and most are assigned by culture, not ourselves. As Cleary said, "Zen applies directly to the relationship between mind and culture itself, whatever that culture may be." I don't know if I'm being clear. . . This is where buddhism with its' precepts comes in?? I don't know exactly what precepts you mean - I have heard there are only 3 and also that there are over 500. But I assume you are talking about things like 'no killing', 'no stealing', etc. I would assume the function is to help keep people grounded after realization?? One other thing- I really have noticed that people of above average intelligence are attracted to "zen without buddhism", so maybe the intellectual head candy goes with the territory?? :-) I'm really looking forward to your reply. Margie (roloro1557) --- In [email protected], mike brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well said. I really do enjoy reading the intellectual > and metaphysical postings here, but at the end of the > day, that is all they really are - headcandy for the > intellect. That's why I guess I would call myself a Zen > Buddhist. The danger of trying to extract zen from Zen > Buddhism can lead to the charge that zen is nothing more > than an "intellectual exercise" ala JMJM. IMHO an > understanding of 'emptiness' without following the Eight > Precepts won't lead to a self-transformation as deep as > following them. I don't remember who said it, but zen > without Zen Buddhism is like an alcoholic going to an AA > meeting in the morning and a cocktail lounge in the > evening. -------------------------------------- FROM: Over the hills and far away. . . Wisdom and compassion are inseparable. OldWomansZenChronicles.blogspot.com ------------------------------------ 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/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> 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/
