JMJM,
Most of your remarks make sense. But there is a problem with the
following:
Most of us consider kensho a result of stillness, but you think
it the other way around.
Yes, the Sixth Patriarch did not write, because he was unable to.
He was illiterate. That does not mean he did not want to. His
famous poem was dictated by him and written by his fellow student
on the wall, to counter a different idea by Shenxiu. On the other
hand, he read with or without the help of others, including his
teacher. His favorite reading was the Diamond Sutra.
The third point is about the 'heart'. What do you think it is?
The organ that can be transplanted? An emotional center that is
used in the expression: I love my girl friend with all my heart?
Or one of the centers where you can manipulate your 'chi' (heart
chakra)?
Anthony
--- On *Tue, 23/11/10, Jue Miao Jing Ming - 覺妙精明
/<[email protected]>
<http://sg.mc761.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]>/*
wrote:
From: Jue Miao Jing Ming - 覺妙精明 <[email protected]>
<http://sg.mc761.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]>
Subject: [Zen] Three Buddhist Practices
To: [email protected]
<http://sg.mc761.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, 23 November, 2010, 9:20 AM
Hi All,
The three fundamental Buddhist practices is "Discipline,
Meditation, Wisdom". In Pali, they are "sila, samadhi,
panna", or translated into "morality, stillness, wisdom."
Word wise, jhana and samadhi and stillness are the same.
Morality and discipline are the same. Some of you may
disagree about this "same". They are the "same" in
practice. They are different only in our heads.
As you know, Chan is not taught through words. Chan is about
practice. Let me explain.
My Teacher calls the first practice "purification". When our
body and mind become pure, we automatically disciplined and
moral. I call the first practice "detox". Detox from all
our habits - habitual concepts, habitual actions, habitual
food, habitual life style. It is like a reboot.
When we reach this clean state of being, then we reach
samadhi, jhana, stillness or just Ding, as we call it in our
school. It is a state of stillness, yet spacious, expansive,
clear, thoughtless......
Maintaining in this state, enables us to be in sync with the
energy and wisdom of the universe.
Kensho is when our heart outshines our mind. It is also a
description of state. Usually it means a state of clear mind
or stillness before we reach samadhi.
Shigantaza however is the same practice (from the discipline,
through sitting to clear mind to kensho).
In short, if we can detach ourselves from the descriptions
from these states and simply Just Sit without thoughts and
cultivate our chi. We can reach all these states.
In our school, we have a fourth state, our Teacher calls it,
liberation. It means liberation of our heart after we quiet
or clear our mind.
There is really no need to comprehend, just practice. The
Sixth Patriarch did not even read or write.
:-)
Be Enlightened In This Life - We ALL Can
http://chanjmjm.blogspot.com <http://chanjmjm.blogspot.com/>
http://www.heartchan.org <http://www.heartchan.org/>
On 11/22/2010 6:47 AM, [email protected]
<http://sg.mc761.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]>
wrote:
ED,
My formal teaching has been in Japanese Zen Buddhism so most
of the terms of which I am familiar are Japanese.
These are my understanding of some of the terms we've been
using:
Kensho: A brief and temporary glimpse of Buddha Nature.
Satori: Essentially the same as kensho but a much more
long-lasting and persistent awareness of Buddha Nature.
Shikantaza: 'Clear Mind', pure awareness. I call this state
'Just THIS!'. Clear Mind with Awareness = Buddha Mind/Buddha
Nature. Wikipedia defines shikantaza as: .. (只管打坐?) ...
a Japanese term for zazen introduced by Rujing and
associated most with the Soto school of Zen Buddhism, but
which also is "the base of all Zen disciplines." According
to Dōgen Zenji, shikantaza i.e. resting in a state of
brightly alert attention that is free of thoughts, directed
to no object, and attached to no particular content—is the
highest or purest form of zazen, zazen as it was practiced
by all the buddhas of the past.
Samadhi: I am familiar with this term only from reading. It
always seemed to me to be the same as shikantaza. Wikipedia
defines samadhi as: "...a non-dualistic state of
consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing
subject becomes one with the experienced object, and in
which the mind becomes still, one-pointed or concentrated
though the person remains conscious. In Buddhism, it can
also refer to an abiding in which mind becomes very still
but does not merge with the object of attention, and is thus
able to observe and gain insight into the changing flow of
experience."
The Thai's use the term 'samadhi' to refer to Theravada
Buddhist meditation. They have a different word 'glai-glia'
to refer to other types of mediation.
>From my experience Clear Mind/shikantaza (samadhi?) and
kensho/satori are virtually the same. The only difference is
that kensho/satori denotes the point that you become AWARE
of Clear Mind (samadhi?). So if you have to put them in some
kind of time sequence, first there is Clear Mind without
awareness, then Kensho/Satori which is the
realization/awareness of Clear Mind, and then Clear Mind
continues with awareness.
Koans, in my experience, are used as a tool to stop the
rational, discriminating mind's activities. It is only in
this state than kensho/satori can occur. There are other
ways to stop the discriminating mind such as just sitting
(zazen). Eventually you will reach the state of shikantaza
(samadhi?) in which a pure awareness can arise. This I call
Buddha Mind/Buddha Nature.
All of the above occurs IN THE ABSENCE of
thinking/rationality/cognition. Part of zen practice AFTER
kensho is to re-integrate thinking/rationality/cognition
WITHOUT forming attachments to the concepts generated by
thinking.
Having said all this I have to add the following caveat
which is a paraphrase of Genjo's caveat on the 5
subdivisions of koans: 'any number of subdivisions and terms
describing zen practice and awareness states could be
devised, and all are ultimately meaningless. Zen is everyday
life. Zen is nothing special. Zen is "Only Don't Know!". Zen
is Just THIS!'
This is my experience.
...Bill!
