Thanks to Ed & Steve.. Steve, your final comment is both beautiful, and one of true wisdom. Reminds me of Dostoyevsty's grand quote: "Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the Devil are fighting in the battlefield of the human heart". Be well. :) k
--- On Tue, 1/18/11, SteveW <[email protected]> wrote: From: SteveW <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Zen] the death of the prince, vegetarianism?(to Chris/Kristy/list) To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 12:55 PM --- In [email protected], "ED" <seacrofter001@...> wrote: > > > > > The intellectual mind-set of our society, to a significant extent, does > appear to be somewhat deadened and out of touch with reality. > > On the other hand there is no evidence that realizing Buddha Nature > makes a person more moral or kinder or emotionally and psychologically > more balanced or astute. > > One's 'seeing' or 'knowing' can be as illusory as the opinions of the > dianoetic mind. > > --ED Hi ED. One criticism I have of Zen, at least as it seems to often be practiced in the West, is this notion that negative conditioned samskaras will just vanish with clear seeing. It takes real work. Buddha said that it was like swimming against the current. IMO, many Western Zennists are too smitten with Wisdom at the expense of practical Compassion. A friend of mine once commented that he wasn't so much interested in how wise a person had become but rather whether or not that person had learned to be kind. Steve > >
