Good Morning To You, As a scientist or a scholar, the training is to remain absolutely objective, be an observer and never contaminate the fact in front of us with our own interpretation or subjective filtering. This is well respected and understood.
As a Chan practitioner, however, the training is just the opposite. What the teacher, Buddha, or Jesus said, or even what we see, hear, smell, feel or touch are irrelevant. Words are meant to wake us up from within and let us by-pass our mind, and directly experience the "Truth" without being attached to all "forms of dharma". In other words, whatever considered "sacred or true" in the eyes of scientist or scholar are considered "impermanent or non-absolute" in the eyes of Chan practitioner. Sutra stated very clearly, "when we transcend from form to formless, to truth, then we witness." In other words, Truth is not form. In essence, Chan practice is fundamentally a spiritual practice. It can be presented with logic, can be experimented with visual feedback, can be communicate with words. But these are for the convenience of other practitioners and not the Chan practice itself. Yet Chan does include all these logic, description and senses without discrimination or separation. In short, Chan is the comprehensive nickname for the universe, which includes all the phenomena of the universe as well as the energy and its laws --- the planets and atoms, humans and their civilization, the physical forms and all the energies inside and outside of each. If we pick and choose any portion of the universe, or Chan, our witness will be incomplete and partial. For our practice to be complete, absolute and wholesome, we must embrace every facets of the universe without discrimination, judgment, preference, logic or suspicion at every instance in our daily life. Xin-Xin-Ming warned us, "...It is like heaven and earth apart...." Thank you for your attention, JMJM Head Teacher Order of Chan -- Be Enlightened In This Life - We ALL Can http://chanjmjm.blogspot.com http://www.heartchan.org ------------------------------------ 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: [email protected] [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/
