Hi Steve, Very good points. I wonder about this as well. Whether its a fake-it-till-you-make-it-thing or not, part of my own dis-illusionment with all such practices, beit zen Dzogchen, kunalini and the rest--results from what I perceive as a big hypocracy. Masters go on and on about ego-less no self existence, yet their own egos are vested in gathering students, book deals, and the attention they receive. Especially when its trendy to claim to be on a spiritual path these days. A lot of this just rings hollow to me right now. I've been quite critical of many ideas presented on the forum, probably because a lot of it is a "been there--done that -thing. I've taught yoga-- learned all about this kundalini stuff.. did the zen retreats and practices. Read the books. Stopped reading to go within. And the like. Ed's comments a couple of days about the steps on the path to enlightment , reminded me of a book series that I own-- but never finished reading. I decided to grab one, and read it on the plane east-- (meaning Maryland-- not the bid "East" in Asia;) The series is aptly titled, "Steps on the Path to Enlightment". Its a 5-book series, and I grabbed the one volume of the shelf that would likely irritate me. Its Vol II-- "Karma". But if i can stomach it-- perhaps i can learn enough to better understand Anthony--as i have admired him for a long time. I--myself am in the midst of inner change, which makes me grumpy at times. I fully accept Bill's statement that zen is a-ethical. The problem I'm having, is that I simply don't want to live that way. I'm willing to sign on to some suffering as a result. For me-- equanimity is just not where I want to be right now. I want to be involved in the world in such a way that I will undoubtedly "feel" pain and hurt and frustration due to the people and problems I will be involved with. I'll try to follow-up with a comment to ED later.. Be well ~ k~
--- On Thu, 3/17/11, SteveW <[email protected]> wrote: From: SteveW <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Zen] First Master of Dzogchen To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, March 17, 2011, 11:55 AM --- In [email protected], Kristy McClain <healthyplay1@...> wrote: > > ED, >  >  > I have comments on the attached but will offer them later. But wanted to > share this now.. >  > Does this line-up with the teachers you had? k >  >  > Hi Kristy. While I certainly agree with the assessment that the > inherently-existing ego-self is an illusion, I cannot help but wonder how > many supposedly enlightened masters are just faking it. It is one thing to > understand that the ego has no inherent existence, and quite another thing to > live your life that way. But who knows? Maybe Kundalini yoga is the magic > bullet. For that matter, I cannot help but wonder how many people who assert > that "everything is perfect in being what it is" really react to people, > places and things with perfect equanimity. Steve > >
