--- On Tue, 17/5/11, Beverley Huish <[email protected]> wrote:
One of the things that appeals to me about Buddhism is that it is non-judgemental. --------------------------- MEL: Non-judgemental? I don't know about the conservative Buddhist stream, but zen people can get quite direct and straigthforward -------------------------------- I'm also glad to have you say that knowledge isn't Buddhism's emphasis - there seems to be an awful lot of it about different types of Buddhism. ------------------------------------------- MEL: Yay or nay on knowledge...well, it depends on who you talk to. I thought it was very odd and quite funny when a Theravada devotee of sorts once spoke to me of 'buddhist scholars'/study monks In zen, the more knowledge(specially useless knowledge that have no immediate use), the more cluttered the mind --------------------------------------------- (I already decided that I'm not going to make any effort to pick up what I don't need to know, or when I don't feel I can take anything else new on - unfortunately, being a newbie Buddhist, I don't know what I really need to know to be a Buddhist. I'm just focussing on mindfulness at the moment and hoping / trusting that other information will come to me as I'm ready to receive it.) ------------------------------------- MEL: Do your research, and read all sorts of material you feel would suit your needs. You don't have to commit yourself to anything until you're ready =============================================== I'm a newbie in this group, and to Buddhism. --------------------------------- MEL: Welcome -------------------------------- I sincerely don't want to upset anyone or start an argument. I want to join in this discussion, and this has cropped up so I'm asking the question. ------------------------------------- MEL: I won't make much sense to you right now, but you've got to get past the 'upset/argument' issue, because you'll always come across that no matter how peaceful you try to be. I don't know about Buddhists as such, but zen doesn't teach anything concrete about morals, honour, and so on -------------------------------------- I told a friend today that I feel Buddhism is for me, and I'm looking into Zen. My friend replied that Tibetan Buddhism is a more spiritual type of Buddhism because they believe in God. Having looked into various types of Buddhism, he believes that the Buddha communicated higher information, including the existence of God, to Tibetan Buddhists because they were more spiritually evolved at that point - Tibetan Buddhists claim this is the case and my friend agrees with them, he says. My response was to say that different things appeal to different people and I don't think it's a matter of one being more 'spiritual' or more 'true' than another. (I really don't care what might considered 'higher' or more 'spiritual' - at the moment that is irrelevant to me. However, it did seem a kind of un-Buddhist thing to claim that oneself is better than another person? My friend is not a Buddhist.) What do other people think? ---------------------------------------- MEL: The Tibetan-style of Buddhism is fine if that's one's choice. Different strokes, different folks Zen however, is something you live with daily. It will not work without life's experience and stepping out from the influences of one's past Middle Eastern beliefs. The book ZEN MIND BEGINNERS MIND might be a good start for you Lastly, be wary of zen material put up by scholars who are not involved with zen Buddha be praised Mel
