Zendervish,
You asked:
> How would you know if you experienced "Buddha Nature?"
That's a good question. I posted an answer to this but then deleted it
realizing it was insufficient. In that post I used an analogy of experiencing
'hot' when touching fire, but that was really not a good example. I'll still
use the examples of fire and Buddha nature to answer your question but in a
slightly different way.
*** FIRE ***
When I touch fire I have a sensory experience. When you touch fire you have a
sensory experience. I don't really know if my experience and your experience
are exactly the same, but I assume it is.
When I touch fire my reaction might be 'Ouch!' When you touch fire your
reaction might be 'Oo-wee!', or sticking your fingers in your mouth. Our
initial reactions are pre-thinking, pre-intellect.
THIS IS THE END OF THE EXPERIENCE - what follows below is Maya (illusory):
If this was the first time we have ever had this experience we might then
think, 'What was that?', and make a judgement 'That felt bad', and categorize
the experience, 'Touching fire is dangerous'. We may want to describe our
experience to others, 'bad', 'pain', 'intense' and eventually give it a name,
'hot' or 'burn'.
On the other hand if we had heard about or read about a description of an
experience that seemed the same as this one, and knew a name for that
experience was 'burn', we might just adopt that name and describe our
experience as 'burn', and assume it was the same as the 'burn' described by
others.
Maybe someone who had never touched fire or had the experience named 'burn'
touches dry ice. That person would experience much the same things as the
person who touched fire, and that person might beleive that by touching dry ice
he has experienced 'burn'. Someone else hearing this account may reject that
and say this person had not experience 'burn' because he did not touch fire,
but touched dry ice and declare this 'burn' experience invalid or at least
mis-identified.
*** BUDDHA NATURE ***
Experience of Buddha Nature is much the same as this. Your discriminating mind
halts and you do experience something. You do have a reaction. That reaction
varies from person to person.
THIS IS THE END OF THE EXPERIENCE - what follows below is Maya (illusory).
If this was the first time we have ever had this experience we might then
think, 'What was that?', and make a judgement 'That felt good', and categorize
the experience, 'Halting your discriminating mind is very desireable'. We may
want to describe our experience to others, 'good', 'clear', 'free' and
eventually give it a name: 'Mu!', or 'The Oak Tree in the Garden', or slapping
the floor, or just turning around and walking away - or in my case 'Just THIS!'.
On the other hand if we had heard about or read about a description of an
experience that seemed the same as this one, and knew a name for that
experience was 'Buddha Nature', we might just adopt that name and describe our
experience as 'Buddha Nature', and assume it was the same as the 'Buddha
Nature' described by others.
Maybe someone who had never halted their discriminating mind or had the
experience named 'Buddha Nature' has some kind of mystical experience. That
person would experience much the same things as the person who halted their
discriminating mind, and that person might beleive that this mystical
experience was 'Buddha Nature'. Someone else hearing this account may reject
that and say this person had not experienced 'Buddha Nature' because he did not
halt his descriminating mind, but had an illusory mystical experience and
declare this 'Buddha Nature' experience invalid or at least mis-identified.
****
So now I'll answer your question by repeating (and modifying slightly in light
of the explanations above) my answer I posted to a similar question from Siska
several days ago:
The most important reason and the only one that really matters is that I have
experienced halting my discriminating mind while working on the koan Mu. Once
you have experienced halting your discriminating mind you know that there is
only one experience like this and there can be no mistaking it for something
else. I beleive all experiences of halting your discriminating mind are the
same.
Secondary reasons are:
- my experience was formally validated by two teachers (zen masters)of both the
Renzai and Soto Japanese Zen Buddhist schools. They both used various names
for this experience such as 'kensho' or 'satori' or 'Buddha Nature' or 'Buddha
Mind' or 'Big Mind'.
- my experience was informally validated by many other teachers and other zen
practitioners
- my experience corresponds (in my opinion) with both historical and modern-day
written accounts of the same experience
*****
So I really can't say for sure that I experienced the same experience as
Siddharta Buddha, or Joshu, or Koryu Roshi - but I beleive I did. And the
important thing is not whether my experience was the same as theirs but that I
did experience something that has changed my life and that is the foundation of
my continuing practice. I call it 'Buddha Nature'.
...Bill!
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