Hi Anthony, Yes, it is.
Siska -----Original Message----- From: Anthony Wu <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:48:56 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Zen] Why Practice Chan? Siska, Nevertheless, it is good and wholesome to be able to express things one way or the other. Anthony --- On Tue, 28/6/11, salik888 <[email protected]> wrote: From: salik888 <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Zen] Why Practice Chan? To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, 28 June, 2011, 5:43 AM Dear Bill Well, I think it is safe to say, there is no way of really conveying such things -- the "suchness" of our own experience defies expression, that is and is not zen. So, we take the one seat -- zendervish --- In [email protected], "billsmart" <BillSmart@...> wrote: > > 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! >
