Thank you. That certainly clarifies things. I think I like the idea of zen vs Zen, I think bells and whistles just reflect the human element of tradition and culture. Thanks again.
________________________________ From: Bill! <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Fri, July 8, 2011 3:31:13 AM Subject: [Zen] Re: Zen and Deism? Dragoon6779, Welcome to the Yahoo! Zen Forum! You ask interesting and I think important questions, but if others respond to your post I think you'll find there are differing opinions on this. Following is my opinion: First of all you speak of 'Zen' and 'Buddhism' as if they were the same thing. In my opinion they are not. I practice zen but do not claim to be Buddhist. I do not believe, as most do, that zen is a dependent sub-set (or sect) of Buddhism. So with that preamble I will answer your questions, asked directly and implied: 'zen' (lower case 'z') is not a subset of any religion (like Buddhism) nor is it a religion itself. 'zen' is neither non-theistic or theistic. 'zen' is a-theistic. Theism is just another dualistic concept created by your discriminating mind (intellect) and is therefor illusory. The same can be said of the dualism diesm/non-diesm. 'Zen' (upper case 'Z') is a shortened form of 'Zen Buddhism'. I beleive Zen Buddhsim to be a Buddhist expression of zen - not a subset of Buddhsim. It's zen with all the Buddhist bells and whistles stuck all over it. I will defer to those who claim to be Buddhsit as to whether Zen (Buddhsim) or Buddhism proper is theist or diest or not. I can tell you that I live in Thailand where about 95% or the people claim to be Buddhsit (Theravada), and they certainly practice Buddhism as if it were theist. I can also tell you that most Westerners will claim Buddhsim is not theist and more of a philosophy - in spite of what the vast majority of Buddhist throughout the world practice. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "dragoon6779" <dragoon6779@...> wrote: > > Hi, > > I am interested in Zen. I have read that Buddhism is non-theistic, and I have >been told that actually it is not that Buddhism is non-theistic, rather >Buddhism >(originally in a pragmatic approach) does not take a theistic or non-theistic >stance. I know there are many who consider themselves both Christian and Zen, >but given the 4 Noble Truths, and the 4 Seals, I am not sure how it is >reconciled, furthermore, Deism is not the same as theism of course, so I >wonder >if the apparent problems are reduced if not gone by holding to deism. I have >searched high and low online and cannot find much. thank you >
