Mike, In my opinion zen will not actually enhance your life - as in make it better, but would enable you to better appreciate the life you have without the idea that it needs to change.
All the attributes you listed, compassion, kindness, harmony, etc..., are not something that are goals in zen practice. There are no goals in zen practice. These attributes are descriptions that other people might use to describe the actions of zen practicioners, but zen practicioners are not striving to be compassionate, they are just acting - they are just being. To follow up on my previous post distinguishing zen from Buddhism, I further beleive that zen in fact is the basis of all relgions. For example I believe Jesus' term 'Kingdom of Heaven' is equivalent to the Buddhist term 'Buddha Mind' and the zen term 'Original Mind'; and the Christian teaching of 'Give yourself to God' is equivalent to the Taoist teaching of 'Follow the Tao'. In my opinion they all these religions are talking about the same thing, the same experience that was common to their founder. But in an attempt to explain the unexplainable have layerd over the experience with cultural, philosopical, religious, etc... concepts. In most cases these layers are all that we now can see and they completely occlude the original experience - Original Mind. Zen practice encourages you to have this experience for yourself. After you are able to do that these superflous layers melt away and there is no confusion whatsoever about the 'Kingdom of Heaven' or 'Mu'. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], Mike L <dragoon6779@...> wrote: > > I am not sure, except that that possibility is there; hence the expressed > interest to learn more. At this point, my questions on Tricycle reflect > reflect > that. Obviously, there are great divergent paths, and one apparent big > difference was expressed to me that Zen may or may not be Buddhist, that > itself > is a critical distinction worthy of further thought. In my years of service > as > a minister, along with my studies leading to degrees in theology, philosophy, > and sociology, I have figured out a few truths, as I know them, that I think > are > important. I have continue to grown and learn and have come to be suspect of > absolute truth claims, theological arrogance, and acculturated artifacts that > manifest as part of a true spiritual path and awareness. Also, and critical, > is > that faith ought to lead a person to being more of a humanist, to be more > compassionate, to be more kind, and to live in harmony, as possible with > others, > to include others who think differently. Faith systems can easily become > acculturated, institutionalized, and formalized, and in doing so, I think > lose > an essential spiritual focus. Zen might be a vehicle that allows and > encourages > that (an real spiritual focus), much of religion does not. Hence, the > question > of deism. A system that proclaims there is no God makes the same mistake of > one > that says there is, and this is how God is. Much more logical is a system > that > either says, "we are not sure" or "we don't take a formal stance, and you are > free believe there is or is not." I know there are Christians who say they > follow Buddhism, and at this time, I do not know how they logically do it, > unless they are essentially deist or if they just pick and choose what to > believe. All these are fine for those who choose to do so. I have come to > find > deism a logical option as opposed to agnosticism (which I think is the > strongest > logical position); however, I do not know of any sort of communal fellowship > of > deists or agnostics, aside from the internet. I suspect if there were a deist > fellowship, I would be drawn there. I might even enjoy a stoic fellowship, > but I > do not know of any. However, I have had some connection with Zen (friends > here > and there), both in my 10 years in martial arts, and my natural affinity with > what I read in the Taoist works (if one accepts what someone on Tricycle told > me, that Zen Buddhism is Buddhism infused with Taoism). Regards. > > > > > > ________________________________ > From: ED <seacrofter001@...> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Fri, July 8, 2011 9:15:24 AM > Subject: [Zen] Re: Zen and Deism? > > > > Hi dragoon6779, > Would you care to tell us in what ways you believe Zen might enhance your > life? > --ED > > --- In [email protected], Mike L <dragoon6779@> wrote: > Thank you for your response. Actually, yes. Zen might enhance my life. > > > > > > Hi, > > Why are you interested in Zen? Do you think that Zen might enhance your > life in some way? > > --ED > > > > > --- 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 > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! 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