A very good classical description, Bill. I have no issues with
definitions of Japanese terms - they're as good as any. If I had a path
more similar to yours I might say many of those things.
On 2/1/2012 9:57 PM, Bill! wrote:
Kristopher,
I'll only address the part of your post that you pose a question, even
if it might have been only rhetorical:
On zazen:
For me the only zazen is shikantaza ('just sit' in Japanese or is
sometimes called 'clear mind' or 'empty mind'). All other forms of
meditation involving koans, visualizations, reflection, watcher
watching, silent mantras, etc..., are either tools to bring you to
shikantaza, or some other form of mediation - but not zazen.
Yet, you describe taking action to halt/stop/clear/empty/still the mind,
which would not be "just sitting".
I only note an apparent and amusing (to me anyway) aspect.
To prefer a practice to another is not a hindrance. To attach to one is.
If the practice is of any use it should reveal at least this this rather
quickly. Such practices also have many practical benefits, which is
likely the main reason they are recommended (as awaken or not, at least
you get some focus, or relaxation, or sense of community, or....).
This 'halting' is IMO the purpose of all Zen Buddhist teaching
techniques including koan study, kinhin, chanting, bowing, samu
(chores)and following-the-breath. The 'halting' allows you to glimpse
Buddha Nature which has been present but in the background all along,
and is temporary and of short duration.
Yet it cannot be, it can only appear so. I simply point out the obvious.
An interruption, is not really stopping or changing anything. You trip
over your false-self, and find it's not there.
The first instance it called 'kensho' in Japanese and can be
translated as 'initial ireakthrough. From that point on the practice
is to extend and deepen the periods of awareness of Buddha Nature then
does not require the 'halting' of all thought, but only the
non-attachment to thought.
Along with this (going along with this progressive story) it should
become increasingly clear that no doing is required. The doing was
generating the illusion that is now unable to maintain itself. You don't
end it, it ends this aspect of you that perceives lack.
Again, I am not offering a contrary view, I only point to a
complimentary/interdependent aspect. Buddha Mind moving in all 10
directions.
The way I usually describe it is before the initial breakthrough the
self's attachment to thoughts make them completely opaque concealing
or at least obscuring Buddha Nature. After the initial breakthrough
the practice is to continue to dilute attachments making thoughts more
and more transparent and no longer completely obscuring Buddha Nature.
This takes me back to what you said above, that it's "in the
background". I am noting this is the illusion, that it can only appear
so (apart/hidden). What obscures Buddha Nature, is also Buddha Nature,
thus "hidden in plain sight". "Revealed" to be as it has always been.
When this is obvious, "just sitting" is Buddha Nature (something many
argue against - still clinging to separation of ordinary from Buddha -
not realizing dog shit and all else arising in mind is also Buddha Nature).
I suppose all I'm saying is these are stories told in hindsight. Their
use thus limited. If someone takes another's path, they lengthen their
own. If we are trained in a certain tradition/practice, we are very
likely to use that systems words. This is not right/wrong, it's just
human. If one sits staring at a wall for 30 years and suddenly has an
experience of Satori, it would be very odd for him to say the practice
had no effect, yet if the realization is there it's equally odd to say
it did. Surely the wall that became more than a wall is seen again to be
the wall. It takes no effort for a wall to become a wall. This should
bring great laughter and tears.
Japanese Zen Buddhist do use several terms to describe varying degrees
of awakening: 'kensho', 'satori' and 'great satori' but I don't find
them very helpful. There more of the 'Buddhist' overlay of zen that I
do talk about once in a while. They are not important distinctions to me.
Well, unimportant yes. Still, as limiting as words are - I like the the
word Kensho for "glimpses" and so called peak experiences, and Satori
for a realization that "sticks" because it's clear that it's all glimpses.
The whole gradual/sudden thing is empty to me. Both, descriptions of
apparent aspects. Someone awakening suddenly without any practice, will
in hindsight see a path was indeed there (or create the story of one in
this of "past" lifetimes depending on culture and such). Someone who
perceives a gradual path, will have a sudden shift even if it is not
dramatic, and see their path differently. Each will tell very different
stories.
Each a unique expression - but such tales can be captivating for
seekers - attaching to others words and actions. This I suspect, is why
it can take decades. To busy doing things to realize being to realize
that doing is an aspect of being.
It's getting late, I should stick to one liners. The more I say, the
more to muddle.
K
