Kristopher, IMO religions are cultural expressions of some perceived 'Truth'.
When they move from culture to culture the expression of the fundamental 'Truth' changes to better fit the culture. So even in Zen Buddhism we have Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Western and Chinese (Chan). All the cultural artifacts are what I refer to when I talk about 'religious add-ons'. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], Kristopher Grey <kris@...> wrote: > > On 2/1/2012 11:31 PM, Bill! wrote: > > > > Kristopher, > > > > Thanks for your thoughtful reply. > > > > Likewise. > > Just to revist for a second, as there was one other thing that caught my > eye when you wrote: "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. > > It's this "'Buddhist' overlay" you speak of. I know what you are > referring to, but I also find it funny in a more literal/historical > sense. It's not hard to see that Chinese Ch'an is largely a Taoist > overlay on Bodhidharma's very direct Ekayana Buddhism, with Ch'an > brought to Japanese as Zen and given some Shinto flavor. > > We all need water. Some may prefer it as tea, and some of those may > ceremonialize the preparation. Much to enjoy. > > K > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
