Merle,
I'm not old enough to know the answer! ;-)
But the compassion shown by generous teachers should not be slighted, I think.
It helps us to learn from someone who has already accomplished what we want to
learn.
True of Music, Painting, Archery, Woodworking, and meditation. There is a
technology of awakening, and it is ancient.
In the millennia past, small communities probably didn't need some of the
artifices that we need, because their bodies were in a more natural condition.
We can go back to the original, as you say, but maybe not directly.
We can UN-COVER the original by using a method, an artifice. Like zazen. Or
modified breathing at some point in zazen. Parents would have taught their
kids these things, say 50,000 years ago. They had just the Oral tradition.
Teachers teach us now, and sometimes they speak to us, sometimes they write.
Picasso wrote that, "Art is a lie that reveals the Truth".
Methods are like that, too.
Not everybody takes to sitting meditation. The ex-Anglican-minister, Alan
Watts, writer on religion and Zen, never sat, only walked.
Merle, since you have no teacher around, books can carry their teachings to
you. Let Doctor Joe prescribe for you: For YOU, some practical books that
could be extremely valuable are:
Kapleau, THE THREE PILLARS OF ZEN;
Sekida, ZEN TRAINING.
These are books to live with for years. Anyway, our practice keeps changing,
and the books offer what we need at the time, just like a teacher does. You'll
be well looked-after.
Best wishes!,
--Joe
> Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote:
>
> .i ask a question..before books...was there zen bamboo breathing?
[snip]
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