ED, Interesting article and uncannily close to where I'm coming from since I started a more vipassana focused practice. There were many good points, but I think this one below says a lot to those more sectarian in their practice. "The most important point at the experiential level is that Advaita and Mahayana schools like Zen and Tibetan Dzogchen are direct approaches to truth; that is, they point directly to the core realization that reality, though apparently composed of innumerable elements and phenomena, is actually one and indivisible, and that this one, indivisible reality—whether it’s labeled emptiness, Brahman, or the nature of Mind—is who you and I are essentially. In the words of the Upanishads, “You are That.” Awakening to this truth is the liberating spiritual moment in these traditions, a moment that transforms the seeker’s life irrevocably." Mike
________________________________ From: ED <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, 10 July 2012, 14:50 Subject: Re: [Zen] Nisargadatta Maharaj at odds with Zen? Mike - Yes. I found: http://www.cuke.com/excerpts-articles/zen%20advaita%20bodian.html to be a fascinating account of some seekers' experiences in Zen/Advaita/Buddhism. --ED --- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote: > ED, It's always problematic to take one quote as the definitive teaching of any spiritual master and this quote is a good example. Much of Nisargadatta's teachings are to work on nothing but the words 'I am'. From this arises an awareness of awareness itself as our ground of being (and therefore making meditation ultimately non-essential). This is pretty close to the central teaching of Dzogchen in the Tibetan Buddhist path. Although not strictly Zen, does it matter? I think it was Jack Kornfield who said that the Buddha left us the jewel of upaya (skillful means) which means that there is a great mandala of Buddhist teachings for different kinds of people and cultures. It's a good thing that people from different schools of Buddism are keeping those great ways to Awakening alive. The mistake is when people say, "Only this way leads to Truth". I know Nisargadatta is not from a Buddhist school, but I think focusing on his differences is as much as a mistake as it is to, say, concentrate on the differences between vipassana and Zen. It's baby and the bathwater thang.. Mike ________________________________ "We know the outer world of sensations and actions, but of our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little. The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness." - Nisargadatta Maharaj The above statement appears to be at odds with Zen. Is it? --ED
