Buddhism is a religion. Zen Buddhism is a religion - all the Buddhist parts are the religious parts.
There is a core of just 'zen' (as I call it) that has nothing to do with any religion - or more accurately I should say has EVERYTHING to do with most religions I know of, but it not dependent upon any of them. And since I have been criticized many times for sounding too 'authoritative' I feel I must from time to time add that this post and ALL my posts are 'IMO' only... ...Bill! --- In [email protected], William Rintala <brintala@...> wrote: > > Zen or Zen Buddhism is not a religion. >  Bill > > > > > Find what makes your heart singâ¦and do it! > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Bill! <BillSmart@...> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Fri, July 27, 2012 9:46:21 PM > Subject: [Zen] Re: Chan and zen > >  > Kris, > > I'll step out a little further on the limb... > > I think in the very distant past what we now call 'awareness of Buddha > Nature' > was the norm. As human intellect developed and we as a species became more > and > more dependent and attached to our rational abilities the awareness of Buddha > Nature was more and more obscured over time. What Siddhartha Buddha did (as > the > story goes) was to wipe away this obscuration revealing (re-revealing really) > Buddha Nature which was there all the time. > > Buddhism is a religion built upon the foundation of the records of Buddha's > subsequent teachings, none of which were written by him but all by his > students' > accounts and their successors most of whom never even met Siddhartha Buddha. > It's aim is to make you aware of Buddha's teachings and help you live your > life > as those teachings instruct. > > Zen Buddhism is a religion built on the foundation of Buddhism whose aim is > employ teaching techniques to enable you to experience the very same thing > Buddha experienced - Buddha Nature - so you can live your life as Buddha's > teachings instruct. > > The zen I practice (lower case 'z') is experiencing Buddha Nature not caring > if > it was the same thing that Buddha experienced or not, living your life not > according to Buddha's teachings but according to your own volition which > springs > from Buddha Nature. > > Okay, start sawing off my limb...Bill! > > --- In [email protected], Kristopher Grey <kris@> wrote: > > > > On 7/27/2012 6:23 AM, Bill! wrote: > > > Buddha Nature existed before Buddha and Buddhism. What else do you > > > think? Do you think Buddha (Siddhartha) INVENTED Buddha Nature? Or did > > > he just 'discover' it? And if you think he discovered it do you think > > > he was the first one to discover it? I don't. > > > > While true in a rationalize sense, these are false choices, false > > characterizations. "I do"/"I don't" are self-assumptions/self-denials of > > some concept of 'Buddha Nature' the self has (see: 'Stink of Zen'). > > > > Mornings dawned before you were born. You neither invented nor > > discovered morning. Neither form of > > self-acting/self-crediting/self-knowledge is required for the day to > > dawn. Each morning, you simply realize it is morning, and wake up! > > > > KG > > > ------------------------------------ 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/
