Joe, It could be as you say but for ME it was the combination of the disillusionment of other religions (particularly Christianity which looked so promising but delivered so little) and the suggestion that zen, even though presented to me via Zen Buddhism, was a-religious at it's core.
I'm sure I was influenced by the introduction to zen I got from my first teacher - Koryu Roshi. Like his father before him he was a lay Rinzai master and shunned the traditional Buddhist clergy and most of the other Buddhist trappings believing them to be corrupted. I'm sure his approach if nothing else reinforced my perspective that I had already developed from my previous experiences with religions. Anyway, it all worked out. Here I am. But as you say, it's probably better to latch on to a finger pointing to the moon then go wandering around with no direction at all...Bill! --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@...> wrote: > > Bill, > > Those religions are as secular as you please. The religious wrappers are the > advertizing for the medicine. As a mature practitioner, you can see this, or > have seen it for a long time. What we must not do is spoil it for others by > lessening the appeal of the sales pitch. No one can start out where you are. > If they try, they will die unsatisfied. > > --Joe > > > "Bill!" <BillSmart@> wrote: > > > > Buddhism is a religion. > > > > Zen Buddhism is a religion - all the Buddhist parts are the religious parts. > ------------------------------------ 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/
