ED,
Well, for a start, insight is evolutionary and is a many-faceted understanding
into the nature of our experience . What I discovered yesterday is built on
today. I guess the main insights I have discovered since I started Vipassana
are that it is not in the nature of consciousness to suffer. We can't avoid
pain (physical/emotional), but it's the resistance to pain which causes
suffering along with the building of the self ("Why am 'I' suffering?"). The
practice of equanimity gives us freedom from suffering and also helps breakdown
the sense of an 'I' that experiences this suffering. This insight facilitates a
sense of liberation and freedom that puts the capital 'H' in Happiness. Again,
it goes back to the original teaching of Buddha when he said that he teaches
one thing and one thing only - Suffering and the end of suffering.
Mike
________________________________
From: ED <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, 31 July 2012, 16:16
Subject: [Zen] Re: Chan and zen
Mike,
What is the insight gained into? Are there similar or different insights
gained with shikantaza?
--ED
--- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
Joe,
Thank you your kind words. I've found it a really worthwhile endeavour to go
back to the roots of Buddhism and as a result my Vipassana practice has
profoundly deepened my Zen practice. It gives me great joy to read that such an
established practioner of Zen appreciates the value of samadhi and the jhana
factors. I find my own nimitta samadhi sign (the "little soybean") is a golden
thread when my breathing becomes subtle (Subtle to the point of the breath
ceasing - or at least perceived to have ceased). This takes me into the first
two jhanas, which enables me to sit for at least an hour in undistracted
comfort (I soon learnt that the bliss in the first jhana can become a
distraction until the bliss is let go of), then I am able to penetrate the
arising and passing of phenomena at an almost sub-atomic level. Again, it's the
insight gained- and not the jhanic state itself (Same with samadhi) - that
leads to liberation. I just wish I could convince my more
orthodox Zen friends of what the Buddha taught.
With Metta,
Mike
Mike,
Wow, wonderfully said. Good to hear such sense talked here.
Thank you, it is kind of you and very comforting to me that you speak so
sensibly and openly and descriptively about this. Not everyone can or is
willing to do so. So, it's a special pleasure, and I feel we are sangha
brothers.
I think, too, that samadhi practice after awakening is what allows the open and
empty state of awakening to persist. It becomes not a quick-shot when we can --
and do -- support it, naturally.
"Dharma-Joy" sometimes so overwhelms a person after entering, that they feel
they can drop practice, or they feel that all their day is consumed by -- or
must be dedicated to -- helping others. Whereas... in fact... we find that we
ourselves need continuous practice, maybe of a different pitch or tuning now,
but continuous.
Else, our heart closes.
I think in 10 or 15 seconds, samadhi can come on. I
used to find this in New York City, even sitting on a park bench amidst
traffic and joggers along the park on Riverside Drive, near Columbia.
Everything would go golden yellow, and the soybean on the forehead would make
itself felt, even during these casual sits. There was a stillness even in the
movement going on all around. Absolute stillness, in motion.
Fortunately I had a strong physical practice diet of running, hatha yoga,
Zazen, and Buddhist Yoga (as taught by my shihfu, Sheng Yen, along with his
famous self-massage), as well as a rather light vegetarian diet in those
earliest days, and no nerve-wracking stimulants like coffee or black tea. Two
or three long Ch'an retreats per year, and a few weekend sits in addition.
The physical practices and diet help one's relaxation enormously, and the BODY
really begins to "like" meditation. ;-)
Samadhi is the natural result. Sitting zazen half-lotus for hours this way is
so easy, and
necessary (natural). We learn what Dogen meant, too, in his saying that this
zazen of ours is the true EXPRESSION of our original nature.
I agree that the "just this!" phrase can seem overemphasized, to a hearer. But
the zen sect exists to offer the methods of practice for one to adopt, in order
to experience "just this!" in the strongest and most unrelenting form...
namely, our original form. It's the METHODS that need the emphasis, via
teachers and sanghas, and by us. The utterances of the successful can encourage
us, but ultimately our progress toward becoming full what we are needs more
than a mental reminder about "just this".
Without practice, the "this!" of the "just this" is simply the perpetual motion
of the mind. Anyone thinking that that's the state in which to appreciate our
original nature has got another thing (or 10,000 of them) coming.
It would be the sad loss of a life to be stuck there.
Lately, there's lots
of talk about gold medals and ceremonies on the podium, and that's a kind of
"just this" that the successful Athletes can point to: but, consider the
practice and training that made that appreciation and accomplishment possible!
That's where it's at. And all the while, practice is a "just this", too, but a
"just this" that gets you closer and closer to where you really are. You know
that I don't mean this to sound enigmatic! ;-)
Strong practice,
--Joe
> mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
> Joe,
>
>
> I think that the ability to enter samadhi strengthens any insight gained from
> kensho/satori. Without it, awakening is fleeting because any insight is much
> weaker.
>
> Samadhi allows us to experience the mind in its pure state for significant
> periods of time, rather than just mind-moments. This can then give us a
> better idea of 'where to be' when outside events threaten to over whelm us. I
> notice in western Zen that the older, more Buddha-inspired, teachings are
> looked down on as unnecessary/superflous and the 'Just This!' view is
> over-emphasized.
[snip]
