why mike ... we are all but buddhas and demons..which one are you?..merle
Merle,
Whilst it is true that Siddhartha Gautama out-grew his teachers to become The
Buddha, and it's true that anyone can become a Buddha ('Buddha' simply means
'one who has awoken'). But having said that... a Siddhartha Gautama, Edgar
ain't!
Mike
________________________________
From: Merle Lester <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, 26 October 2012, 21:44
Subject: [Zen] the teacher
joe..again i ask who was buddha's teacher?..merle
Merle,
It's one's practice of a koan that enables it to open and reveal what it treats
of. That revelation comes from your nature, not the koan's. And it's you who
opens, not the koan. The koan can do nothing without your practice.
The marrow of Zen is not conveyed by reading. The text is simply medicine.
With the restoration of your own health comes awakening, not before.
There is no understanding of Zen, in fact.
In Zen, we speak of one's "understanding", and what is meant is one's
realization, one's awakening.
"Understanding" in Zen is not an intellectual appreciation that one holds, nor
a poetic metaphor that one holds.
Expressions of Zen, or expressions of one's realization do not always come
through words. There are other ways: painting, martial arts, cooking, archery,
poetry, gardening, arranging flowers, making tea, drinking tea, washing,
cleaning, brushing the teeth, driving a car, etc.
Koan practice is a medical treatment of oneself carried out by oneself in
consultation with a Specialist, a Zen teacher. Otherwise,
without the specialist at hand, it is Quackery.
--Joe
> Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote:
>
> joe..my understanding of zen was it reached to the bone of the matter...merle
