Joe, You speak the truth about the way I discovered/uncovered Just THIS! But my reference in this thread was to the ESSENCE of zen, not the various routes you can or should try taking to discover/uncover the essence.
As I am sure you know zen literature sometimes refers to what I call 'fluff' as the 'finger pointing to the moon', or 'the boat which takes you to the other shore'. In my experience, and I see it all the time on this Forum, one of the biggest difficulties people have with zen practice is getting mesmerized by the finger or too comfortably settled-in to a perpetual boat cruise. Some people need love. Some need tough-love. You can give them the former and I will give them the latter. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@...> wrote: > > Bill!, > > Ha! I criticize your statement here. > > The fellow gets deep down into the basement, and sees the treasures in the > wine cellar, then says that the stairway that led him down there and bore all > his weight, step by step, safely!, and then removed all his weight, is > "fluff", extraneous, and non-essential. It may not be of the essence you > speak of, but it was essential for YOU! > > Another baby with the bathwater guy, in that view. > > There you have my criticism. > > You know I respect you and your experience and practice. But I don't like to > see you stray, either, and mis-lead, either, nor do I like to see you or > anyone mis-represent the richness and functionality of the panoply of tools > of awakening. > > Folks don't need -- and can't use -- teachings about "THIS!". And you cannot > give any such teachings. > > They'll discover "THIS!" on their own, and must discover it or never actually > encounter it by any mitigated means. What they need is a stairway to the > basement. Take that away from YOURSELF at a certain point, surely, but don't > "dis" it, at least not publicly. Impressionable people may be on board. > > --Joe > > > "Bill!" <BillSmart@> wrote: > > > > Zendervish, > > > > In that statement I made I use 'essence' to mean the core teaching and > > practice of zen. I sometimes call all the rest of it 'fluff', which just > > means extraneous and non-essential. > > > > Buddhism is a good example of very complex 'fluff'. So are all zen > > teaching techniques like zazen, koan study, kinhin, bowing, chanting, samu, > > etc... > > > > Like actual 'fluff', some of these are comforting and even useful to shield > > yourself from the bumps and grinds of reality, but none of it is essential. > > > > The only essential is Just THIS! > ------------------------------------ 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/
