Carl,
The way you express what is I think your understanding of basic Buddhist tenets
makes me think that you have them a little garbled.
(but of course it's not necessary for a Zen practitioner to adopt those tenets
in order to practice and definitely to awaken. Some find them useful, some
don't. So let's leave them aside. The key thing is practice: effective
practice).
Alleviating the suffering of others is not a path to awakening.
Losing -- utterly losing -- the view that there *are* "others" *is* Awakening.
It does not come as an act of will.
One must forget oneself.
It is a re-joining of the family of all life.
Zen practice can set you up, there.
--Joe
> "Carl" <cjjohans@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I don't know that I agree with that view of nature, there are predators and
> there are herbivores, the former inflict suffering and fear the latter do not
> (in fact some plant life even "wants" to be consumed in order to propagate).
> There are the hunting parent and the nurturing parent.
>
> I also don't agree with the view that everyone who is not enlightened is
> suffering. In fact I think there are plenty who are enjoying their lives and
> seek every means to prolong it, who are even morally suspect. There are of
> course also plenty who are suffering materially, but I would not in general
> call them less enlightened.
>
> Since suffering and enlightenment are conceptually unrelated in my view,
> alleviation of the suffering of others is one path but not the only path to
> enlightenment to me.
------------------------------------
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/
