Mike, Are you referring to me? :-)
Edgar On Mar 27, 2013, at 10:00 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Edgar, > > Yeh! Who needs a pesky teacher to come along and tell you you've got it all > wrong?... > > Mike > > > Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone > > From: Edgar Owen <[email protected]>; > To: <[email protected]>; > Subject: Re: [Zen] Re: questions/practice > Sent: Wed, Mar 27, 2013 5:21:35 PM > > > Shane, > > > Take Joe's comments with a grain of salt. True Zen needs no teacher, no > 'sitting', no temple. These may help especially those who tend to not have > the personality to do things on their own, but they are not essential. After > all Buddha himself had none of these. True Zen has nothing to do with any of > this. It is simply the realization of the true nature of what is always right > around us including ourselves... > > Edgar > > > > On Mar 27, 2013, at 11:58 AM, Joe wrote: > >> >> Shane, >> >> Good to meet you here. >> >> "Who am I" is a famous method of practice. Whether we call it a koan or not >> is not too important. >> >> Koans are usually cases or incidents from the doings of famous Ch'an or Zen >> masters. The student is asked to "bore into" the koan, and be changed by it, >> so as to become it, and to be able to demonstrate the spirit or "content" of >> the koan to the teacher, when asked to do so. >> >> When working on "Who am I", I think one can sit down and just intensely >> desire to know the answer to this, without letting anything else seep in >> around the corners while we inquire. One need not repeat anything in the >> imagination or to the mind's ear. Just inquire intensely, while we relax >> *deeply*. >> >> Another classic way to practice WITH this is instead as a "hua-tou", Chinese >> for "head of a word". By "head" is meant the very beginning, before it >> becomes a word. So, to turn "Who am I" into a hua-tou, one uses just the >> "Who", or, better, the first sound that the word "Who" begins with: "wh", >> which is like "h", but it sounds perhaps like "ha", or a choked-off syllable >> before the word can get said and be recognized as a word. This "wh" can >> fill your whole meditation, if one does not separate oneself from it. If you >> find you are separated, it's EASY to return immediately to "wh". In this >> way, one thought, or one mind-intention, can last for many minutes or longer. >> >> Hua-tou and koan are just a couple ways of practice, though. There are many. >> Usually we stick with just one for some while: months, years, etc., and >> become intimate with it. The methods bring us closer to our original mind. >> Sometimes the original mind SUDDENLY manifests itself as everything else >> drops away. This is the famous "Awakening" of Zen. It is nothing special, >> but what a shake-up it causes! Some say it is just coming back to our true >> home. And I agree. >> >> I hope you have a teacher and sangha to practice with, as well as practice >> at home. A teacher and sangha are essential to learn the methods correctly, >> and there is no alternative to this that really works and is safe. Some >> people mistakenly think that they can teach themselves. That doesn't work. >> >> --Joe >> >> > "shepherdspie1962" <shepherdspie1962@...> wrote: >> > >> > In general 'shepherds pies' are gender neutral, but in this case it is a >> > 'he'...and his name is not stephen...haha...thanks again for the >> > thoughtful replies...I will try to practice more and create concepts >> > less...BTW, someone mentioned koans...the priest of the zen group I went >> > to recently said he repeats the phrase "who am I" as a form of koan/mantra >> > while sitting...hmmm...not sure that really made sense to me as one could >> > probably just repeat an actual mantra...and not sure if "who am I" is >> > really a Koan either...but to each his own...i suppose the answer is >> > always more doing and less thinking...shane >> > >> > > >
