Mike,
The teachings are the teaching. Our natural true state is our natural true
state.
One is medicine; the other is the healthy patient.
(hmm -- I recall a part of a koan: "...Medicine and sickness cure each other".)
I agree with you about the perceived or accepted suitability of a school of
practice by an individual, a culture, or the inhabitants of a natural or
political region. Gravity is natural, and people gravitate, too, to what's
attractive.
And I am grateful that there are varieties of practice with emphases on
different "weirds", and people's engendered or inculcated temperaments.
Grateful? Yes, because, then, almost everyone can find a shoe that fits. Or
climb a tree that grew in their own backyard. And find a friendly place where
their language is spoken.
Too, our leanings and "home" may also be a matter of which school a person
encounters FIRST, and is trained in and trained by. In my life, I encountered
Ch'an and Zen, first, as my adopted tradition. Ever since, I take only that
specific medicine. Who knows about "drug-interactions" and the safety of
"mixing": I don't! So I don't try it. And I know that my school is complete
in itself, because I have seen it work, and seen its results. Thus, I don't
stray ...except to be friendly. I don't adopt other ways, because I have not
made them mine. But I don't mind mingling, or visiting.
In my life, too, I have always honored and respected "bridge-people", and have
even loved one or two of them. These are people with one foot on the bus and
one foot on a train. They know both modes. And they can bring people
together. For example, someone says to my ex-sweetie, "Diana, I went to a Zen
center, and all they did was SIT!"
And Diana says, "Yes? Did you settle-in?" And her friend says, "I was bored!:
I wanted to hear about Buddhist teachings, at least a LITTLE!", and Diana says,
"Oh, well TRY this other center where my Vipassana teachers teach. Here's the
phone number."
Like that. A BRIDGE. Not that her practice is particularly deep or thorough
in either Vip. or Zen. In fact, she's more of a Tibetan enthusiast. With a
heart like hers, though, it seems from the outside like she'd hardly have to
practice, or at all. But I cannot make that determination for her. In fact,
she *does* practice. And has commendations from the Dalai Lama for re-settling
many Lamas in safe countries. A bridge in more ways than two or three.
Well, Easter Monday, and Spring in the desert. One of our FIVE seasons here.
--Joe
> uerusuboyo@... wrote:
>
> Bill!,<br/><br/>I think Zen and awakening to Buddha Nature transcend the
> Buddhist teachings. But by the same token that's exactly what the Buddhist
> teachings themselves point to! I don't think it's a question of mixing the
> two traditions (Joe's concern), but either approach appeals to different
> kinds of people/cultures/temperaments etc.
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