Edgar,
You may be right, too. ;-)
To me it's clear that Merle is referring to "soul" as a mood of vivaciousness,
and "swing", and that's why she brings in Jazz music, and says she's "got"
soul. Maybe akin to James Brown, who sings a line, "I've got SOUL, and I'm
super-bad!". Good track, that "I've Got Soul".
I think James Brown defined soul as his church did, but also as a spirit that
enabled African-derived slaves to persist and survive under their oppression,
and then the freed-slaves' descendents afterward during Jim Crow years,
American "apartheid".
But key in our discussion is not a rightness or wrongness of any speaker -- nor
the decisions of any Umpire. Nor are we jostling for such a title -- key is
whether "a" soul is important to a beginning practitioner. Should the issue of
a soul (and I say "a" soul because one's otherwise having spirit, or swing, is
immaterial to the discussion, though having it serves to animate Practice, and
Human relations), be a deciding factor in whether one sits with others?
I say, "no", because I have not found it to be an issue. Neither for myself,
nor for any other Zen practitioner, even while they still profess to practice
the Abrahamic religion of their family.
But it's an emotional issue, and a dicey one for someone who feels that they
want a roadmap in advance of what they may discover later. That's a formula
for self-defeat, even of one's feet. And it's a self-blinding. Better to off
blind-folded, as long as one goes. Blind people have climbed Mount Everest.
The view along the trail and the vantage from any local bump on the landscape
is personal, and can't even be imagined. A blind person can still smell the
wind and taste the snow, feel the sun, and hear the silence.
If you discover there's no "you", and no "soul", as Buddha did, you don't even
need to accept it, and you are not disappointed. Instead, you are simply
awake. If you discover a soul, instead, then I'll just ask, as others have
been doing here, too, that "you" please show it to me! In whatever way you
can. But don't refer me to an article by people dozing at Wikipedia.
Well, we need not discuss this ("soul"-thing) here. A survey book on
comparative religion will answer all Merle's questions about the background and
history and beliefs of religion, in case she wants to visit teachers and be not
entirely "cold" about the traditions. I suggest the book by Prof. Huston Smith.
But to practice Zen, it's not necessary to follow a religious approach, nor to
have beliefs, nor dis-beliefs. Practice will clarify things. But, that is a
faith that not everyone can muster, at least not on "command". If one musters
it, and undertakes to practice, one can drop the faith, and just practice.
"Begin, and continue", as I say.
The Zen way is marked by "experience". I'll say nothing about experience. For
experience, one must practice. Merle thinks she knows this already, and says
she "knows" she has "soul" (note: she does NOT say she has *A* soul, but
"soul"). If she has A soul, and means to tell us she has a soul, and knows she
has a soul, I say, asking in sincerity, "Pls. show it to us". No Wiki articles!
But don't let any of this be a stumbling block to practice.
On the other hand, some people only enter practice after a lot of nagging
doubt, and then they do well and take to it, and do well some more.
--Joe
-> Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote:
>
> Merle and Joe,
>
> Like most such discussions this one hinges on how 'soul' is defined by each
> of you. Without clarifying that it's a useless discussion....
>
> I suspect Joe defines it as Catholics do as something that resides in the
> body during life but persists after death going either to heaven or hell. If
> so Joe is right. That kind of soul obviously doesn't exist.
>
> Hopefully Merle on the other hand is defining it as a spiritual aspect of her
> present being sort of like another name for Zen mind. If so Merle is right.
> That type of 'soul' does exist though I wouldn't use that word for it nor do
> Buddhists in general.
>
> So there is a chance you are BOTH RIGHT.
>
> Well guys?
>
> Edgar
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