Bill!,
Whether I agree or not is not important, but I want you to know that I agree
with your middle paragraph about Compassion.
I've always said here that it is not kindness. Kindness is kindness. True
compassion arises in an awakened person. There's no two ways about it, as I
say.
I do not "label" suffering as real, I TAKE it as real. Not just my suffering,
but the suffering of others.
When I take it as real, whether I am currently awake or not, I can perhaps be
of some help anyway.
I say tentatively, too, here, Bill!, that "taking" suffering as real can also
serve as, or BE, the antidote to "Buji Zen". You know, the claim that, "We're
all enlightened already", and "We're all Buddha, already", ....so that there is
no need noted by these claimants for practice. See, if suffering is un-real,
maybe it will just go away by itself! That's Buji-Zen.
I don't say that you are Buji-Zen -ist! I know you are not.
And when I take suffering as real, I am not expressing a Philosophy, for once.
I am wielding a goad, in a Practical way. I am wielding a goad, and helping
people onto the Tokyo subway car overloaded with commuters on the platform in
the morning. And the subway car is "Practice", ...destination, Mu.
--Joe
> "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote:
>
> Joe,
>
> I 'see'; I empathize with you, but I do not agree.
>
> IMO to label something as 'real' that I know through experience is not just
> because it 'feels' real, or just because I 'think' that doing so is the
> compassionate thing is contraindicated in zen practice.
>
> IMO compassion is not kindness, politeness or avoidance of confrontation.
> Compassion is the acting out of the realization we are all one.
>
> Suffering is illusory, and it is imposed by a self on itself. You can
> sympathize with people who suffer and that will bring you much kudos in some
> circles; or you can assure people who suffer that they do not have to suffer
> - and show them the way out of suffering by example. And for me that example
> does not include labeling things 'real' that are illusory.
------------------------------------
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