Hi Merle,
What you have expressed here is pure Buddhism. You have described the
"emptiness by nature" of all "forms." They are all true. They are
true suffering as described by Buddha. So why be human again in our
next life. The only way to stop being human again is to cleans all our
karma stored in our subconsciousness.
There is no teacher and no student. We are our own teacher as well as
the only student.
Everything stated in sutra and bible are description of the phenomena
and never the phenomena themselves. Therefore there is no sense to
debate, judge, memorize, agree or disagree with any of the discussion.
Discussion is useful only for satisfying our egotistic mind.
There is only one way out -- stop thinking, breath, elevate our spirit.
Enhance our spiritual awareness and sensitivity.
Instead of doubt this suggestion, or negate, or debate, which are all
mental blockage, all you have to do, is try it. Don't take my word for
it. Just meditate as i suggested for six month. You shall witness
yourself.
For your reference,
JM
On 5/24/2013 1:45 AM, Merle Lester wrote:
hallo JM..
many thanks for this..
my doubts are such that: every human thought is a mental game...
this "knowledge" as in these links is no more or no less but
speculation...
is it true
is it truth?.....
is it the way
it certainly could be a a path
is it the only path
and who will be the teacher
and who will be the student
no matter how much they listen
the human still falls by the wayside
and causes grief and suffering upon others and his or her self
is that not the nature of the beast
born from a single cell
risen from the mud
the original pond
it stumbles to become
becoming an unknown being
becoming nothing
but nothing
as nothing as nothing can be
and nothing we all are and will ever be
merle
Hello Merle,
Reincarnation means our spirit is beginningless and is undying. Each
generation we come to earth with a different body. If you are
interested about this subject, go read these books:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_0_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=many+lives+many+masters&sprefix=many+lifes%2Cstripbooks%2C312
Since human beings on earth lives mostly in suffering, we must stop
reincarnation. In other words, liberate our spirit from these cycles
of birth and death. Buddhist call it Dependent Origination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_origination
It is just because the world is filled with greed, hatred and
delusions, we need to let our spirit soar to save this world. Only
when our spirit soar above these contamination, we then are able to
have wisdom to fulfill the purpose of our lives, that is to liberate
everyone.
When our spirit is covered by our mind and karmic temptations, then
its original quality such as loving kindness, peace, joy are buried.
Clarity is lost. Actions becomes self serving.
JM
On 5/22/2013 8:19 PM, Merle Lester wrote:
jm...
i am keen on chan..
what do you mean by reincarnate?..don't you mean recycle?...
ashes to ashes dust to dust..hence dust to soup then the cycle begins
again...?
this reincarnation "theory" has me bamboozled...
is it not just another mind game?
how can you be free with spirit soaring when there is so much
suffering in the world caused by the greed of others?
merle
Hi Bill,
Thank you for asking.. Below are my comments for your reference.. I
have read this article awhile back..
Chan by definition is One and ALL. Meaning it is the absolute dharma
applicable to ALL things - body, mind and spirit. As well as it can
answer every question written in the sutra and bible. In other
words, with a simplest practice, it can rejuvenate our body, clear
our mind and let our spirit shine by eliminating all karma. And at
the end of it all, our spirit will stop reincarnating. We will be in
heaven.
Most of the Chan teachings by an unenlightened master, stops at the
mind level, because they don't have the spiritual power to help
people to eliminate their karma. This article ends at the mind
level. For most of the people, if one can achieve ego-less, it would
already deserve celebration, because the world will be a better
place. This is what we call "Chan Living", or everyday Chan. Living
by fulfilling each moment. But you still reincarnate.
Most of the Chan teachings does not cover the spiritual practice,
because it deals with lights, chi and abstract phenomena. Yet, once
you experience consistent phenomena with lights and chi, you will
know they are the actual causes of everything. The world is really
run by energy. In other worlds, the spiritual practice is the
practice dictating our body and mind. Fundamental Chan practice is a
spiritual practice. If you recall, seven or eight years ago, when I
first join the forum, I asked, "is there spirituality in Zen?"
BTW, how do we know whether a person is enlightened or not? The
proof is in his dead body. If he dies at his preferred time without
sickness, and there are relics after he was cremated, then he is
enlightened.
My Shifu said, "the parents of all my disciple, even though they do
not practice, they still will have relics when they die." I have
witnessed that every time.
In short, I like to suggest to the forum, instead of using your mind
to judge whether you wanted to try our way of meditation or not, just
try it diligently for six months, then you shall experience. There
is nothing worth any of us to hang on too, or to hold them with our
life. Chan is taught beyond words and through transmission.
Chan is about direct experience of ALL things. Using our mind to
filter or discriminate only narrows our scope resulting in practice
with our mind and not our spirit. Let our spirit soar and be free.
Thank you for the opportunity to share,
jm
On 5/22/2013 1:19 AM, Bill! wrote:
Mike and JMJM,
Mike, Thanks for this link. I pulled up the article will wait to
read it until JMJM says he thinks it's worthwhile doing so. I don't
want to have 3 or 4 versions of Ch'an rolling around in my head. The
mix we get here on the Zen Forum about zen is confusion enough, and
I trust JMJM's insight and knowledge on Ch'an.
JMJM, If you would please read the article cited below and tell me
what you think of it. It's looks pretty thorough. It's by Ch'an
Master Sheng-yen (1977) if that helps you make that determination
without reading it.
Thanks...Bill!
--- In [email protected]
<mailto:Zen_Forum%40yahoogroups.com>, uerusuboyo@... wrote:
>
>
Joe,<br/><br/>http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Modern%20Teachers/Sheng%20Yen/What%20is%20Ch%27an/What%20is%20Ch%27an%20-%20Master%20Sheng-yen.htm<br/><br/>Found
this online and thought you might be interested. It was originally
written as a pamphlet to be handed out, but was then lost. Someone
found one of these old pamphlets and thought it was so good it
should be shared. Even if you've read it before..
Enjoy!<br/><br/>Mike<br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad
>
