Blujean Zen training seeks to wake us up, to get us to find our own answers, rather than someone else's second hand answers, not just to the big questions but also to all our questions, because the big and little questions often aren't as far apart as we think. As long as we are looking to someone else to provide answers, even 'little' ones, we're encouraging the habit of giving authority to others and at the same time, exacerbating a sort of mentality of poverty, that undermines our own value as agents of the Dharma, if that's not too clumsy a way of putting it. So the reaction of people here may well be partly based on that. In essence then, it means that we're surprised you haven't, for example, checked in Google for a listing of local groups, centers or whatnot in your particular area, before joining here and asking. Now of course, to you this may seem like making a mountain out of a molehill, and you can easily enough dismiss the responses you got here as being out of proportion and anal. But in Zen and Buddhism generally, so called small details are important - how you place your shoes, how you pick up a cup, whether you ask a question because you genuinely cannot find the answer to it and someone else can genuinely help, or because you are simply not being imaginative enough, or for that matter are simply too lazy to look for yourself before asking. If you bear this in mind, whether or not you remain in the group, you may find that it changes your approach to some things that you might previously have taken for granted.
Genryu ----- Original Message ----- From: Montoya To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 11:01 PM Subject: Re: [Zen] looking for shanga ---A SIMPLE QUESTION REQUIRES A SIMPLE ANSWER, NO BACKLASH. I HAVE PUT EFFORT BUT NON SHANGA'S ARE LISTED IN PHONE BOOK OR LOCAL PAPERS. I THOUGHT THAT SOMEONE MIGHT HELP. BUT I GUESS NOT. ALL I GOT WAS LIP. FOR THIS I DONT NEED TO BE IN THIS GROUP. THANKS FOR NOTHING METTA bluejean_buddha [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UwRTUD/UOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
