--- mackkup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Waiting for the higher authority to help us is not
> in
> > accordance with the Buddha's teaching. He had
> actively
> > and explicitly discouraged such an attitude as
> being
> > counter-productive to spiritual practice.
>
> i never said to wait for help. while helping
> yourself a higher
> authority will help if you honestly ask for it. Mack
But why can't you realize that the Buddha taught that
there is no higher authority? You yourself are the
higher authority, is what the Buddha was saying all
along.
That being the case, I really don't understand what do
you mean by saying "while helping yourself a higher
authority will help if you honestly ask for it"? Who
is that higher authority? If you say it is some Zen
Master, haven't you heard that Zen Masters denounce
themselves as "selling water by the river"? Only
foolish people will pay for the water that they
themselves can drink straight from the river.
> im sorry but i didnt understand what the hell you
> were getting at
> here. you cannot distort truth. truth is truth. if
> you are aware of
> your surroundings(which you should be) than you
> would know what
> misery is taking place. im not saying its up to you
> to change it
> cause you cannot, you can only change yourself. All
> the strife thats
> going on in the world is not an example of people
> that are happy.
There are two truths. The Buddha said that all objects
can be seen in two lights: in the correct, unimpeded
light, and in a dimmed, distorted and distorting
light. The correct light is what is seen by the
unimpaired wisdom of the ones who have left their
intellectual conceptualizations behind.
Now, the worldly consensus perceives things in a
certain way, and this consensus calls that perception
'the truth'. And the Buddha said: "People may argue
with me, but I don't argue with them." Which means
that the Buddha never disputed the validity of the
consensual truth.
However, what the Buddha taught is that there is also
another truth, and that truth is what is seen by the
immaculate mind. And that truth does not necessarily
coincide with the consensual truth (i.e. the truth
that most people with healthy senses agree upon).
So, everyday consensus clearly perceives that there is
suffering, there is misery, there are people torturing
other people, mutilating them, being cruel to them. No
one disputes that (at the everyday consensus level).
However, at the prajna level, the Buddha disputed
that. The Buddha said that, while the perception of
someone being tortured undoubtedly arises before us,
in truth nothing arises. All phenomena are unborn,
peaceful, completely incapable of any suffering, any
pain.
We, as Buddhist practitioners, are obliged to
ourselves to penetrate this secret. We must get to the
point where we are able to perceive what the Buddha
had perceived. Anything short of that is not really
going to cut it, I'm afraid.
Alex
=====
No karma was produced during the composition of this letter
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
All your favorites on one personal page � Try My Yahoo!
http://my.yahoo.com
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?
Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/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/
