--- In [email protected], kyukyo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > If Standing By While Other Beings Needlessly Suffer > Because They Are Not Ready To Leave Is Not Hell I Do > Not Know What Is....
I'd be grateful if you could give me a comment about putting down a bloody goose... i've been a few times to see a Soto teacher who lives some distance north of me - not because i was looking for a teacher so much as the circumstances arose. a woman in my town opened a zendo in her home & i sat at there for a number of years & was (am) very grateful that she created that opportunity for me to actually 'practice' instead of just read about zen. i learned alot from her & felt indebted to her generosity & at the same time grew to feel that her home was not a helpful place for me to be any longer (i currently sit with another group using Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching). over the time with her, i met her teacher, both at local zazenkai's & a couple of times up at the teacher's monastery. i don't know that i believe in 'enlightenment' - it just seems that given all the pain in the world, that the buddhist practice seemed to offer a good model for how to live (in some sense studying buddhism isn't much different than studying non-violent methodologies, except that there are many more accomplished 'teachers' in the buddhist path). as accidental as i've made this all out to be - i guess what i'm really stuck on is that i _would_ like to ask her (or someone) to help me with this path. however, i'm embarrassed to be honest about it. while she is a compassionate woman who has had extensive training - i can't seem to get past this sense that this entire practice may be nothing more than just 'pipe-dream'. i'm not grasping Dogen's answer to "if our inherent nature is so compassionate, why are we such mean sob's?" & are all the 'rigors' of the Soto training nothing more than enforcing a delusion of something that isn't really there - like the 'king with no clothes'. this seems much too rude to actually say to her - & very arrogant that some old fart who's been sitting a couple of times a week for a few years would question a life time of study/practice. i suppose if i were really ready to seriously learn from this, i wouldn't have these doubts... this entire ramble seems a bit silly now... i would still appreciate your thoughts, j ------------------------ 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/
