(*Disclaimer: a question framed according to the categories of ordinary experience demands an answer similarly expressed.)
Your question below was framed in terms of ordinary experience, but the problem that I see is that your inquiry concerns matters that transcend experience. Regardless, I'll try to force myself to answer in terms of ordinary experience, knowing full well that the answer will be, by the very nature of the question, faulty. But what the heck! My dog is characterized by a very pronounced sense of self. His whole life is centered around very selfish activities. He is only concerned with his own safety, his own comfort. For example, if I'm very hungry and am about to have my meal, but if at that point my son arrives and he is also very hungry, I will forsake satisfying my need and will give my only meal to him (or, at least, I will share it with him). If my dog's offspring approaches him while he's about to eat, my dog will bare his teeth, will start growling, and will send out a signal, something akin to: "Buzz off, or I'll rip your head off!" So, there isn't a single altruistic bone to be found in my dog's behavior. That fact alone atests for his extreme non-enlightened, selfish state. The above analysis could be applied to a wide variety of animals. It is clear, therefore, that animals are much farther away from the possibility of being enlightened than humans. Your observations leading you to conclude that animals could be enlightened is, I'm sorry to say, faulty. On to the Zen practice (in this context): Zen is not about regressing, it is about transcending. And the only way to transcend anything is to possess it, to first master it. Someone who doesn't have any knowledge cannot ever transcend it. On 4/26/05, Catalin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In Zen practice there is a great emphasis on non-conceptual thinking, on > "just sitting", "just eating", "just ....". > Words are not priced and the same is true for reading scriptures (not > for the scriptures themselves) instead of "just sitting". > Knowledge is not considered a value, it's considered an obstacle. > Someone is Enlightened when it sees things just as they are, not > contaminated by egoist/conceptual thinking. > Don't animals do exactly that? > Animals don't have conceptual thinking, don't read, don't speak, don't > waste time learning, and see things just as they are, their views are > not spotted by conceptual thinking and false ideas because they don't > have false ideas. > When an animal sits it just sits, it doesn't think about the nature of > life, about the universe, about yesterday or about tomorrow. > Does that means that "Enlightenment" means regressing to an animal mind? > Isn't an animal considered an inferior form of life because rebirth as > an animal is considered a bad thing and an animal is considered not able > to become Enlightened? > So how (why?) can "Enlightenment" lead to becoming an animal when an > animal cannot become Enlightened? > And why do we have the capacity of conceptual thinking, the capacity to > imagine, to think about future and about past, the ego and the capacity > to use words if that is something bad that keeps us away of enlightenment? > But without those capacities then we would be.....just hairless monkeys. > My dog just sits now, is he now a Buddha doing zazen? > Why mu? :) > My head hurts :) > > > Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi. New or > used at: > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570622280/ref=ase_actionheroesc-20/002-4507763-9442460?v=glance&s=books> > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/hjtSRD/3MnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi. New or used at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570622280/ref=ase_actionheroesc-20/002-4507763-9442460?v=glance&s=books> 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/
