On 7/27/05, Bill Smart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...thread snipped to this point...
> My response is:
>
> Everything you do could be considered taking-out-the-garbage. I
> consider both Dharma study and Zen practice to be a subset of taking-
> out-the-garbage. ...etc, ad naseum.
Touche!
> I made a mistake in my original posting. I used the word 'subset'.
> There are no subsets in a system that contains only one entity -
> Buddha. To intellectually create subsets is to create heirarchies
> which is going in the wrong direction. In the largest sense there
> is nothing but Buddha. Zen practice, Dharma study, taking-out-the-
> garbage and posting messages are not subsets or parts of Buddha;
> they are Buddha. They are all manifestation of the One. So in that
> regard none is greater or lessor than the other.
In the absolute sense, yes. in the relative sense (i.e. the skillful
means), no. Which leads us to your next statement:
> What I was trying to communicate relates to Skillful Means. I'm
> useing that term to mean 'methods useful to percipitate awakening'.
Beautiful!
> In my experience, both personal and inter-personal, I have found
> zazen to be a more successful method of encouraging awakening than
> Dharma study (using that term to mean reading, memorizing, chanting,
> etc..., historical Buddhist canons and sutras). My experience has
> led me to believe that the less chance the activity performed has of
> inviting ego participation or even encourage intellectual activity,
> the better. If you can engage in Dharma study without creating an
> ego (a separation of the materials read from the reader), and resist
> the temptation to intellectualize (try to 'understand') the texts,
> then I'm sure it would be fine. I can't do that, or at least I
> couldn't when I started to become seriously interested in practicing
> zen.
The difference here is the one of scope. Your scope is focused on
awakening. My scope is focused on after-awakening.
You see, anyone can awaken. It can happen to you and to anyone else
any moment now. But then what? Most people are convinced that to
experience awakening is to reach the end of the road. But some people
actually know that it is more like a first day on the job. Once
awakening happens, there's the long and winding road ahead, and a lot
of work needs to be done before one gets from the first day on the job
to the full retirement.
> Zazen works better for me. And now that I think about it, taking-
> out-the-garbage might be the best practice of the three. It does
> not solicit ego-involvement, it does not tempt you into trying to
> intellectualize it, and when done well is a perfect expression of
> your Buddha-nature.
Buddha nature is no less conceptual than ego. Can you take your Buddha
nature out along with your garbage?
> Dharma (meaning life teachings) is everything. Zazen is
> everything. Taking-out-the-garbage is everything. The Buddhist
> Dharma contained in the historical canons and sutras is not
> everything. How can it be? It is only words.
Words are everything.
Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi
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/
