If enlightenment is always already, why do anything at all? Why meditate or take up any spiritual path? Is it all merely display and fruitless grasping and/or spiritual materialism? Recall the old zen saying: Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. But is it the same chopping and carrying afterward as before the journey of spiritual practice? The dilemma is framed well by David Loy in "The Path of No- path: Sakara and Dogen on the Paradox of Practice" Philosophy East and West, Vol. 38, No. 2 (April 1988) pp. 127-146. http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/loy.htm
"When we want something, normally we know well enough what needs to be done to get it. But what if the object I desire is something that can never become an object, because it is prior to the subject- object dichotomy? What if it can never be an effect, because it is always unconditioned? What means will enable me to attain an end that is impossible to grasp? I find myself in a dilemma. If I make no effort to do anything, it seems that the result will also be nothing, and there will be no progress towards the desired goal. But to the extent that I exert myself to attain it, I do not, for in this case all effort is self-defeating. This is the paradox of spiritual practice, for Âtman, Brahman, nirvâna, Buddhanature, and so forth are all unobjectifiable (because nondual), unoriginated (that is, beyond causal and temporal relations), and hence unobtainable. How can we escape such a dilemma?" I'll report back what Loy thinks Dogen's "solution" is, but I'd really like to hear the group's thoughts and feelings on this. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 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/
