Here is how Ken Wilber answered the paradox of practice question. He notes that practices like zazen are a path to the realization that we're already there. But unless we do these practices we rarely realize this. The following excerpt is from a Shambhala discussion forum:
Re: Progress Is Simply An Illusion. [Post#: 1592 / re: 1519 ] 9/16/00 http://forums.shambhala.com/cgi-bin/w3t5/showthreaded.pl? Cat=&Board=TOECONF&Number=1592&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&vc=1#Post15 92 hi jack, you say, "Ken, I will not argue who is correct in the above dialogue, the Swami or Alan Watts. However, I do know that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. In other words a choice must be made. You can either side with Watts and drop all concepts of progress. Or conversely, you can side with the Swami, keep your concepts of progress, but drop the whole notion that God chose to manifest into duality. But you cannot have it both ways." well, you see, of course you can. both of them are entirely correct. this is a paradox to the mind, but is not paradoxical at all to spirit. one of the great zen masters put it like this: "if there is no effort and progress in the Tao, then one remains a complete idiot. but if there is effort and progress, then that effort itself really means the destructin of the Tao." so, when the zen master asks you, "should you practice or not?", what do you say? quickly! what do you say? your intellectual answer is fine as far as it goes--really, it's great--but it doesn't quite capture the essence of the problem. both allan and the swami are playing word games, and they both know it. allan is pretending that meditation or some sort of practice is not needed for most people in order to realize the Ever-Present. of course he's right in an ultimate sense, but the simple answer is: if you really believe allan, then try realizing Spirit the way allan recommends. you've already tried allan's approach, and what happened? "one remains a complete idiot." are you, jack, fully awakened to your infinite Self by merely reading or following allan? no? why not? this is why, later in life, allan became a great advocate of mediation. not as a way to attain Brahman, which is impossible, but as a way to express Brahman more fully and clearly--"resulting" in, yes, satori, at which time, BUT NOT BEFORE, you will understand that all effort was utterly beside the point. but practice is not a ladder than can be thrown away without first climbing it. so my work covers both sides of the paradox--progress and ever- presence (a paradox that exists only before satori). thus, in many books--such as the eye of spirit--i will spend many chapters on the necessary waves of development, effort, and progress--and then end the book with a chapter on "always already," or the ever-present awareness that can never be reached or attained because it has never been lost in the first place. both sides of the paradox are 100% true. how can that possibly be, the relative mind asks? well, realize satori and find out for yourself. if you can do so by merely reading allan watts, excellent! if not, then perhaps a little swami practice is in your future (meditation, zen, vipassana, contemplative prayer...). ------------------------ 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/
