--- In [email protected], Michael Hansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > You can have an attachment to zazen and you can have an attachment to > > cannibalism. I think the attachment to zazen is better. Who should judge > > these things? Should we look to Dogen or David Loy? No, they cannot > > judge > > these things for us. We are the only ones who can judge these things. > > > > > > Gassho...Bill > > > > Thank you for your reply. The problem I see with this approach is that > we're simply justifying our own attachments/desires/positionalities when we > think this way. Why can't zazen be zazen and cannabalism be cannabalism > without throwing our opinion of either into the mix? > > If I wake up in the morning as hungry for zazen as a cannabal is for human > flesh (to borrow your comparison), aren't I just, ultimately, in an endless > search to satisfy a "hunger," regardless of what form that takes? I still > don't see how that makes one "better" than the other. > > > > Thanks, > Mike
Zen Buddhist practice invites us to transcend dualities, but at the same time we shouldn't allow it to interfere with common sense. I see a lot of people get "stuck" that way. No amount of practice is going to change my opinion that cannibalism isn't proper. To go back to my own illustration, I will continue to hold that drug addiction is Not a Good Thing until I have reason to believe otherwise. We have to continue to act as real Bags of Meat in the conditioned world, and while we do so we have to make certain judgements. Not only do these judgements allow us to function in society, but also to nourish our practice. In fact that is what the entire eighfold path is about. We need to keep sila functioning to allow wisdom to arise. ------------------------ 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/
