On 12/24/05, dkotschessa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- 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. > > > > > We don't have to make a single judgment to function in society! Who told > you that? We only have to choose to do something or to not do it. We don't > need to add our opinion to the simple act of choosing, and that's precisely > what we do when we make a judgment. If I'm at a stoplight and turn left > instead of right, I don't have to lavish praise on the left hand turn while > putting down the right. I just make the turn! There's no need to add > any "emotional baggage" to the choice. So it is with any decision we > make. Either it suits us or it doesn't. I don't have to make any > commentary whatsoever.
I'm not sure who or what you're alluding to when you mention "playing the more enlightened/less attached than you are" game. But, if we're here to discuss Zen, I think you're going to find that people are going to talk more about *eradicating* desires and attachments than *justifying* them. If that's playing the game you're referring to, then I apologize for discussing Zen rather than making excuses for myself. Signing off, Mike > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ 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/
