Post by stardustpilgrim on Jun 15, 2019 12:58:25 GMT -5
If you ~have~ the following you have everything, if you don't have ~it~ you have nothing. (The most significance points {the everything} highlighted).
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A philosopher came to Buddha and asked him: What is the method? IOW, what do you do every day?
Buddha replied, We walk, we eat, we wash ourselves, we sit..
The philosopher replied: What is special in these actions? Everybody does these things.
Buddha replied: No, there is a difference. When we walk, we are aware of the fact that we walk; when we eat, we are aware of the fact that we eat, and so on. When others walk, eat, wash themselves, or sit down, they are not aware of what they do.
This conversation clearly expresses the Awareness of Being which in Buddhism is the secret by which man "sheds light" on his existence. To light existence? Yes, and this is the point of departure. If I live without having Awareness of this life, that amounts to not having lived. Awareness of Being is the backbone of the Buddhist method. Awareness of Being is the discipline that helps man to realize himself. When the lamp of Awareness of Being is lit, the shadows of illusion can no longer invade a man. You wash your hands, you dress yourself, you preform everyday actions as before; but now you are aware of all your actions, words and thoughts.
The solution is to remain in the midst of the experience of reality, under the lamp of awareness of being. Direct experience and the awareness of this direct experience constitute this whole problem. The words seem to be complicated but the thing is so simple!
When you have some tea, you have direct experience of the tea. The experience can be had with the full and enlightened participation of your awareness, or without this participation. But the experience you thus have of the tea is a direct and living experience of reality. It is not a concept. It is only when you think about it that this experience becomes a concept. To be more precise, the concept of this experience is not the experience itself. When one starts to distinguish subject and object, the experience disappears. The world of Zen is the world of pure experience without concepts.
The world of direct experience of Zen is, therefore, is that of life and awareness. We can make the distinction between the practitioner of Zen and the reality lived by him in his experience. The spiritual experience is produced when the practitioner and his reality (the closest part of this reality being the psycho-physiological current of his own existence) enter into direct communion. The nature of this experience is indivisible.
from Zen Keys by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1974, Introduction by Philip Kapleau, translated from the French by Albert and Jean Low (pgs 21,22; 82-84)
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Now, a handful of people here have shown they understand ~this~. Some people here have shown that ~this~ (distinction) is without merit. Nonetheless, everyone has to discover and decide for themselves the significance, the marrow. (And of course some will emphasize other things herein).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A philosopher came to Buddha and asked him: What is the method? IOW, what do you do every day?
Buddha replied, We walk, we eat, we wash ourselves, we sit..
The philosopher replied: What is special in these actions? Everybody does these things.
Buddha replied: No, there is a difference. When we walk, we are aware of the fact that we walk; when we eat, we are aware of the fact that we eat, and so on. When others walk, eat, wash themselves, or sit down, they are not aware of what they do.
This conversation clearly expresses the Awareness of Being which in Buddhism is the secret by which man "sheds light" on his existence. To light existence? Yes, and this is the point of departure. If I live without having Awareness of this life, that amounts to not having lived. Awareness of Being is the backbone of the Buddhist method. Awareness of Being is the discipline that helps man to realize himself. When the lamp of Awareness of Being is lit, the shadows of illusion can no longer invade a man. You wash your hands, you dress yourself, you preform everyday actions as before; but now you are aware of all your actions, words and thoughts.
The solution is to remain in the midst of the experience of reality, under the lamp of awareness of being. Direct experience and the awareness of this direct experience constitute this whole problem. The words seem to be complicated but the thing is so simple!
When you have some tea, you have direct experience of the tea. The experience can be had with the full and enlightened participation of your awareness, or without this participation. But the experience you thus have of the tea is a direct and living experience of reality. It is not a concept. It is only when you think about it that this experience becomes a concept. To be more precise, the concept of this experience is not the experience itself. When one starts to distinguish subject and object, the experience disappears. The world of Zen is the world of pure experience without concepts.
The world of direct experience of Zen is, therefore, is that of life and awareness. We can make the distinction between the practitioner of Zen and the reality lived by him in his experience. The spiritual experience is produced when the practitioner and his reality (the closest part of this reality being the psycho-physiological current of his own existence) enter into direct communion. The nature of this experience is indivisible.
from Zen Keys by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1974, Introduction by Philip Kapleau, translated from the French by Albert and Jean Low (pgs 21,22; 82-84)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, a handful of people here have shown they understand ~this~. Some people here have shown that ~this~ (distinction) is without merit. Nonetheless, everyone has to discover and decide for themselves the significance, the marrow. (And of course some will emphasize other things herein).