All the various religions and philosophies are like the curate's egg - good in parts.
Zen Buddhism is like the curate's egg.
"Buddha's first step toward enlightenment was his abandonment of his wife and child, and Buddhism (like Catholicism) still exalts male monasticism as the epitome of spirituality."
Buddha came back to his family after enlightenment.
"There is actually immense suffering within ourselves, and we can start to ease that, and when we do, we then now have a model for applying that to others. To one other person, to a thousand, or to the world."
A Guide to Practical Compassion : zen habits
"Let your ego and your unconscious mind melt away; merge with the universe."
What is Zen Buddhism?
...
"Zen techniques are compatible with other faiths and are often used, for example, by Christians seeking a mystical understanding of their faith."
Zen Buddhism
"Zen sends us looking inside us for enlightenment."
Zen Buddhism
The word "zen" means emptiness or void.
Zen Buddhism explained
"This is the basis of zen itself - that all life and existence is based on a kind of dynamic emptiness."
(Modern science sees phenomena at a sub-atomic level popping in and out of existence.)
Zen Buddhism is an attempt to make life better.
"There is actually immense suffering within ourselves, and we can start to ease that, and when we do, we then now have a model for applying that to others. To one other person, to a thousand, or to the world."
A Guide to Practical Compassion : zen habits
"Let your ego and your unconscious mind melt away; merge with the universe."
What is Zen Buddhism?
...
"Zen sends us looking inside us for enlightenment."
Zen Buddhism
Zen Buddhism explained
"This is the basis of zen itself - that all life and existence is based on a kind of dynamic emptiness."
Zen Buddhism explained
...
What is this 'emptiness'?
It can be seen as being 'empty of selfishness'.
It can be seen as 'empty of anger, fear, envy and suffering'.
Empty of What?.
"Death is not final in Buddhism. Consciousness continues."
The Zennist
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What is this 'emptiness'?
It can be seen as being 'empty of selfishness'.
It can be seen as 'empty of anger, fear, envy and suffering'.
Empty of What?.
"Death is not final in Buddhism. Consciousness continues."
The Zennist
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I saw Heaven once after ingesting about 10 grams of psychedelic mushrooms!
ReplyDelete'Death is not final in Buddhism. Consciousness continues."
ReplyDeleteI hope that is true, because I warm towards Buddhism in many ways but not its nihilism. This part of Buddhism gets difficult to understand but it seems to be based around each person's personal experience. They say the personality, or ego, does not survive and that makes sense. But it is hard to imagine objective consciousness, that there can be consciousness with an individual sensing it.
What is key above is the reference to Buddha abandoning his wife & child
ReplyDeleteThat is inexcusable, horrible & a perversion, it is a 'bad' tradition of India denying the good one
In fact, India has two diverging spiritual traditions - one more 'Vedic' promoting the richness of life and sensuality, Hinduism being the most sexual & married-life-centred of religions (Kama Sutra - Temples of Khajuraho)
Another Indian tradition - the false one, to many of us - is the more ascetic, desire-denying 'Shramana' tradition that branched into the stricter types of Buddhism, & allied to Roman Catholic Vatican 'priests' so often abusing children ...and beyond that very extremist fanatics such as the Cathars trying to deny sex and families to everyone
There is no excuse for abandoning one's spouse & children when the relationship is humanly workable ... one must never leave a spouse & children without support
The whole 'celibacy' tradition may well be a tool of devious gays seeking to dominate 'stupid' straight people with spouses & children
It is okay to be gay ... but not okay to pretend that you are 'better' than those married with children
And it is not 'okay' to sell celibacy as a 'higher state', that is a life-denying fraud
Meeting God via your spouse is at the height of superb ways to meet the divine ... no one should ever be lured into thinking a non-spousal life is 'better'
Money will no longer be the currency, religion and faith will. Question is, what do we believe.
ReplyDelete