Help with Homework or How Do You Translate That Into Zen

A good friend of mine is doing a presentation on Pema Chodron's usage of the word shenpa and Buddhism. He wanted to include a part comparing that in other traditions, specifically in Zen Buddhism. My friend wanted to see if there were articles, writers, or teachers that address with a similar concept. Since I don't thread into the Tibetan Buddhism path, I was stumped. I didn't even know what the word meant or how she was expounding on it. I googled and got the following articles:

http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/shenpa3a.php
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?o ... ew&id=1610

I am less stumped, but I still trying to think of an article or a teacher that would address that concept.

Can someone un-stump a bit more? :P :mrgreen:

Hmmmm.... well, I am not knowledgeable enough to site a passage of this or that book for you. However, the attached came to mind where it is referred to as a "tug of sense desire and aversion" as a relative or similar concept to shenpa.

Hope it helps.. though the author may not be a Soto or Zen practitioner. Couldn't find out via couple mins on google..

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5T...c5Y2JlOWE1YzAy

P.S. In trying to figure out where I grabbed this from, it appears to be a Tricycle article..

http://www.tricycle.com/thus-have-i-heard/ties-unbind

_/_

Hi Choco,

This reminds me of some of those Spanish or Yiddish words like Tiene Duende or Chutzpah that one can almost translate into English ... but not quite. :)

But I think, actually, that this concept runs all through Buddhism, in every Buddhist school. I like Pema's own definition, "the feeling of being 'hooked' and having the trigger pulled, the urge or itch we have for something we are attached to or addicted to." Also, "tug of sense desire and aversion" sounds good. She writes ...

Shenpa is the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief. To get unhooked we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment.

Release of the hook, that trigger, the itch is, of course, at the Heart of Shikantaza Practice as well.

A history of Indian Buddhism I have been reading presents some of the oldest descriptions of Gautama Buddha's teachings in which he speaks of psychological "foods" (ahara) that trigger a "hunger" or "thirst" (khuda) in us to give in to such actions as greed, anger, ignorance, laziness, discontent, vanity. For example, seeing physical beauty can be a food that triggers hunger (or lust) for physical pleasure. So, there are old Pali terms such as khajjamana (to be "consumed by hunger"). There are also other terms like Jsppati ("to hunger for, to desire, yearn,
long for"). I am not expert in Pali and Sanskrit, but as you can see such concepts run all through Buddhist philosophy. Nibbana/Nirvana is often called a "quenching of the hunger/thirsts" within us.

I am sure that there is even a term for Tiene Duende or Chutzpah too. :wink:

Gassho, Jundo

As a small digression.

Oh. Noes. Jundo! :-(

You have been confusing me with Chocobuda! I
:-o

Chicanobudista vs Chocobuda

:mrgreen:

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Thanks for all the info/leads/reading. Gassho.... 8-)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by chicanobudista

Chicanobudista vs Chocobuda

:mrgreen:

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Ah, this must be do to my diet, which has led to a real shenpa for Chocolate on my mind. :?

Sorry Erik.

Gassho, J

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jundo

Ah, this must be do to my diet, which has led to a real shenpa for Chocolate on my mind. :?

Sorry Erik.

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:mrgreen:

Thanks, Jundo, for the info. I has de-stumped me. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by natezenmaster

Hmmmm.... well, I am not knowledgeable enough to site a passage of this or that book for you. However, the attached came to mind where it is referred to as a "tug of sense desire and aversion" as a relative or similar concept to shenpa.

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thanks! good read. :D

Mmmm... Never considered to connect "tener duende" with Buddhism before. Next time I finish reading a chapter of Shobogenzo, instead of doing gassho I'll shout "ole" to Dogen :P

Disgressing a little bit more, the expression "tener duende" was popularized by the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, in an essay he wrote about Flamenco. And zenny poet Leonard Cohen is a great fan of Garcia Lorca...

Everything is interconnected.. :)

Ole I mean Gassho :lol:

Rimon