Also, seeing through life, through death too, unto this never born or dying, neither coming or going, which can never be wasted no matter how much we foolishly try.
Nevertheless, there is also life and death, healthy roads and those which are not, so do not squander this life before you die.
Gassho, J
STLah
ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE
What a brilliant and "enlightening" thread. Thank you all for you thoughts and words.
Gassho,
Ippo
SatToday
Brad told me he didn't have any experiences for many years and then in the last few months before his awakening experience he had a few. This seems to be the way of this practice. Just Sitting and a sudden experience one day, especially when you care least about it.
Gassho,
Sam
ST
Last edited by shikantazen; 08-03-2020 at 04:19 AM. Reason: trim to 3 sentences
I'm not even sure, if experiences like Satori or Kensho are really important for our practice at all.
When we sitting through any condition, we can realize that which is beyond all states and conditions.
With or without extraordinary moments of "Satori", isn't it?
Gassho
Horin/Ben
Stlah
Enviado desde mi PLK-L01 mediante Tapatalk
I read Peter Matthiessen's Nine-Headed Dragon River over the past few days. In the beginning, he's into Rinzai zen, and it's all about the kensho, and deeper kensho, and MU! But he then discovers Soto zen, and the difference is stark. I think we may have been too influenced by books like The Three Pillars of Zen, and think that kensho is a goal. For those doing shikantaza, it's not.
By the way, this is a very interesting book, once you get about 1/3 of the way through, and he's gone through Rinzai, and spent some time in Tibet. He does a sort of pilgrimage with Bernie Glassman to the great temples, and his "travel writing" along with reflections on Dogen are quite beautiful.
Gassho,
Kirk
sat
流文
I know nothing.
Hi Sam,
If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around, does it make a sound? If Brad has an enlightenment experience and you are not around to listen to him tell about his enlightenment experience, does he have an enlightenment experience?
Without a sufficient amount of enlightenment experiences to attract students he would not have any students and then would have no enlightenment experiences. You make him enlightened.
Enlightenment experiences are masters in my opinion. You should have no masters (enlightenment). Only then you will be free.
Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__
PS: did Brad become a slave to enlightenment?
Last edited by Jishin; 08-03-2020 at 11:44 AM.
As Sam says, this is not something Brad talks about much and has only written about in one of his earliest books.If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around, does it make a sound? If Brad has an enlightenment experience and you are not around to listen to him tell about his enlightenment experience, does he have an enlightenment experience?
Without a sufficient amount of enlightenment experiences to attract students he would not have any students and then would have no enlightenment experiences. You make him enlightened.
He seems to attract students through his offbeat way of explaining Dogen and practice which (mostly) stays true to Soto tradition while bringing western sensibilities to his teachings.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-