"I teach only two things, O disciples, the fact of suffering and the possibility of escape from suffering."
A. The FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS:
1. There is suffering. (Dukkha)
Think especially of the "unnecessary or surplus suffering"
we cause to ourselves, to others, and to our partnerships.
2. Suffering has its causes. Generically, they fall under 3 headings:
CLINGING -- Excessive Liking, Attachment, Greed,
Over-possessive, Addictive, etc.
CONDEMNING -- Excessive Disliking, Aversion, Hatred,
Resentful, Envious, etc.
IDENTIFYING -- with possessions, prestige, power, roles, beliefs, etc.
Key phrase: "That just the way I am -- or we are -- or it is"
3. Reduce
the causes
(that is reduce the Clinging, Condemning and Identifying)
and you will reduce the suffering. (esp. surplus suffering)
4. There is a way to do this -- the Eightfold Path.
My Eightfold Path song is as follows: (to be sung over and over)
KNOWING, LOVING, HERE WE GO NOW. (The 1st line
can also say:
Prajna, Prajna, Great Karuna
SPEAKING, ACTING, RIGHT VOCATION
which means
Wisdom, Wisdom, Great
STEADY, MINDFUL, CONCENTRATION
Compassion.)
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The Eightfold Path has three components --
First : the Wisdom - Compassion segment -- a Realizing and
Resovlving
I realize that I am caught in
a web of suffering; I resolve to
reduce such suffering.
These knowing and willing segments will
blossom into true wisdom (prajna) and
true compassion (karuna) as the practitioner
goes round and round the 8-fold path.
Second: A Sila or Conduct segment -- Speaking, Acting, Right Vocation
The upward and outward part of the circle issuing in service.
Third: A Samadhi or Meditative segment -- Steady, Mindful, Concentration
The downward and inward part of the circle stressing stillness.
I recommend that we see the eight-fold path as a spiral -- occurring over
and over and each time deepening our insight into the true nature of things
and our corresponding compassion for all beings.
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The Mahayana Background of Zen
Theravada
Buddhist
Mahayana
Way of
Teachings
Way of
Understanding
Understanding
and
3 Marks of
and
Responding to ---->
Existence
<----- Responding to
4 Noble Truths
Keep in mind that Zen has, as its background, the Mahayana reinterpretation of Buddhist teaching, including
a) CRITICIZING THE IDEAL OF PRACTICE:
FROM the Theravada ideal of the arhat (criticized as selfish)
TO the Mahayana ideal of the Bodhisattva,
b) REDEFINING THE GOAL OF PRACTICE:
FROM nirvana as escape from samsara to another realm -- off the wheel --
a place/state called "nirvana"
TO [nirvana = samsara]; [sunyata = tathata]
NOWHERE = NOW HERE
emptiness concreteness
open
particular things
spacious
unique
fertile void
unrepeatable
Put more strikingly, where the Theravada path has
us work on reducing our
confusion, our neurosis,
the Mahayana path has us realizing we are the Buddha-nature --
right here, right now, in this one world..
c) SHIFTING THE MEANS OF PRACTICE:
FROM straightforward work -- meditation as achieving a desired state
TO a more indirect strategy -- for example,
in Soto Zen, you must practice diligently only to
realize that you have never not possessed the Buddha-nature.
A special transmission outside of the scriptures
No dependence [reliance] on words or letters
Direct pointing to the human heart
Seeing into one's [original] nature and attainment of Buddhahood.
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Around 700 C.E. we come to Hui Neng (Eno), the
6th & last Zen Patriarch of China.
Shen-hsiu's poem: Hui-Neng's reply:
Our body is the Bodhi tree;
There is no Bodhi tree
our mind is a mirror bright.
Nor stand of mirror bright.
Carefully we wipe them clean
Since all is void, all empty,
And let no dust alight.
Where can the dust alight?
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