What is Zen

by Enigma One 58 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Satanus
    Satanus
    Does or can one ever achieve Zen?

    Yes and no S

  • Enigma One
    Enigma One

    "Achieved" may be the wrong word. It makes it sound like you can win a race for it or something. LOL.

    You can hope to "attain" a level of enlightenment. That would be more accurate.

  • JamesThomas
    JamesThomas

    It's about simply realizing -- without intellectual interpretation or filters -- our true identity. It's about seeing what IS, already.

    The problems arise when Zen becomes a religion, yet another conceptual bag of beliefs. It is our beliefs and mental fabrications which support an individual entity which needs fixing and must acquire something it does not yet have, which blinds consciousness to it's truth in the first place. In other words: some of the guidance within Zen can assist in awakening to truth, or it can just as easily trap us even deeper.

    j

  • SPAZnik
    SPAZnik

    :Not dependent on the written word, Interesting.

  • IronGland
    IronGland

    "One day while walking through the wilderness a man stumbled upon a vicious tiger. He ran but soon came to the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine and dangled over the fatal precipice. As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine. Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!"

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    "When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, the cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. So the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice."

  • Enigma One
    Enigma One

    Iron....are you an eastern spiritualistic guy at all?

  • Legolas
    Legolas

    Is Tai Chi involved in it at all?

    I am going to see if anyone teaches it here on the island!

  • IronGland
    IronGland

    The Emperor asked Master Gudo, "What happens to a man of enlightenment after death?"

    "How should I know?" replied Gudo.

    "Because you are a master," answered the Emperor.

    "Yes sir," said Gudo, "but not a dead one."

  • Enigma One
    Enigma One

    Legolas...have you studied any Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, or similar???

  • Legolas
    Legolas

    Nope none of it!

    I set my gym back up the other day and I am sore! I need something easy till I get back on track!

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