Latest Stuff on Zen Buddhism

What is it all about anyway?
The floor is completely for those enthusiastic about Zen Buddhism.

Pushy apologetic Christians like me - shut up and learn something !

Zen guys - the floor is all YOURS.
Karoly ??

Be positive.

Originally posted by @sonship
What is it all about anyway?
The floor is completely for those enthusiastic about Zen Buddhism.

Pushy apologetic Christians like me - shut up and learn something !

Zen guys - the floor is all YOURS.
Karoly ??

Be positive.

My Master's is in Buddhism. I have not done anything specifically with Zen Buddhism, but I am from a country that has a Zen Buddhist heritage -- it has existed as a minority that has been somewhat well accommodated by the Jogye majority. Our Jogye majority is not unlike Pure Land Buddhism.

I am curious what people will write.

Originally posted by @philokalia
My Master's is in Buddhism.

Tell us about what books you read?

Originally posted by @sonship
What is it all about anyway?
The floor is completely for those enthusiastic about Zen Buddhism.

Pushy apologetic Christians like me - shut up and learn something !

Zen guys - the floor is all YOURS.
Karoly ??

Be positive.

Is your interest genuine?

....Are you?


(Your first lesson in Zen).

Originally posted by @divegeester
Tell us about what books you read?

Me,

The Way of Zen by Allen Watts.
Zen and the Art of Archery (?)

Some other book on Zen koans (little wise riddles) - author/s (?)

all back in 1969,70

Rescued from another thread, for sonship's illumination (who has stated here that he wants to learn something about Zen Buddhism).

'As a great Zen Master once said, "Faith is like painting the walls of your room with mud, then trying to convince yourself that it is beautiful, and it smells good". Faith is an illusion, a dream that we strongly consider real, but that in reality only impoverishes the true spirituality of man. The strength of our faith and conviction has nothing to do with the fact that a belief is true or not. The veracity of our faith is in us only, nowhere else.

Religions feel compelled to give answers to everything as a sign of their "great wisdom", but for Zen, not giving any answer at all is actually the great wisdom.

A true religion shows man how to think and not what to think, therefore, we must learn to ask great questions rather than looking for great answers.'


http://www.zen-buddhism.net/beliefs/beliefs-and-dogmas.html

Chop wood...

https://lifehacker.com/four-confusing-zen-quotes-and-what-you-can-learn-from-1676177538

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Is your interest genuine?

....Are you?


(Your first lesson in Zen).

What is the old adage?
When a student is ready, the teacher will appear.
I don't think it is thought to work the other way around, i.e., the teacher is hanging around with a checklist of survey questions, waiting for the student to show up.

Originally posted by @freakykbh
What is the old adage?
When a student is ready, the teacher will appear.
I don't think it is thought to work the other way around, i.e., the teacher is hanging around with a checklist of survey questions, waiting for the student to show up.

Wise man say, 'no point coming to the teapot of knowledge if you haven't got a cup.'

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Wise man say, 'no point coming to the teapot of knowledge if you haven't got a cup.'

Well, I'm on my second cup.



Unfortunately, I went with coffee...

Originally posted by @freakykbh
Well, I'm on my second cup.



Unfortunately, I went with coffee...

Good choice.

Is there anything collective about Zen?
It seems to be very individualistic in nature.

Does it offer any kind of salvation to the collective or does is offer just millions of isolated, independent, individualistic enlightenments to its adherents?

Originally posted by @sonship
Me,

[b]The Way of Zen by Allen Watts.
Zen and the Art of Archery (?)

Some other book on Zen koans (little wise riddles) - author/s (?)

all back in 1969,70[/b]

Was I talking to you sonship, or did you just deliberately misktenly reply to my post to Jacob and use it as an opportunity to display your reading credentials?

You even bolded them, bless.

Originally posted by @sonship
Is there anything collective about Zen?
It seems to be very individualistic in nature.

Does it offer any kind of salvation to the collective or does is offer just millions of isolated, independent, individualistic enlightenments to its adherents?

Keeping fit is individualistic in nature.

Originally posted by @sonship
Is there anything collective about Zen?
It seems to be very individualistic in nature.

Does it offer any kind of salvation to the collective or does is offer just millions of isolated, independent, individualistic enlightenments to its adherents?

Depends if you believe they are being enlightened to individual truths or the same truth. But you do though kind of miss the point of Zen philosophy.

'Zen does not seek to answer subjective questions because these are not important issues for Zen. What really matters is the here and now: not God, not the afterlife, but the present moment here and now. Moreover, Zen firmly believes that nobody knows the answers to those questions and that they are impossible to answer because of our limited condition. Life is a dream, a grand illusion that we perceive through the filter of our personality, our experiences, our ego. This is a great piece of theater in which we do not see all the actors and in which we barely understand the role of those that we see.

Zen gladly accepts the idea that men are only men and nothing more. Man, being what he is, cannot answer life's impossible questions without falling into the trap of illusion. No one knows the answers to the deep questions about life and death.'

http://www.zen-buddhism.net/beliefs/beliefs-and-dogmas.html