Latest Stuff on Zen Buddhism

Talk about Zen Buddhism.

Originally posted by @sonship
Talk about Zen Buddhism.

What’s up sonship?

Originally posted by @sonship
Talk about Zen Buddhism.

I did. You seem to have overlooked it.

'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

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
I did. You seem to have overlooked it.

'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 impossib ...[text shortened]... questions about life and death.'

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

He'll just go, all well and good but Jesus is the TRUE religion, I KNOW because it is written in the bible.

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke

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.'

Explain how anyone can step outside of the illusion to perceive it. I mean if everyone is enveloped in the illusion how can anyone have stepped outside of the illusion to inform the rest of us that that is what it is?

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.

Always positive , bro

Zen is like a hammer that knocks away at our horizons . The Christian metaphor is apt and powerful to make sense of the narrative

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.

Yes

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?

The collective in Zen is unspoken . It doesn't need to be

Originally posted by @karoly-aczel
Always positive , bro

Zen is like a hammer that knocks away at our horizons . The Christian metaphor is apt and powerful to make sense of the narrative

How was it found out that life was an illusion?
Who stepped outside of the illusion to perceive what was going on?

How was it done? - To rise above the illusion - to step outside this grand illusion to perceive what it was as compared to reality?

Originally posted by @sonship
How was it found out that life was an illusion?
Who stepped outside of the illusion to perceive what was going on?

How was it done? - To rise above the illusion - to step outside this grand illusion to perceive what it was as compared to reality?

I've been typing on a ps4 so I cant get much out._.

Gotama Bhuddha was born into a life of a prince .He had it all. He was shilded from the world by his parents. When he ventured out he saw sickness , old age and death. He sought to find out about life and left his palace to become an aesthetic . After 6 years of fasting and penance hwas revived by some women with food. He then sought the 'middle way' . He sat under a boddhi tree and vowed to find the answer. He was tempted by women and frightened by demons. At sunrise he was enlightened and became Bhuddha .
He developed a doctrine to end sufferin.

Zen Buddhism is derived from Buddhas example

Zen is direct , never luke warm. Proper prep is in order

Originally posted by @karoly-aczel
I've been typing on a ps4 so I cant get much out._.

Gotama Bhuddha was born into a life of a prince .He had it all. He was shilded from the world by his parents. When he ventured out he saw sickness , old age and death. He sought to find out about life and left his palace to become an aesthetic . After 6 years of fasting and penance hwas revived by ...[text shortened]... dha .
He developed a doctrine to end sufferin.

Zen Buddhism is derived from Buddhas example

So how has that worked out? Do Buddhists now have sickness free lives and free of old age and death?

Originally posted by @sonhouse
So how has that worked out? Do Buddhists now have sickness free lives and free of old age and death?

You have it all wrong. Buddhism recognizes that life contains these things. It is not an escape from what is the normal things of existence. Just recognition of what is.

Originally posted by @caissad4
You have it all wrong. Buddhism recognizes that life contains these things. It is not an escape from what is the normal things of existence. Just recognition of what is.

Surely one doesn’t have to be a Buddhist or enlightened to recognize life contains sickness, old age and death.

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?

There are specific Zen monasteries and sepcific masters that people follow. A student of Zen who is serious is expected to have a teacher.

In the Korean tradition, the student will be assigned a koan of some kind and until they have mastered it they will not get a new one. The koan can have no right answer and be something that is borderline nonsense, or it can have an obvious answer.

For instance, the famous "Sound of one hand clapping"'s actual right answer only simply has to divulge that it represents non-duality, or the total absence of self, thus interpenetration. One can answer this by saying the sound of one hand clapping by clapping both hands and explaining that there are no hands; one can answer this by saying that there is no sound and there is no hand, etc.. All that would matter would be a brief explanation of non-duality.

... You will also notice that this is all generally about doing it in a group.

The three refuges of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Sangha being the Buddhist collectiv eorganization or body. There is a view that one needs to be part of a lineage or tradition to get the help to gain enlightenment as only Buddha alone was able to gain enlightnement (but this is also technically able to be disputed).