Fa Gong Shakya
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Posts posted by Fa Gong Shakya
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Hello everyone
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Just thought I'd pop through ... I'm afraid my opinions regarding the cross-fertilisation of Chan (Zen) and Daoism were moderately unwelcome at a famous well-known Buddhist online forum , so I thought I'd come over to the other side of Bumriver and give my greetings, where I hear there is less of a love for the written and authoritative word :-)
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I'm a priest of the Chan Buddhist tradition, and have always been a great lover of what seems to loosely be termed "philosophical Daoism". I'm also a psychotherapist and am interested in applying meditation techniques in a Western therapeutic context.
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That's probably all that's relevant, looking forward to chatting every so often
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Oh, Australian too, for those interested :-)
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Amitofo
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Fa Gong Shakya, OHY
Cooroona-Opal Sangha
Does Thinking Stop?
in General Discussion
Posted
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Hello Tao Parrot :-)
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I suppose it depends entirely upon what the object is. Despite many opinions to the contrary, different meditational methods do provide different outcomes.
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The focus on stopping thought processes itself (also commonly known as "samatha") is designed to stop the fluctuations of mental content so that a one-pointed focus can be obtained. I would be one who would suggest that this provides great therapeutic benefit, but little "spiritual" (although it is a necessary skill to develop before any other form of meditation will be effective).
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The focus on observation of the contents of the mind (also commonly known as "vipassana") developed, essentially, as a Buddhist development on samatha techniques. This is also often referred to as "mindfulness".
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Some schools of Chan/Zen take this one step further, and apply the hua-tou (similar to a koan) of "who sees these thoughts?" (or something similar) and use thoughts to provide a pointer to "him who thinks".
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Being of this Chan tradition myself, not only would I disagree with the goal of "thought stopping", but would advise against it. The great master Hsu Yun said this resulting vacant void was a trap, akin to "soaking stones in water" and advised the practitioner to rouse him/herself against it and keep pursuing the question "who am I?" or "who is it who meditates?" or who is it who thinks?"
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Amitofo
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Fa Gong Shakya, OHY
Cooroona-Opal Sangha