zerkaloipustota Posted April 26, 2014 (edited) Maybe a quote from Liu Huayang will spark a tolerant and fruitful dialogue between the practitioners of Ch'an school and Daoists (I sure hope so...), for the benefit of all seekers of Truth.  I observe among the seekers of the Tao of the world there are the discourse-records of many schools. In these records there is truthful language and there is delusive language. Beginning students do not know the Tao of huiming of the Tathagata, so they mistakenly become ensnared in slogans and superficial oral Chan, and end up as base fools, repeatedly reaping harm from these records. I have thoroughly examined the various scriptures, and verified this with my Teacher: there are the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the Platform Sutra, which are truthful language. ... from Huiming Jing (慧命經), tr. James Michael Nicholson http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/11432  One of the Chinese Emperors took a disliking (who could possibly dislike freedom fighters?) to Taoists and started persecuting them. To avoid persecution some Taoists changed their religion by calling themselves Buddhists and wearing Buddhist robes and silly hats, and they called it Chan.  So, originally Chan was purely Taoist, but later, over time, it became infected with Buddhist dogma, got much more psychoanalytical, and they lost all their practice techniques except for like one or two. ROFL. Later the Japanese got wind of it and they called it Zen, and they did unspeakable things to it =) This completed the reaming of the original Taoist content of what is now the popular religion. ZEN. Edited April 26, 2014 by dujepaskvalin 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Mar-Vell Posted April 26, 2014 (edited) ... "Radical agnosticism and analysis of mind is what attracted Chinese intellectuals to the particular practice of Ch'an Buddhism, which in turn is distinctive because of its "recognition of the individual need."(49) In this respect, it is heir to a long line of mysticism shaped by individual literati who searched for spiritual guidance in Lao-Chuang and later in Buddhism." Knaul (1986) in paper Linked to via my previous post. Â I observe among the seekers of the Tao of the world there are the discourse-records of many schools. In these records there is truthful language and there is delusive language. Beginning students do not know the Tao of huiming of the Tathagata, so they mistakenly become ensnared in slogans and superficial oral Chan, and end up as base fools, repeatedly reaping harm from these records. Â This has been a most excellent tread. Â I am familiar with all the schools of Buddhism. Â I am especially close to Zen and Chan Buddhism. Â I read everything I could ever find by Daisetz Suzuki and Christmas Humphries. Â I read many books on Zen. Â I had a Zen transmission. Â xxx ... Edited April 26, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted April 26, 2014 (edited) Zen rocks. This is my fave zennist site... http://sweepingzen.com/about-sweeping-zen/  A goldmine of info and has cost me a small fortune in books ordered after reading the reviews. Best Zen autobio for me remains David Chadwick's ' Thank you and OK' about his time training to be a Zen priest in Japan. He's the guy who wrote 'Crooked Cucumber' the S.Suzuki biography, that's good too. 'Shozan' Jack Haubner's ' Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk' is a hoot too and quite telling insofar as the scandals that are still emerging from inside western Zen in the USA. What strikes me about the Zen we have in the west is just how different it became and how quickly from the Japanese original. Then, the western version went back to Japan and changed Japanese Zen. Hence Zen in Japan now - which was chiefly a funeral and death registration series of family owned businesses based in 'parish' temples- is seen as 'cool' by Japanese young people. In the past it was looked at as a very staid and 'establishment' sort of activity chiefly for old people and mourners.  Soto for me with a soupçon of Pure Land. Most of those pioneer Vietnam War era western Zennists were Tao oriented so Tao has definitely influenced the contemporary stuff. Edited April 26, 2014 by GrandmasterP 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Mar-Vell Posted April 26, 2014 (edited) ... I simply realised the Pure Mind, Pure Land doctrine of the Ultimate Boddhisatva's. Â Your posts shine like Diamondz, Mr GrandmasterP Sir. Â xxx ... Edited April 26, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
