TheOak01 said:
where do I learn more of this ZEN
It’s a question that can only be answered by you Oak. Im a ZenMaster, I try to explain it but its impossible to explain b/c its Zen. Its about intuitive knowledge and seeking enlightenment through readings and meditation. It is passed on from Master to the student from the beginning, only the student can find it but you need to find a guide to help you master Zen and then you become a teacher, it’s a life process, there is no answer to Zen b/c Zen means everything. As I explain Brahman. Here is a brief intro from my chatboard..
What is Zen? (the simple question)
Zen is short for Zen Buddhism. It is sometimes called a religion and sometimes called a philosophy. Choose whichever term you prefer; it simply doesn't matter.
Historically, Zen Buddhism originates in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Around 500 B.C. he was a prince in what is now India. At the age of 29, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his privileged life to seek understanding. After 6 years of struggling as an ascetic he finally achieved Enlightenment at age 35. After this he was known as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake"). In a nutshell, he realized that everything is subject to change and that suffering and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things which, by their nature, are impermanent. By ridding oneself of these attachments, including attachment to the false notion of self or "I", one can be free of suffering.
The teachings of the Buddha have, to this day, been passed down from teacher to student. Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this mingling was the Ch'an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch'an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called (at least in translation) Zen Buddhism.
What is Zen? (the real question)
This question basically asks "What is the essence of Zen?". It appears in various guises throughout Zen literature, from "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?" to "Have you eaten yet?". The question cuts right to the heart of the matter and can only be answered by you. Perhaps the best answer is "practice".
Why do people post such nonsense to this group?
One of the central points of Zen is intuitive understanding. As a result, words and sentences have no fixed meaning, and logic is often irrelevant. Words have meaning only in relation to who is using them, who they are talking to, and what situation they are used in. Some postings are indeed nonsense; other postings appear to be nonsense at first but this is because the meaning is all between the lines. Zen and poetry have gone hand in hand for centuries.
Oak, its eastern philosophy and religion and where they intersect such as Hindu, but it doesn’t you see, its where it does for you. The answer is within you, always has been. You know the answer already, that is the essence of Zen. I include a description of Brahman and Samsara since Buddha came from India it all is tied together on my board. Im interviewing a Hindu master next week discussing what Brahman is and Ill post my interview on my board as well. Here is an idea of Brahman.
The hymns of the Rig Veda are addressed to a huge collection of devas , or gods; however, there are several references to a single god or single principle which is the source or the totality of all other divinities and phenomenon in the universe; this is an early attempt in Hinduism to unify the many into the one. This single, originary divinity is sometimes the combination of all the gods put together, the Vishvadevas, or "Allgods." Sometimes this single divinity or principle is a concrete, active force, such as the World Maker (Vishvakarman: "All-maker"), or it's highly abstract, such as Rita, or cosmic order, an idea similar in some respects (but different in others) to the Chinese concept of the Tao or the Great Ultimate.
Upanishadic literature tended to talk about this unitary or single divinity, power, or principle to the exclusion of all other gods, so that philosophically Indian thought during the Upanishadic period moved towards many of the same conclusions as Parmenides and the Eleatic philosophers did in ancient Greece. This single, unitary divinity had several aspects and names in the Upanishads, two of the most important are Atman, "Universal Spirit," and Brahman. The word "brahman" in Sanskrit originally meant "power" and specifically referred to the power of prayer or sacrifice to bring about material change in the world (hence the word brahmin for priest); so that Brahman seems to refer to the power that brings about and changes the physical universe. In the Upanishads , Brahman is not only the principle and creator of all there is, but is also the sum totality of the universe and its phenomena.
This dual nature of the single divinity or totality of the universe, Brahman and Atman, gets worked out in the following way. Brahman can be located both in the physical, external world and also in the spiritual and inner world where it is present as Atman, "universal spirit." Now every human being has an undying soul (atman) which, because of samsara, lasts through eternity from life to life; this undying atman is a microcosm of Atman, the universal spirit, which is identical to Brahman. By understanding your true Self, by coming to know one's own undying soul, one then arrives at the knowledge of Brahman itself; the key to understanding the nature of the one unitary principle of the universe is to see one's (undying) self as identical with Brahman: "aham asmi Brahman": I am Brahman.
Here's the equation: Brahman=Atman=atman=You Oak. Brahman is the totality of the universe as it is present outside of you;, Atman is the totality of the universe as it is present within you; Brahman is the totality of the world known objectively, Atman is the totality of the world known subjectively. This equation fundamentally underlies the whole of Krishna's teachings concerning dharma in the Baghavad Gita .
In the later development of Hinduism, Brahman would become one aspect of a triune god and would represent the creation aspects of that god.
Samsara and karma, what does it mean?? Here is Samsara and you can see how karma and Zen go hand in hand.
During the period in which the Upanishads were written, Hindu philosophers began to develop the concept of samsara in line with other aspects of Upanishadic thought. The Hinduism of the the Samhitas looked on the material world as understandable and controllable; it was in the material world that the gods (devas ) gave to humans and the gods could be controlled through hymns, prayers, rituals, and sacrifices. But the Upanishadic Hindus began to think of the world as illusion (maya ); reality (Sat ) was rather to be sought in the unchanging and unitary principle of the universe, whether that be Rita, Brahman, or Atman. The material world, on the other hand, was a place fragmented and constantly changing; this changing aspect of the universe came to be called samsara.
The Hindus long before this had integrated the concept of reincarnation into their religion; the Vedic Brahmanas speculate about "death after death," or a death in the afterlife that returns one to life. This concept, along with that of karma, in which all action is seen as the result of previous action and the cause of future action, were combined in the Upanishads to produce the meaning of samsara as "reincarnation based on past actions." Karma not only determined in what form or what caste one was reborn into, it also made reincarnation necessary. All your actions must produce some action in the future; the only way this can happen for all your actions is if you have lives in the future.
This doctrine of samsara obviates any dream of an eternally happy afterlife; if the changing world is but an illusion and we are condemned to remain in it through birth after birth, what purpose is there in atmansiddhi? The goal became not an eternity in a blissful afterlife, but moksha, or "liberation" from samsara .This quest for liberation is the hallmark of the Upanishads and forms the fundamental doctrine of both Buddhism and Jainism
I have this as part of my chatboard but I havent been keeping up with it since Ive been working so hard so I havent transferred it all over and organized it yet. Here’s a link to my board.
http://brothabills.proboards42.com/index.cgi?board=zen
Here’s a humorous explanation, these are just readings and postings on me explaining Zen. Follow the link to hammys chat board in the thread. I explain Zen, but just my interpretation of it. Its full of lessons, you just have to read between the lines. it’s a search for enlightenment, start your journey here, I have most of the keywords in there, study and google those words. If you are into after you have done your readings go to a Buddhist temple in your area and talk to someone there so they can show you how to meditate and find inner peace. A temple is place of calm and peace, you wont believe the experience, where you are disconnected from the world. it’s a lifestyle and philosophy.
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406596&page=1&pp=20
LOL, hope that helps you understand it a bit, its nontraditional explanation, there are websites and books though, itll be a funny endeavor b/c Zen is hilarious when you use it.
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some ZEN) "when the wish for peace is genuine, the means for finding it is given in a form each mind that seeks for it in honesty, can understand...
