A Mother's Advice
Jiun, a Shingon master, was a well-known Sanskrit scholar of the Tokugawa era. When he was young he used to deliver lectures to his brother students.
His mother heard about this and wrote him a letter:
"Son, I do not think you became a devotee of the Buddha because you desired to turn into a walking dictionary for others. There is no end to information and commentation, glory and honor. I wish you would stop this lecture business. Shut yourself up in a little temple in a remote part of the mountain. Devote your time to meditation and in this way attain true realization."
#20 of 101 Zen stories transcribed by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps
posted by Derek (formerly 'me') @ Tuesday, May 23, 2006
7 comments
7 Comments:
If you are ready for a challenge try explaining to this fellow professor and philosopher what value there is in staring at walls
http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2006/05/on-pseudo-profoundity-of-some-eastern.html
or click here
karen,
good points. I think he's pretty much unaware of why anyone might even want to do zazen.
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This is a good example of a good rational mind gone wild. I looked at some of his other posts, and the guy is clearly an intellectual; not that there's anything wrong with that, but he honestly doesn't see any possibility that the individual has any higher function than the rational mind.
And by his definition, he's right, Zen is not philosophy. He obviously hasn't gone beyond the New Age shelf in Borders for his Eastern philosophy though, because of lot of it is just the kind of ratiocination he thinks is the be-all and end-all. Confucianism certainly comes to mind.
What's hilarious is that we are having this discussion under a blog entry which denies the viability of blog discussions in Buddhism. I love it.
but he honestly doesn't see any possibility that the individual has any higher function than the rational mind.
Higher? What is higher or lower? And how do you know you are holding it the right way up?
And by his definition, he's right, Zen is not philosophy.
The generally accepted definition of philosophy is 'love of truth'. Rationalism is the dominant present form of philosphy but it isn't the only one - Continental (European) philosophy comes to mind. For Buddhists reality itself is the ultimate 'truth' if there can be said to be one at all.
Justin, Great post on Massimo's blog by the way!
I find him a great catalyst to organize thoughts - to defend Zen from being lumped in with methods that fail to approach truth.
If I'd listened to Karen, I'd have saved a lot of time. But it was still valuable to me. Like me said, the discussion was a good catalyst for organizing my own thoughts.
I'm sure you're all familiar with this story:
A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. "It's overfull! No more will go in!" the professor blurted. "You are like this cup," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"
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