An Experiment in Buddhist Discussion

[doc benway]

This thread is for succinct discussion of Buddhist topics.

Each post must be < 50 words.

No consecutive posts.

I generally don't have time to read the really long posts.

I think they give us room to deteriorate into argument and detours.

Anyone interested?

[GrandmasterP]

Good idea.

How about for starters......

 

" What was your face before your parents were born?"

[Apech]

Good idea. How about for starters...... " What was your face before your parents were born?"

 

 

If I knew this was going to be a Zen inquisition I wouldn't have come here.

 

I don't understand the question can you explain it please.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Apech

[GrandmasterP]

I was rather hoping that someone else might explain it.

I can't.

:-)

 

[C T]

What is the primary factor in determining whether one's experience is conditioned by frustration or by joyful equanimity?

 

thoughts please, anyone?

[C T]

Virtuous discussion is part of right practice. Right practice cannot be apart from the enlightening process, like warmth cannot be apart from heat. Here's what Dogen had to say:

 

Practice and Enlightenment ~ Dogen Zenji

Thinking that practice and enlightenment are not one is no more than a view that is outside the Way [that is, deluded]. In the buddha-dharma, practice and enlightenment are one and the same. Because it is the practice of enlightenment, a beginner’s wholehearted practice of the Way is exactly the totality of original enlightenment. For this reason, in conveying the essential attitude for practice, it is taught not to wait for enlightenment outside practice.

 

 

 

Do you think Dogen was right? I think he was.

 

 

When we practice correctly, its the end of conflict, and we become wholly at one with original nature. When we discuss correctly, there is room for all to be at ease, and when we are completely at ease, permeated with a deep sense of tranquil allowing, it will feel like our original face is revealed. Perhaps its the face that was there before our parents were born.

 

[GrandmasterP]

+1

" Just cultivate."

 

( Was it Dogen who said "Just sit"?).

 

All that words do is to get in the way sometimes.

[Apech]

What is the primary factor in determining whether one's experience is conditioned by frustration or by joyful equanimity?

 

thoughts please, anyone?

 

Ignorance?

[Simple_Jack]

In seeing, no seer; In hearing, no hearer; In thinking, no thinker; In feeling, no feeler; In smelling, no smeller; In tasting, no taster.

[Marblehead]

Good idea. How about for starters...... " What was your face before your parents were born?"

I think that, regardless of belief system, prior to birth our face was "no face".

 

This will vary between belief systems regarding after death.

 

Even considering reincarnation, one's prior life was something else, then (physical) death then a new self.

[Marblehead]

In seeing, no seer; In hearing, no hearer; In thinking, no thinker; In feeling, no feeler; In smelling, no smeller; In tasting, no taster.

Hehehe. I still love that concept even though I totally disagree with it.

[Simple_Jack]

In seeing, no seer; In hearing, no hearer; In thinking, no thinker; In feeling, no feeler; In smelling, no smeller; In tasting, no taster.

Hehehe. I still love that concept even though I totally disagree with it.

 

In seeing, just seeing; In hearing, just hearing, In thinking, just thinking, In feeling, just feeling; In smelling, just smelling; In tasting, just tasting.

[GrandmasterP]

That last one can be a kicker.

I can still remember the first ( and last) time I tried roasted butternut squash.

E- W!

 

:-(

 

 

Utterly foul.

Edited March 23, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[GrandmasterP]

"Buddhism is not any special teaching. It's our human way."

Suzuki ( in Chadwick: ' Crooked Cucumber' : 1999, p.184).

[Marblehead]

In seeing, just seeing; In hearing, just hearing, In thinking, just thinking, In feeling, just feeling; In smelling, just smelling; In tasting, just tasting.

For me that is so much better. Thanks.

[Marblehead]

That last one can be a kicker.

I can still remember the first ( and last) time I tried roasted butternut squash.

E- W!

 

:-(

 

 

Utterly foul.

They are to be cooked as if cooking small fish.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Marblehead

[Jeff]

Then the World-honoured One uttered this gatha:

"If any one by form sees me, By voice seeks me,

This one walks the false path, And cannot see the Tathagata."

 

 

Lotus Sutra

Edited March 23, 2014 by Jeff

[doc benway]

Good idea. How about for starters...... " What was your face before your parents were born?"

Koans were designed to be a stimulus for personal investigation under the guidance of a master, not for debate and discussion so much…

That said, it is dbyer-med

[GrandmasterP]

That'd be the Rinzai zen sect

Soto zen sect discuss koans much as we'd chat about the weather.

Horses for courses really, we can do as we choose and discuss as we wish.

 

[thelerner]

Good idea. How about for starters...... " What was your face before your parents were born?"

wise ass answer 1:

It looked alot like my grandfathers, or so I'm told.

wise ass answer 2:

Mu! (always a good fall back to Zen questions)

 

my best answer, as of right now

I had no face.

thats the best I got.

[silent thunder]

before birth, face is no-thing...

[silent thunder]

What is the primary factor in determining whether one's experience is conditioned by frustration or by joyful equanimity?

 

thoughts please, anyone?

I like Apech's answer of ignorance.

In my experience the ignorance often manifests as attachment.

[Apech]

I like Apech's answer of ignorance.

In my experience the ignorance often manifests as attachment.

 

I specialise in ignorance.

[C T]

I like Apech's answer of ignorance.

In my experience the ignorance often manifests as attachment.

According to Mingyur Rinpoche, the determining factor is one's motivation.

 

All of one's thoughts and actions are guided by motive.

 

Its only logical that correct motivation will sustain one's wish to get a certain result. Incorrect motivation can never produce any desirable outcomes.

[Apech]

According to Mingyur Rinpoche, the determining factor is one's motivation.

 

All of one's thoughts and actions are guided by motive.

 

Its only logical that correct motivation will sustain one's wish to get a certain result. Incorrect motivation can never produce any desirable outcomes.

 

Ah but from where and how does one derive motivation?