Oneness of Practice and Enlightenment
Without the presence on the earth of a true teacher, there is no oneness of practice and enlightenment; it is only an idea in people's heads. Hearing the idea, people who are not enlightened like Michael Luetchford, Brad Warner, James Cohen think that their own practice of Zazen must be enlightened, and they transmit the idea to others, manifesting themselves in the world as "Dharma-heirs" of Gudo Nishijima. This is the general situation in the world of Zen today; it is not limited to Dogen Sangha. People enjoy their unenlightened Zazen and reinforce each other in their deluded beliefs. Master Dogen would say: KANASHIMU BESHI, KANASHIMU BESHI. It is lamentable. It is lamentable.
posted by Mike Cross at 11:06 AM
7 Comments:
Mike,
I seem to sense some discrimination in your words. The 'ole me and them routine. Reality looks different from every point of view. Try to be more accepting. Enlightenment is not the end of the Path...don't worry about it so much.
Nickm,
A very old Alexander teacher, with more than 60 years in the Work, once said to me, after several years of giving me Alexander lessons, "You are an inveterate worrier Mike, aren't you?" She paused and then added: "I know. I am too." It was a good lesson in acceptance.
It is true, FW, that my Buddhist quest hitherto has brought with it a lot of sadness. I have no wish to put on a smiley happy face. My wish rather is to bear witness.
I think that we all have blind spots. We see the blind spots of others, but we do not, by definition, see our own. So your perception is doubtless true. But I cannot see myself clinging. If I could, I wouldn't do it.
Oneness of practice and enlightenment is an idea which, when we first hear it, we struggle to believe. How can this crappy practice, full of worry about painful legs and miscellaneous thoughts, be enlightenment? Then, after some years, we begin to accept the idea. Then, after more years, in my own case, due to the input of Alexander teachers, I realized that my original doubt was true: the idea that even my first crappy practice was enlightenment, was just an idea, just an illusion I learnt to believe in.
The latter realization was, for me, a kind of enlightenment. So now when I practice there is oneness of practice and enlightenment. The enlightenment is the constant, never-ending realization of what a bloody fool I am.
Thank you for your kind concern. I love being punched. Always have done--as long as there is no malice behind it.
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Mikey, I can't help but feel you are a perversely spiritual person. you really do seem to revel in staking out your position as the lonesome oddball of crazy wisdom. every time you say that you are just a bloody fool it is obvious you think just the opposite. That because you recognize the fact that you are a fool and the rest of us do not realize that we too are fools, that that some how makes you less foolish than we are. Not a lot there to hang your hat on. Maybe you are not as foolish as you are malicious. Please explain to me what your problems are with Brad Warner. Am I missing something there? Your thoughts and his on practice and enlightenment do not seem all that different. It seems to me that he is truly interested in helping people find their way. Or is it just his style that grates on you? Your being able to bear witness is dependant on your being able to interpret correctly what you see. Unless of course you don’t care about understanding what you are witnessing. Anyway, you are never boring. Your faithful reader, oxeye
Thank you Ross, JZD, and oxeye, for the above comments. All are welcome.
Oxeye: About Brad, looking at one or two things he wrote, I made my clear intuitive decision about him. I could be wrong, but I made my mind up clearly, and by such decisions I live or die--like riding a motor bike.
FW,
I do not know whether you are man or woman, young or old. You wrote about a baby daughter, but without a photo or some background information, it is difficult for me to relate to you. Anyway, I sense in your comment both true compassion and also a certain innocence.
I have been attacked already, and defeated already. As Nishijima Roshi himself used to say, "All human life is political." I think that what I am saying calls for a kind of revolution in the Zen world, an overturning of orthodoxy within Dogen Samgha anyway. For such insolence, I have had to pay a price. You do not know the half of it.
I am endeavoring to bear witness, to tell the truth. I have no virtual name; my name is Mike Cross. My photo is on my blog. Is this not good enough for you?
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