5 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Attaining the Unattainable: "Nothing to Attain" is NOT "Do Nothing Zen"
Many aspects of traditional meditation are visualization, embodying a Buddha to become the wisdom and compassion of Buddha. Even many of the Koan call for becoming the ancient masters in the Koan. I believe that there is a certain aspect like that, emulating the Buddha. What's wrong with it? Taigen Dan Leighton, the Zen priest and historian, has a wonderful essay on that ... Zazen as Enactment Ritual ...
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"Buddhist meditation has commonly been considered an instrumental technique aimed at obtaining a heightened mental or spiritual state, or even as a method for inducing some dramatic ‘‘enlightenment’’ experience. But in some branches of the Zen tradition, zazen (Zen seated meditation) has been seen not as a means to attaining some result, but as a ritual enactment and expression of awakened awareness. This alternate, historically significant approach to Zen meditation and practice has been a ceremonial, ritual expression whose transformative quality is not based on stages of attainment or meditative prowess. The Zen ritual enactment approach is most apparent and developed in writings about zazen by the Japanese Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen (1200–1253). ... Before focusing on teachings by Dogen, we may briefly note that such enactment practice is usually associated with the Vajrayana branch of Buddhism, in which practitioners are initiated into ritual practices of identification with specific buddha or bodhisattva figures. Although Vajrayana is often considered the province of Tibetan Buddhism, increasing attention is being given to the crucial role of the Japanese forms of Vajrayana (J. mikkyo). ... For Dogen and others, Zen shares with the Vajrayana tradition the heart of spiritual activity and praxis as the enactment of buddha awareness and physical presence, rather than aiming at developing a perfected, formulated understanding." https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/Leighton-Zazen-ZenRitual.pdf[1][2]
1: https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/Leighton-Zazen-ZenRitual.pdf
2: https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/Leighton-Zazen-ZenRitual.pdf
Comment by Temporary-Sea-4782 at 24/01/2025 at 18:26 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thanks for this. I am a better book nerd 🤓 than I am a meditator. This fills a bunch of gaps in my head regarding the relationship or lack thereof between vajrayana and zen.
Comment by awakeningoffaith at 24/01/2025 at 18:02 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is reddit in Mappo, dharma decline age. People take a special pleasure in harassing and disturbing ordained clergy and teachers. Similar people also shunned and harassed Guo Gu for example when he came to reddit to do an AMA. I'm sorry that you're being harassed so consistently but this is the reality of reddit unfortunately.
You can take a look at here for example. Users with the most regular engagement on Reddit are the ones with most mental health problems.