Philosophy Now Forum

Only one and a half books. Personally I stick with the Pali Canon.

Jaded Sage wrote:Only one and a half books. Personally I stick with the Pali Canon.

I would guess that is Buddhism as opposed to Zen Buddhism, there are some differences, and I am more familiar with Zen, and the Buddhism that you are reading might not include the One mind, concept.

thedoc wrote:

Jaded Sage wrote:Only one and a half books. Personally I stick with the Pali Canon.

I would guess that is Buddhism as opposed to Zen Buddhism, there are some differences, and I am more familiar with Zen, and the Buddhism that you are reading might not include the One mind, concept.

The only problem is I have read a whole lot of Zen quotes and Zen koans, and not one of them has mentioned one mind. You'd think out of the at least hundreds of lines that I've read at least one of them would've mentioned one mind.

Not even out of the 3 and a half books I've read, and many short parables I've read.

Also, I have heard that Zen is a fusion of Buddhism and Taoism, and there is no mention of one mind in either of them. So it's a mystery as to where it would've come from.

Even in literature, when Zen is mentioned, there is no mention of one mind.

Jaded Sage wrote:

thedoc wrote:

Jaded Sage wrote:Only one and a half books. Personally I stick with the Pali Canon.

I would guess that is Buddhism as opposed to Zen Buddhism, there are some differences, and I am more familiar with Zen, and the Buddhism that you are reading might not include the One mind, concept.

The only problem is I have read a whole lot of Zen quotes and Zen koans, and not one of them has mentioned one mind. You'd think out of the at least hundreds of lines that I've read at least one of them would've mentioned one mind.

Not even out of the 3 and a half books I've read, and many short parables I've read.

Also, I have heard that Zen is a fusion of Buddhism and Taoism, and there is no mention of one mind in either of them. So it's a mystery as to where it would've come from.

Even in literature, when Zen is mentioned, there is no mention of one mind.

Unfortunately I am going on memory now as I no longer have the books I read, and can't go back and find the references. Perhaps is was one sect of Zen that developed this concept and it wasn't written about by others, or maybe only in later writings?

Zen is a sect. It would have been in an obscure school. It sounds old awful lot like new age, therefore I must conclude the latter.

I did find a reference to it here,

https://essenceofbuddhism.wordpress.com ... -huang-po/

http://vajranatha.com/articles/dzogchen ... -mind.html

http://www.debate.org/forums/Religion/topic/16625/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_mind

You would be surprised what you can find on the internet.

Oh, I think I vaguely remember that. I think it's called universal mind. It's not a very big part of zen tho. Stick to the koans if you wanna know about zen. Google SATORI. That's the goal.

Jaded Sage wrote:Oh, I think I vaguely remember that. I think it's called universal mind. It's not a very big part of zen tho. Stick to the koans if you wanna know about zen. Google SATORI. That's the goal.

While Koans are interesting and sometimes amusing, they are intended for the individual they were given to and not anyone else. They might aid you in your quest but the individual Koan is not intended to reach your mind and move you in the direction to enlightenment, that would be a Koan tailored specifically for you. The student does not always use a Koan to achieve enlightenment, the koan is just to give the student something to concentrate on so that they can realize enlightenment.

Yes, but if you've been studying the same things chances are you will benefit from the same koans. I've read them. I've benefited from them. They produce satori.

If you know what is significant about this one, I give you the biggest gold star:

One zen student said, “My teacher is the best. He can go days without eating.”
The second said, “My teacher has so much self-control, he can go days without sleep.”
The third said, “My teacher is so wise that he eats when he’s hungry and sleeps when he’s tired.”

Jaded Sage wrote:Yes, but if you've been studying the same things chances are you will benefit from the same koans. I've read them. I've benefited from them. They produce satori.

If you know what is significant about this one, I give you the biggest gold star:

One zen student said, “My teacher is the best. He can go days without eating.”
The second said, “My teacher has so much self-control, he can go days without sleep.”
The third said, “My teacher is so wise that he eats when he’s hungry and sleeps when he’s tired.”

The third student's teacher was enlightened, the others were trying too hard.

Jaded Sage wrote:Oh, I think I vaguely remember that. I think it's called universal mind. It's not a very big part of zen tho. Stick to the koans if you wanna know about zen. Google SATORI. That's the goal.

Yes, it's called the "universal Mind", "One Mind", "No Mind", "Non-duality" and possibly several other terms as well, it's also been written that language cannot describe accurately what it is, or what Satori is. I believe that it must be experienced to really understand it, "Those who know, don't say; and those who say, don't know."

thedoc wrote:

Jaded Sage wrote:Yes, but if you've been studying the same things chances are you will benefit from the same koans. I've read them. I've benefited from them. They produce satori.

If you know what is significant about this one, I give you the biggest gold star:

One zen student said, “My teacher is the best. He can go days without eating.”
The second said, “My teacher has so much self-control, he can go days without sleep.”
The third said, “My teacher is so wise that he eats when he’s hungry and sleeps when he’s tired.”

The third student's teacher was enlightened, the others were trying too hard.

I'm sorry. You do not win the biggest gold star.

Jaded Sage wrote:

thedoc wrote:

Jaded Sage wrote:Yes, but if you've been studying the same things chances are you will benefit from the same koans. I've read them. I've benefited from them. They produce satori.

If you know what is significant about this one, I give you the biggest gold star:

One zen student said, “My teacher is the best. He can go days without eating.”
The second said, “My teacher has so much self-control, he can go days without sleep.”
The third said, “My teacher is so wise that he eats when he’s hungry and sleeps when he’s tired.”

The third student's teacher was enlightened, the others were trying too hard.

I'm sorry. You do not win the biggest gold star.

Then what, have you read, is the significance of this story?

To be honest, I just stumbled across that example. I wasn't planning on explaining this whole thing. It's actually one of the biggest things there is in religion and philosophy. I plan on explaining it in the future, but I'm going to need a long time to do so. I can give you this tiny explanation I've already typed:

Philosophy involves transformation, or perfection, or as James puts it, "regeneration", which is also synonymous with spiritual conversion (as opposed to theological conversion). Regeneration is marked most notably by an absence of desire or tendency to commit, give in to or experience any type of badness in the most general sense, be it smoking, grudge-holding, cowardice, pessimism or "dukkha". This marked occurance is called "resignation" by Kierkegaard, and apparently it happens both gradually and instantly. "Temptations from outside continue to occur, but there is nothing within me to respond to them." See Romans6

No longer viewing the unimportant as important, but viewing the unimportant as unimportant, is resignation (crucifixion). No longer viewing the important as unimportant, but viewing the important as important, is regeneration (resurrection).

http://lifehacker.com/four-confusing-ze ... 1676177538

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."

"When hungry, eat your rice; when tired close your eyes. Fools may laugh at me, but wise men will know what I mean."

Perhaps this will help you to understand why I was correct.

Zen Buddhism teaches you to be aware of what you are doing, even in the most mundane of activities. Nothing is unimportant to one who is enlightened.