Realizing Genjokoan - Chapter 3 - P 31 to P 35

[Jundo]

I have to admit that after years of practice I'm no nearer to transcending a fear of death.

When I was awaiting my cancer surgery, I felt it was more transcending without transcending. I am not that Wallenda tight rope walker fellow crossing the grand canyon. I am a chicken. Yet, I was also beyond and thoroughly free of all fear at once.

I think the brief piece on the Heart Sutra and Twelve Links is a bit muddling. Just reading an excellent book by Rupert Gethin 'The Foundations of Buddhism' which has made me realise just how sketchy my understanding of buddhist philosophy is. I've had some real light bulbs moments of understanding reading this book because it deftly explains/interlinks the major concepts.

Never forget that it explains an interpretation of the major concepts. Most such books come from the authors perspective. The main areas of expertise of Rupert Gethin appear to be South Asian Buddhism focused on the Nikayas and Abhidhamma, and the book you mention has a relatively few number of pages devoted to the Mahayana, let alone the entirety of Japanese Buddhism, let alone Zen. So, expect it to be flavored in such way.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Tairin]

I am glad I read this at the end of this section.

And the Heart Sutra states that it contains the true teaching of the Buddha even though a “no” appears before all of the basic teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha in the text. It is therefore very important that we understand what these negations mean. These negations were written to help us realize the freedom that the Buddha taught of: freedom from attachment, in this case attachment to concepts that narrow our ability to respond to reality as it unfolds.

As part of my practice I am trying (desperately at times) to not come to pin any of this practice to a set of definitions. Defining things, postulating, categorizing etc will just end up constraining my understanding as I then try to sift between this and that. Each day and each moment I am trying to see things as they are rather than through a lens. I appreciate what these schools of Buddhism are trying to do but I also recognize that there is a dogma of attaching to one or another view.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Jinyo]

When I was awaiting my cancer surgery, I felt it was more transcending without transcending. I am not that Wallenda tight rope walker fellow crossing the grand canyon. I am a chicken. Yet, I was also beyond and thoroughly free of all fear at once.



Never forget that it explains an interpretation of the major concepts. Most such books come from the authors perspective. The main areas of expertise of Rupert Gethin appear to be South Asian Buddhism focused on the Nikayas and Abhidhamma, and the book you mention has a relatively few number of pages devoted to the Mahayana, let alone the entirety of Japanese Buddhism, let alone Zen. So, expect it to be flavored in such way.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

Yes - he's very clear that his approach is 'historical' - concentrating on the formative phase of Buddhism in India - but all the foundations are there and I haven't read anything yet that contradicts or muddles what I've understood thus far from a Mahayana approach. I can't sense any bias in it - it's well researched and written but I'm only half-way through so will see how it goes.
I think his underlying approach is to point out 'family relationships' rather than to give definitive interpretations.



sat today

[Seibu]

Understanding the negations of the Heart Sutra really hit the nail on the head. As a beginner, I had a hunch what it was trying to tell me but this part of the book has been really insightful to me. To me, the best part is where Okumura states that "The Heart Sutra says that even the teachings of Buddhism are empty and should not be clung to as irrefutable truths."

When I was a teenager I started the quest to try to understand what life was all about. I'll keep it concise. In my early twenties I allowed myself to be persuaded by friends who attended a variety of religious flavors to join them a couple of times. In my free time I read many books about existentialism, religion, humanism, politics, and about other people who shared their views on reality by means of books, or other art forms. I could never commit to any of these perspectives as I noticed other people did or perhaps I should say allowed themselves to do. I studied religious studies for about a year before switching to a different major, got involved in politics, I had a fling with the Bhagavad Gita and Transcendentalism during my undergrad years and wrote my thesis about the notion of the self in Emerson's Self-Reliance, but couldn't really commit as if it were the only truth out there because I still felt something was missing about life and reality.

Today, I still have a hard time defining Zen Buddhism as a religion. Most major religious flavors claim to have answers to truth, reality, death, life, human existence, purpose, and meaning, but to me they remain just that: definitions and claims, and to me, they do not show me life. They show me interpretations of the notions I just mentioned. Okumura, Jundo, and Uchiyama tell me that I should practice, that I should follow my own path, that I should try to understand the universal self "prior to all definitions," that I should see myself as "part of the soup of the universe" and at the same time acknowledge my personal self and life as I see it but with new awareness, and that I should not "cling to irrefutable truths."

Isn't that wonderful? I think it is because Zen doesn't encourage me to define: it encourages me to undo the definitions, to disentangle, to practice and see reality for what it is, to be aware of all the mental creations, definitions, and perceptions I have as a human being.

Concerning the question about grasping the idea of transcending death, I do have some sense of it. As an Astronomy enthusiast I can understand how we are just one big soup of atoms, and in my practice I sometimes have moments of clarity during which I perceive everything around me just as it is. Ever since I watched Jundo's beginners series and read Opening the Hand of Thought I can say that the idea of death seems more like a transformation of my physical self, and I have reconciled with the reality of impermanence. At this point in my life I still feel that this might not suffice to fully accept the end of my existence as I perceive it. I understand it intellectually, but if death drew near tomorrow I know I'd have a hard time with it.

Gassho,
Jack
Sattoday/lah

[Shinshi]

QUESTION - Do you see how your mind may be creating, right now, most aspects of your experience of this world of things and events because the names and images of the same are imposed between your ears? (I like to give the example of how you see a "chair," but an ant crawling across it does not know it is a "chair," and a space alien without legs coming to earth might not see it as anything but a raw shape. So, you actual turn a group of atoms into "chair" in your mind because you associate a certain shape with a function and then a name, thus creating a "chair" thing from the raw shape. You might see a "blue" chair, but the chair is not "blue." Instead, there is a group of atoms in a certain shape releasing photons of a certain frequency. It is your eyes that reacts to the photons, and the brain which then creates a mental image and "inner movie" which experiences that frequency of photons as "blue." However, really, there is no "blue" apart from that).

I am experiencing something related on a physical level. There are some issues with my back but the sensation I have is pins and needles in my shin and pain in my hip. But there is nothing wrong with either of them. Nerves in my spine are being stimulated and I experience that stimulation as experience in other parts of my body. So, basically, my body is lying to me.

- Do you see how learning to toss yourself and all the things in the world into the "Puree" of Emptiness would be liberating?

Mostly I feel understand some of this conceptually, the doing is a bit harder.

- Do you have some sense about transcending death via the "puree" of emptiness?

Again, I think I have a bit of an idea about this - but again it feels more like more of an intellectual understanding as opposed to knowing it in my bones.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Ryoku]

I have always been interested in the reality that exists before our mind starts to discriminate, label, etc. I think the feeling that I wasn’t experiencing life, but rather just creating a running commentary about it led to my early interest in Buddhism and Zen in particular. Now I realize that it’s not just our thoughts that shape our reality but all sensations, emotions, etc. Shikantaza seems to really drive at this point. The act of ‘just sitting’ allows us to try and experience each moment before our mind analyzes it and our emotions associate a feeling with it. Even the act of observing ourselves doing this can help close the gap between ourselves and the lives we’re experiencing.

Gassho,

Ryoku
ST/Lah