Buddha-Basics (Part IV) — Viewing Right

[Erinis]

This is very useful, cleared me some things about Zen's typical controversy

Thank you fot the teching Jundo,

Gassho
Sat Today

[Shigeru]

I used to learn and practice budo and I thought of my earlier training when I watched this video, we used to speak about the three stages of learning a discipline, they are (roughly) "following" (shu), "breaking" (ha) and "leaving". (ri)

The first stage is about learning and memorizing the rules, forms, techniques and so fourth (beginner), the second is about becoming sufficiently proficient that you begin to go deeper and question the underlying rules and techniques to start developing your own touch and interpretation (adept) and the final stage is all about mastering your understanding and proficiency in such a way that you can utilize the school as self-expression, teach it well to others, be creative and "transcend forms" (expert).

I think this offers a good perspective on the issue of "learning words" or "transcending words". You have to learn the basics, or else if you skip to the transcendence part you will hurt yourself (for example, if you don't learn to fall correctly and instead go about "transcending form" you will hurt yourself when you try to invent your own way of falling). It is necessary to grind the basics and memorize names, concepts, ideas and the like, in order to have a basis for questioning and deeper inquiry, and later in order to be able to "let go". You also don't get to the final stage (or maybe it is the first stage of a new path? ) by just memorizing and learning, you need to practice and put what you learn into action to make it truly part of yourself. Both have their time and place, but they are both important!

Those are my two cents, thank you for this lesson

Gassho,
Will
SatLah

[Alina]

Thank you Jundo.

Sitting with right view in mind I realized that to practice right view means/includes to let go of older/previous, "not-right" views. Letting go of other paths to follow the Way of the Buddha.

[emoji120]
Gassho
Alina
st+lah

Edit: I realized today that my comment probably sounds like "duh" to anyone reading it... what I meant was that right view as a practice means actively letting go of our old ways of understanding, catching ourselves when we fall in the trap of negative thinking/views and actively coming back to "right view", to choose right view in every day life, until it is a part of it. I had never thought of Right View as an active practice, it felt almost like the "theory" side of Buddhism for me.

Gassho


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