Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

[Madrone]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

All practices is essentially the same, all practice essentially leads to the same goal; to have a happy more compassionate life. But the philosophies are very different. This difference is there because there are many different types of people. What works for one,won't work for another. And all because a practice worked for you once doesn't mean it is always going to work in every instance. I think exploring other practices, and even other religions can be good. It's a good reminder that despite all the outside difference, we are all trying to do the same thing...

Just my thoughts....

Gassho

Seiryu

Seiryu, I like what you say here. I think it is important to learn about different ideas and approaches to practice. I also think it is important ultimately to pick an approach that works and really stick with it. Maybe these somehow go hand-in-hand.

Nobody here suggests that folks should avoid even reading about other approaches and practices, correct? There must be some possibility of beneficial cross fertilization of ideas. If we are to light unto ourselves mustn't we have the discretion and maturity to decide what is and is not beneficial and skillful?

[Rev R]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

What will a man do with three shoes?

juggle

[Khalil Bodhi]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

Rev. J,

I truly appreciate your kind response. That definitely helps! Mettaya!

Gassho,

Mike

[Jundo]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

I hope you won't mind me resurrecting an old thread. I have been faithfully sitting shikantaza and will continue to learn more about the tradition as time goes on but I still practice metta and anapanasati each morning and do puja in the Theravada style. I don't foresee me letting go of these at present but would be interested to know what, if any, the drawbacks may be of practicing in this way. Metta to all!

Mike

Hi Mike,

Here is my personal feeling on this ...

We also encourage everyone in our Sangha to practice a recital of Metta each day ...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1199

... and we have other folks around here who are Zennies while also Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Agnostic, chanting to Amida or Thor and the like.

So long as one sits (and is sat by) Shikantaza each day, Whole and Complete, Sacred and Still, with not one thing to add or take away, no other practice needed (not while seated anyway) to make being there more Whole and Complete ... not any other place to be, not one other thing to do in all time and space in that moment of sitting ...

... then when one rises from the cushion, one may wash the dishes or watch TV, have salad for lunch or a sandwich, pray to Jesus or not, chant to Amida or not, engage in anapanasati breath awareness meditation or not, take a doctor's medicine for a bad kidney or not, engage in Puja (acts of devotion) such as bowing or making offerings or not (and finding the sacredness of life and Buddha in other ways of expression ... e.g., I do not see any distinction myself between the sacred act of lighting incense on an altar and the sacred act of changing my daughter's soiled diaper, but that is just my personal feeling and I practice both!).

Hopefully, at some point, the "to the marrow" Wholeness and Completeness and "nothing more in need of obtaining or attaining-ness" of Shikantaza will come to underlay and bring to life all of that ... from washing dishes, to praying or not, to breathing, to changing diapers, to chanting metta ... all of life, on and off the cushion, not separate.

I hope that answers the question.

Gassho, J

[Khalil Bodhi]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

I hope you won't mind me resurrecting an old thread. I have been faithfully sitting shikantaza and will continue to learn more about the tradition as time goes on but I still practice metta and anapanasati each morning and do puja in the Theravada style. I don't foresee me letting go of these at present but would be interested to know what, if any, the drawbacks may be of practicing in this way. Metta to all!

Mike

[JohnsonCM]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

I asked about this once before, and Stephanie and Taigu had some words that helped sort things out for me, so perhaps reading their responses from earlier might help......

http://www.treeleaf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2374

[Seiryu]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

All practices is essentially the same, all practice essentially leads to the same goal; to have a happy more compassionate life. But the philosophies are very different. This difference is there because there are many different types of people. What works for one,won't work for another. And all because a practice worked for you once doesn't mean it is always going to work in every instance. I think exploring other practices, and even other religions can be good. It's a good reminder that despite all the outside difference, we are all trying to do the same thing...

Just my thoughts....

Gassho

Seiryu

[Taylor]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

To be honest on this subject,
I do read a lot of texts and commentaries from other traditions, I also I've been in retreats in different traditions... And I was a kind of spiritual materialist for years!
When "at ease" in one practice, it doesn't mean not having any challenges and difficulties in our practice, when we don't try to grasp like a vacuum any kind of spiritual/intellectual knowledge that passes by.

When this kind of playful and more open practice take place, I still find useful and agreable to look at sacred text from other traditions... what are other traditions really... I can point to dozens of passages of the Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Vippassana, ... traditions with all their different and fresh tastes, and they all seem to express the same reality that couldn't be expressed. All the same open and luminous awareness... And when we don't try to pin, to fix these beautiful texts in any kind of way, we can appreciate their simple and open bright experience... and that is priceless and has nothing to do with spiritual materialism!

But at the very moment I lose the playful and open way, at the moment concepts of knowledge and intellectual meanings appear, When we try to "see" more than the text gives us, these precious teachings are nothing more than words and concepts.

It's a shame that it is so difficult to just practice what we practice. To just read what we read and fully experience what we experience. So easy to get caught in endless questioning!

Don't get me wrong doubt is beautiful! But "resting in I don't know" is far more difficult than "resting in I want to know"...
Sorry I'm a bit out of the subject again! :lol:
Have a nice practice everyone!
gassho,
Jinyu

Right on! This rings very true to me. I am working on being less "This way is only this way, that way is only that". Occasionally I will still slip into it, thinking that only Soto applies to Soto, Seon to Seon, Rinzai to Rinzai. I'm trying to read more and feel more of what I read rather than placing it in its Rinzai, Thein, or Tibetan Box. Obviously there are differences in form and focus, but eh.

All the splitting takes away from the luminosity, and sometimes I feel that I need to step away from Dogen, Uchiyama, Suzuki, et. al for a book or two and take a look from a different angle. Keeps me on my toes!

Gassho,
Taylor (Myoken)

[Ankai]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

In my limited experience, sometimes studying another tradition can bring your own into focus. I'm reading the Eight Gates of Zen by Loori Roshi this week, and their practice seems starkly different than shikantaza.

It's very different, but I've gotten a tremendous ammount of wisdom from Daido Roshi. I've also found tremendous insights into my life and practice in "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by sogyal Rinpoche, which, despite Dzogchen's similarity to Zen, is still firmly rooted in the Tantric practice of Vajrayana. I find a lot of brilliance in the Western/Abrahamic faiths and their offshoots as well. I guess what I'm saying is simply don't throw away genuine wisdom just because you don't like the brand name.

[Seiryu]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

As long as we do not start to think that one practice or school is better than another. All is Buddhism, whether it is Buddhist or not. All lead to the same path, the only different comes whether you are walking on one or not.


Gassho

Seiry?

Many Paths up the Mountain, and many different ways for many different climbers. Anyway, what destination? What Mountain?

Yet, some paths go in circles, some lead right off a cliff. Beware!

Gassho, Jundo

But hopefully one is watching their footing... :wink:

Gassho

Seiry?

[Jundo]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

As long as we do not start to think that one practice or school is better than another. All is Buddhism, whether it is Buddhist or not. All lead to the same path, the only different comes whether you are walking on one or not.


Gassho

Seiry?

Many Paths up the Mountain, and many different ways for many different climbers. Anyway, what destination? What Mountain?

Yet, some paths go in circles, some lead right off a cliff. Beware!

Gassho, Jundo

[Seiryu]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

As long as we do not start to think that one practice or school is better than another. All is Buddhism, whether it is Buddhist or not. All lead to the same path, the only different comes whether you are walking on one or not.


Gassho

Seiry?

[Jinyu]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

To be honest on this subject,
I do read a lot of texts and commentaries from other traditions, I also I've been in retreats in different traditions... And I was a kind of spiritual materialist for years!
When "at ease" in one practice, it doesn't mean not having any challenges and difficulties in our practice, when we don't try to grasp like a vacuum any kind of spiritual/intellectual knowledge that passes by.

When this kind of playful and more open practice take place, I still find useful and agreable to look at sacred text from other traditions... what are other traditions really... I can point to dozens of passages of the Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Vippassana, ... traditions with all their different and fresh tastes, and they all seem to express the same reality that couldn't be expressed. All the same open and luminous awareness... And when we don't try to pin, to fix these beautiful texts in any kind of way, we can appreciate their simple and open bright experience... and that is priceless and has nothing to do with spiritual materialism!

But at the very moment I lose the playful and open way, at the moment concepts of knowledge and intellectual meanings appear, When we try to "see" more than the text gives us, these precious teachings are nothing more than words and concepts.

It's a shame that it is so difficult to just practice what we practice. To just read what we read and fully experience what we experience. So easy to get caught in endless questioning!

Don't get me wrong doubt is beautiful! But "resting in I don't know" is far more difficult than "resting in I want to know"...
Sorry I'm a bit out of the subject again! :lol:
Have a nice practice everyone!
gassho,
Jinyu

[Seiryu]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

Interesting topic, and an important one at that. '

Staying solely with one practice, vs. trying many different practices certainly have their pros and cons. but one problem that 'can' come up with staying with only one practice indefinably is; that it can become like putting blinders over your eyes. you can only see things through your practice, and in the perspective on your own practice. I know of/ and here a lot about people who practice so intensely on one thing that it blinds them from looking at anything else. these people tend to become like "if its not Buddhist(or anything else), I don't want to know about it."

But trying many different things can become confusing and overwhelming and may lead to people just giving up all together.

So in the end one really has to pay attention to themselves and their state of mind. it is like going to the kitchen for a midnight snack. you have to pay attention to how hungry you are otherwise you might over eat or under eat.

All practice is good, but not all practice is good for everyone.

Gassho

Rafael

[Daibh]

Re: Teachings Practices from other Schools / Traditions

Still following this thread and still glad to have posed the question.

Most interesting answers!

Cheers everyone!

Hope you and yours are all fine and well!