Hi WIllow,
I could have said it better than she is "not a Buddhist/Zen Practitioner" (I changed it to "That is because those poor, crying, heartbroken women are not experiencing events with a Buddha's Eyes."). However, I believe that a Zen student would come to experience loss and tragedy in a very new way. In fact, I believe this to be the central point of Buddhism ... since the original days when the Buddha taught how not to experience sickness, old age, death, loss of treasure or those we love, not in the same deluded way as most folks.
Now, please do not misunderstand ... my heart goes out to those women, to anyone in crisis, to anyone suffering from the grief of having lost things or people they love.
Also, please do not misunderstand ... because I would (and have been even recently) myself extremely heart broken, fearful, distraught, grieving and all the rest when I have experienced and witnessed loss (such as last year during and witnessing the tsunami, earthquake, nuclear disaster, almost losing our daughter to a sickness).
As well, I agree with you that cherishing friends and relationships is lovely and healthy, and we should do so. Nothing wrong with valuing and keeping keepsakes that remind us of those people and connections. The walls of our home are covered with old family pictures of those we loved, many now lost.
HOWEVER, the heart of Buddhist Practice is non-attachment, letting go, non-clinging, going with the flow. We do experience a realm in which there is no heart to break, nothing to fear, no possible loss or anywhere to go. A Wholeness so Whole, there is no one to be lost, no one to lose them. Buddhism 1o1.
The marvelous thing is that, in the Mahayana Way**, one can experience all of the above At Once As One ... a broken heart and "The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom" at once. Yes, one can shed tears and experience a Buddha's peaceful smile at once. One can cherish the people and stuff we have, yet be willing to let it go when it goes ... all at Once. (Yes, the former "attachment" without the latter "non-attachment, willingness to let go" is a source of Dukkha, Suffering.).
I did not mean to express a coldness or lack of empathy and sympathy for those poor women on the tape. Far from it! I would cry with them, offer a shoulder to cry on too. It is just that ... more than restoring their homes and furniture, their money or family's health and lives (though I wish them that too), we can teach this great, clear Way of Liberation.
Gassho, J
** (Perhaps the so-called "Hinayana" schools were rather more into attaining the peace and equanimity of Buddha totally free of and removed from the tears and like emotions, property and emotional human relationships of ordinary life ... but the Mahayana and Zen Schools found how to have one's Dharma Cake and Eat it Too in life).
I could have said it better than she is "not a Buddhist/Zen Practitioner" (I changed it to "That is because those poor, crying, heartbroken women are not experiencing events with a Buddha's Eyes."). However, I believe that a Zen student would come to experience loss and tragedy in a very new way. In fact, I believe this to be the central point of Buddhism ... since the original days when the Buddha taught how not to experience sickness, old age, death, loss of treasure or those we love, not in the same deluded way as most folks.
Now, please do not misunderstand ... my heart goes out to those women, to anyone in crisis, to anyone suffering from the grief of having lost things or people they love.
Also, please do not misunderstand ... because I would (and have been even recently) myself extremely heart broken, fearful, distraught, grieving and all the rest when I have experienced and witnessed loss (such as last year during and witnessing the tsunami, earthquake, nuclear disaster, almost losing our daughter to a sickness).
As well, I agree with you that cherishing friends and relationships is lovely and healthy, and we should do so. Nothing wrong with valuing and keeping keepsakes that remind us of those people and connections. The walls of our home are covered with old family pictures of those we loved, many now lost.
HOWEVER, the heart of Buddhist Practice is non-attachment, letting go, non-clinging, going with the flow. We do experience a realm in which there is no heart to break, nothing to fear, no possible loss or anywhere to go. A Wholeness so Whole, there is no one to be lost, no one to lose them. Buddhism 1o1.
The marvelous thing is that, in the Mahayana Way**, one can experience all of the above At Once As One ... a broken heart and "The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom" at once. Yes, one can shed tears and experience a Buddha's peaceful smile at once. One can cherish the people and stuff we have, yet be willing to let it go when it goes ... all at Once. (Yes, the former "attachment" without the latter "non-attachment, willingness to let go" is a source of Dukkha, Suffering.).
I did not mean to express a coldness or lack of empathy and sympathy for those poor women on the tape. Far from it! I would cry with them, offer a shoulder to cry on too. It is just that ... more than restoring their homes and furniture, their money or family's health and lives (though I wish them that too), we can teach this great, clear Way of Liberation.
Gassho, J
** (Perhaps the so-called "Hinayana" schools were rather more into attaining the peace and equanimity of Buddha totally free of and removed from the tears and like emotions, property and emotional human relationships of ordinary life ... but the Mahayana and Zen Schools found how to have one's Dharma Cake and Eat it Too in life).
Utilizing Mindfulness, I was able to stop short and apologize if they had heard it before. Since then, gradually, I have stopped telling the stories (at least verbatim 
) And, gradually, i find i'm living more and more in the moment. Do you think zazen had anything to do with that?
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