What is a Buddhis master?

[Koshin]

"Well you should focus on work, instead of playing the mystic". That was because I lead a very simple life and my family think I am the most mediocre man on Earth.

Kyonin

Mediocre: From Latin Mediocris, Medius: Middle. Then, Mediocre man = Man in the Middle Way... If your family thinks you are a mediocre man, then it is a great compliment

Thank you four your post Kyonin, they always make me think so much about my practice. I've always had admiration and respect for my teachers, and actually seeing their flaws or their "human side" drew me a little off balance.... now I understand that we are all, in the end, on the same level, in terms of dignity and need of respect, we are all equal..... it is just that some people put a greater care on what they do, not like me and my clumsy hands and mind

[JustBen]

I can say that the same thing happens even without the robes, the incense, and the title "Master." Idealization happens very frequently in psychotherapy. Usually, the therapist makes a dumb mistake and the client begins to see that they're working with a regular fucked-up person. Failing that, they run into the therapist dressed in track pants at the 7-11 in the middle of the night buying a slushie. Everyone's better off.

[Kyonin]

Interesting--is she under the impression they are born that way? Maybe again this is the influence of the Dalai Lama/Tibetan Buddhism on the West. Since they "find" reborn Lamas, maybe she thinks that all traditions are that way?

Yes, like Jundo pointed out, people idealize spiritual teachers.

My aunt is very influenced not only by Tibetan Buddhism, but by no one else than Deepak Chopra.

[Mp]

Hello Kyonin,

nobody masters Zen. Bright and shiny religious leaders with special auras and perfume coming out of their anus are a dime a dozen. Doing the laundry, washing all that grime and blood and shit off your hands again and again..now there's some Zen.

Gassho,

Hans Chudo Mongen

Yes Hans thank you for this ... nice and clear and made me chuckle too

Gassho
Michael

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[YuimaSLC]

When I was a young man, one of my first introductions to Buddhism and the Zen school was a Japanese style bound-book (Dew-drops on a Lotus Leaf) about Ryokan, the 18th-19th century priest/poet, who lived
a very simple life, spending a great deal of time with children; and in Japan he's beloved not only for his poetry and reverence for creatures, but also the comical vignettes which describe an aspect of his life, but which oft have a subtle profundity. Ryokan was not the zen master as described in the initial parts of this thread. And yet, appreciation of him and the memory of him will survive well beyond
many others.

[RichardH]

The "master" subject always seems to swing between two extremes... infallible sage, and ordinary messed up person. No teacher is infallible, but a teacher, having received transmission, and stepping out to claim authority and represent a lineage, is hopefully not just an ordinary messed up person. Hopefully he/she has realized with some maturity and skill, the "great space nothing holy" around that ordinary messed-up humanness That is not ordinary. The shiny assed guru image and the screwed-up regular guy image, always show up in conversation together.

gassho.kojip

[Risho]

The "master" subject always seems to swing between two extremes... infallible sage, and ordinary messed up person. No teacher is infallible, but a teacher, having received transmission, and stepping out to claim authority and represent a lineage, is hopefully not just an ordinary messed up person. Hopefully he/she has realized with some maturity and skill, the "great space nothing holy" around that ordinary messed-up humanness That is not ordinary. The shiny assed guru image and the screwed-up regular guy image, always show up in conversation together.

gassho.kojip

Ha! good point.

Gassho,

Risho

[Jundo]

The "master" subject always seems to swing between two extremes... infallible sage, and ordinary messed up person. No teacher is infallible, but a teacher, having received transmission, and stepping out to claim authority and represent a lineage, is hopefully not just an ordinary messed up person. Hopefully he/she has realized with some maturity and skill, the "great space nothing holy" around that ordinary messed-up humanness That is not ordinary. The shiny assed guru image and the screwed-up regular guy image, always show up in conversation together.

gassho.kojip

Thank you, Kojip. I should hope so too. It is not always the case, and there are some real "quacks" out there ... just as there are in any field, folks who are no more doctors or karate teachers or painters or musicians than that they own a scalpel, an easel, nunchacku or bought a violin, with no sense or how to wield the same with ease, balance, understanding and (in the case of the doctor or nunchaku numskull) without doing real harm to people. This fellow (who could be me with those things) seems to have a good sense of humor about his Bruce Leeness ...

There are also, unfortunately, those "masters" and teachers who may have mastered some aspects of this Practice ... and who may be gifted teachers ... but who are oafs, awful or (worse) abusive in other important areas. An example there might be the Eido Shimano's of the world who, as I understand, is a gifted teacher of Emptiness on the one hand ... a repeat sexual predator on the other.

Perhaps the most vocal writer these days on the overboard idealization of the Zen Roshi is Stuart Lachs, and all serious modern Zen students should have some familiarity with his writings on taking Roshis with a grain of salt. They are good. On the other hand, I think that Stuart Lachs himself goes overboard, tends to throw out the baby Buddha with the bath water and highlights only the most negative and extreme cases. So he needs to be taken with a bit of salt too.

http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Zen_Master_in_America.html

Oh, and I said what I meant and meant what I said before, so wish to underline ...

... a Zen Master is Buddha, beyond all error and mistake, one with the universe, always doing what is to be done in every situation, always speaking with a Buddha's tongue, never possibly to trip or fall, at total peace and harmony and wholeness with all this self-life-world[.] Do you know that Zen Masters are, in fact, Golden Buddhas and Perfect Jewels[.] It is true. I bullshit you not,　I mean it in all seriousness.

However, so are you ... and all people ... and every mountain and tree and star! Each and All Buddha, Beyond Error and Mistake, totally at one piece and harmony and wholeness with the universe, all preaching with a Buddha's tongue, with no place possibly to fall etc. etc.

The Zen Master may simply realize (know and embody) that fact more than the average bloke ... and hopefully has some skill in helping her students realize such too in their lives.

Gassho, J

[Taigu]

Fully aware of being ordinary, free to let Buddha nature play in his or her garden, the master doesn t own his or her mastery. Serving others, making the vow to save others before herself or himself, the master is a raft, a bridge for sentient beings. The mystical power is paying the bills, commuting and shopping.

But again the standard is to check how much he cares about freeing his students.

If the bloke makes financial, sexual or personnal demands, if he claims powers or extraordinary abilities, you better leave him at once.

Gassho

Taigu

[kosen]

"The Lineage legends and Sutra story books tend to dip in gold and place on pedestals all our long dead ancestors, scrubbing them of every human failing. I think that unfortunate. Plenty of wannabe cult leaders are ready to play to such an image even now ... and plenty of "need a daddy to tell me what to do" students are ever willing to buy into it. That is a shame. "
Thanks, thanks, thanks.
It seems to me many legends on the superpowers, including those of the Buddha, are metaphors, images which it is necessary to interpret simply (for example, in Brittany, we invent even saints to explain the presence of sources and fountains and give them an importance and the respect.)
Kosen

[Onken]

I read somewhere that a true master of any art can never recognize himself/herself as one. It is the fool that calls themselves "Master".

[Taigu]

Indeed, Onken, indeed.




gassho


Taigu

[Jundo]

I read somewhere that a true master of any art can never recognize himself/herself as one. It is the fool that calls themselves "Master".

I rather disagree. I think it fine to think that one has attained a certain degree of mastery ... and fine to know something that need not be mastered or attained, for it is never measurable in degrees or graspable by the categorizing mind ... but it would be foolish to believe one ever to have total mastery. Samsara, this complex and changing life and world, does not allow for total mastery ever.

Rather like saying that one is a pretty good cook ... while also tasting that which never is hungry yet thoroughly nourishing ... yet recognizing the truth that one is always capable and likely to burn or undercook the odd meal.

Gassho, J

[Jundo]

Hi,

The Sit-a-long just posted connects to all this ...

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Sex Scandal Finger Wagging

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?10071-SIT-A-LONG-with-JUNDO-Sex-Scandal-Finger-Wagging&p=84083#post84083

[Yugen]

This is a great thread.... the notion of Mastery is a for me very humbling one..... to aspire to Mastery or even think that one has approached it in one's own discipline is to wander ever further away from the path.... on the other hand, to have a glimpse of the profound elegance and simplicity of unity with the universe and its elements, as expressed through practice or craftsmanship, as a martial artist, or woodworker, farmer, mechanic, or Zen practitioner......

A few expressions that allow me the glimpse of humility and unity....

"Wisdom begins with the acknowledgement of ignorance..." Socrates

"Perfection is attained not when there is no longer anything to add but no longer anything left to take away" Antoine De Saint Exupery, referring to the elegance and simplicity of airplane design

"I am an eternally deluded person - No one is as deluded as I am - I am deluded with gold trimmings - How clear this is to me when I do zazen!" Kodo Sawaki

"... there is nothing special about me, but what I have glimpsed is vastly important..." Masanobu Fukuoka (in The One Straw Revolution)

Mastery to me means the humility, or clarity, to glimpse the fundamental unity of all phenomena in the universe as manifested in our practice, whatever that practice is. That clarity is manifested in the elegance of technique - the tea service, the flowing performance of calligraphy, the stillness and presence of posture in zazen, like a mountain in its flowing magnificence, or the smooth effortless strokes of a drawknife working a piece of wood. And our technique varies from day to day in its expression and quality.

Most importantly, in my warped view, a "Master" can relinquish all knowledge in a particular discipline and "start over" .... because a Master knows intuitively how to learn, by watching mountains and trees.... once one becomes attached to defending one's corpus of work or knowledge, one becomes an advocate, a fixed position, contrary to the flowing nature of phenomena.

Gassho
Yugen