With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Honestly, I do not know why I study through the day each and every day. I've been considering this question (and another) for some time as it consumes a great deal of my time. I suppose the best answer is that when I study, I find connections. Text is my community. The more the better, it would seem. The two major areas I study are in Zen and Judaism, particularly what I like to call contemplative Judaism. [Whenever I come upon the word 'mystical' in a Jewish text it almost always refers to a pointing to something non-dualistic. Must be mystical if it brings us closer to the Infinite, I suppose. In the modern era, mystical sounds, well, too mystical :) ]
Every once in awhile I find texts in the two traditions (actually, more often than not) which say the same thing or point to the same thing, and this leads me to believe that in both cases, the practice is to collapse the self into the Infinite. In other words, to join Big Mind, Spacious Mind, the Ein Sof. In Lawrence Kushner's wonderful text, God was in this Place & I, i did not know, he cites a midrash addressing the question, why did God create both a heaven and a hell. The rabbis say, so one may borrow room from the other. And how much space separates these rooms? "The rabbis said that they are right next to one another...Not even the thinness of a membrane separated Jacob and Esau." (p.68).
In the Zen scripture, the Hokyo Zanmai (Precious Mirror Samadhi), the text addresses non-duality and says, "Natural and wondrous, it is not a matter of delusion or enlightenment. .. ...A hairsbreadth deviation, and you are out of tune." (Soto School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice, p. 35.)
Duality and non-duality inter-exist, like space and time, they cannot be separated. It is our attention and intention that shifts. Within this shifting, good and evil are born. Interesting. Dukkha is not knowing all the chords of the universe are of the same stuff.
My second question is where's God? Looking for the Infinite has been an aim of mine since I was shot in the head and nearly died. Yet, the question sounds kind of like where's Waldo. The truth is we wouldn't be far off. The reason Waldo is so challenging to find is that he is like Everyperson (the post PC, Everyman). Naming this person as opposed to another person "Waldo" is a big mistake. Just so, naming God, God, is a big mistake. Its like some rabbi took the yod and pointed it. Any pointing is a deviation. Isaiah says, "His presence fills all the earth!" If God is everywhere, then he, as God, is nowhere. Want God? Look deeply at your own fingers, look under the nails; look at the mouse in a mouse trap, or the head of a trophy on a hunter's wall; look under your bed, into your heart, or better, don't look at all.
Just like Zen, we do not find "Buddha" we kill him. Kill your thoughts of God, your images of God, and there he will be. Be still. Be well.
first, roshi, let me commend you on this remarkable blog. i have been reading it for a while but have never left any messages.
ReplyDeletei am a medical student who has long been an admirable follower of the zen tradition. zazen brings me the clarity that little else can.
(unfortunately, zen teachers and communities are hard for me to find, so your blog is very valuable to me).
however, i hesitate to truly call myself a "buddhist". i think you began to touch on my thoughts a bit - you find all of the world's mystical traditions to be somewhat similar, whether it be kabbalah or sufism or zen or etc.
there is definite beauty in all of these things. however, if they all speak to you in some way, and if we are all in the end part of a collective consciousness (i guess shunryu suzuki would say "big mind") in our true human nature, than how can you, in earnest, consider yourself strictly a buddhist?
its hard for me to say what's going through my mind. although zen speaks to me like little else, i feel i cannot devote myself entirely to any one pursuit for fear of missing the poetry of Rumi the sufi poet, or the great words of hindu scripture, or the traditions of judaism.
i apologize for the rambling. just some thoughts i'd thought i'd relate.
=Nick=