Zen?

newtech

Hello.

Is there any contradiction between reading suttas, practicing meditation according to suttas, reading articles most of them form theravada tradition, and start visiting zen centers/ zen retreats/ zen advices?.

"zen its more meditation and less theorical, zen its more about meditation attitude, Its a chinese/taoist fusion with traditional buddhism"...this things i read, but dont know exactly how far this words go, or exactly what they mean in practice. Any personal experience?

Thank you!

username_5

In the days of old if you were a spiritual seeker you were blessed to get pointed to the nearest remote mountain top. Once you made the arduous journey you stayed there. Where else would you go? within your geographical region there were pretty good odds that the next mountain top held a teacher from the same lineage.

Today things are different. We can go from one sangha to another and try them all on for size and choose that which suits us best at that moment. This is both good and bad. It is good as we can quickly walk away from a sangha that doesn't suit us and find another and bad in that it undermines the serious spiritual pursuit by having an ala carte sort of enlightenment journey. If one teacher/tradition/sangha result in our having to confront that which we do not wish to confront but really need to we can delay the necessary by starting over.

Still, I think if you find a zen teacher and ask about reading suttas, borrowing heavily from other traditions as you see fit etc. a wise teacher will be just fine with it while perhaps requesting that you look over the buffet for a certain amount of time and then request that you choose your main course and stick with it for the duration of the meal.

In other words, look over the various traditions with their unique flavors while recognizing they are all food. In your own time settle on what most appeals to you and have that alone for your meal. Ignore all the other items at the buffet while you enjoy that meal. Once you have completely enjoyed your chosen meal examine yourself to determine if you are still hungry. If you are not, stick with that meal. If you are, explore the other items on the buffet until you find that which fills you up.

PietroPumokin

zen is mishmash, mishmash is zen
whatever you do is zen, whatever you dont do is zen
zen is zen when zen is zen and its always something zen
theravadic studies and zen practice are very complimentary
like mustard ruckus and ketchup
you will find what the taste of zen is no matter what path you choose
i must go now

fivebells

It depends who you ask. Referring to all the traditions can be a very practical approach, though. My teacher does.

ansanna

need to know what is the two truths, relative truth and absolute truth
theravada in their suttas teaching mainly talks about the relative truth of physical manifestation
zen on the other hand are branch of Mahayana, derived from Nagarjuna and his the Philosophy of Madhyamika, talks mainly at the realm of absolute truth.

nontheless, what Nagarjuna's objective and what Mahayana ready want to teach is the ultimate truth , which either falls into the both extreme of relative truth and absolute truth

Mountains

Relative, absolute, Mahayana, Theraveda, Zen, Pure Land, yadda, yadda, yadda. As far as I'm concerned (and with all due respect to all involved), that's ALL man-made window dressing piled on top the simple ideas and truthful words of the Buddha. It's all about the four noble truths and the eightfold path. There is no Buddhist Pope to tell you you're wrong, and in the end, we're all looking for enlightenment and to help other sentient beings, right?

Mtns

newtech

Thank you all

RichardH

Zen and Theravada (at least of the Thai forest kind) are very compatible and can support each other. There are extremes that can show up in both Sanghas (having participated in and observed both). In the Theravada there is the extreme of "I am completely unenlightened but maybe one day I will be... some day..hopefully..but not now.." and in Zen there can be the extreme of "I am already perfectly enlightened and there is nothing to do...oops I stepped on your foot again...perfect".

That is an exaggeration but there is some truth to it. Exposure to both traditions can temper these tendencies IMO, but there is often an insularity where one will not see the other but only its version of the other, which is more about its self affirmation than anything.

Floating_Abu

newtech wrote: »

Hello.

Is there any contradiction between reading suttas, practicing meditation according to suttas, reading articles most of them form theravada tradition, and start visiting zen centers/ zen retreats/ zen advices?.

No.

Good Luck with it all.

_/\_

Floating_Abu

username_5 wrote: »

In the days of old if you were a spiritual seeker you were blessed to get pointed to the nearest remote mountain top. Once you made the arduous journey you stayed there. Where else would you go? within your geographical region there were pretty good odds that the next mountain top held a teacher from the same lineage.

Today things are different. We can go from one sangha to another and try them all on for size and choose that which suits us best at that moment. This is both good and bad. It is good as we can quickly walk away from a sangha that doesn't suit us and find another and bad in that it undermines the serious spiritual pursuit by having an ala carte sort of enlightenment journey. If one teacher/tradition/sangha result in our having to confront that which we do not wish to confront but really need to we can delay the necessary by starting over.

_/\_