r/zen • u/[deleted] • Mar 14 '18

Huang Po: Motionless Mind

Not til your thoughts cease their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.

  • Huang Po
19 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

184 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

[deleted]

4

u/ewk [non-sectarian consensus] Mar 14 '18

Really? Is that why the meditation worshippers have failed to produce any of their own Zen Masters?

Awkward.

9

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

Well, its not like you actually gave anyone besides the original Zen Masters a chance. To cut off Dogen and the entire Japanese lineage of Zen is just being blind to the truth... Zen lives to this very day, no matter what you say or how you try to spin it.

3

u/rockytimber Wei Mar 14 '18

To cut off Dogen and the entire Japanese lineage of Zen is just being blind to the truth

There is also the problem of being blind to what Dogen was doing, politically within the early Buddhist sects of Japan. There is the problem of what he said and did 500 years after Mazu.

Wouldin't it make more sense to give yourself the time to be able to recognize the zen that happened for the first 500 years before making strong claims about what happened later with a guy in a different country whose claims are legitimately suspect?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

You definitely have a strong point with this. I've got years of reading ahead of me to study the historical original period of Zen, but on the other hand I've already practiced and studied Zen on my own for years. When I read Dogen, his words ring true for me, and I find it disrespectful to eliminate the validity of an entire country practicing Zen.

-2

u/ewk [non-sectarian consensus] Mar 14 '18

WanderingRonin is a multiple accounts alt_troll and self-anointed "internet guru" who stalks and harasses people who expose his self-certification scam and content brigading, including his desire to "lead the sub" (also nominated himself as a new mod) and then exposes his pattern of conduct in an attempt to attribute it to ewk. He wasn't kidding. He is only a little proud of his harassment.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

Alright, Ewk. You've gotten your point across. So I can't even have a discussion with you anymore without your false copy and paste job? Why don't you be a real man, and have a grown up conversation with me about things? Hiding behind this wall isn't going to do anything to stop any action of mine here, because that's not how I operate.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18 edited Dec 03 '20

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

You mean like an MMA fight, or head to head with philosophies and practices? hahaha

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18 edited Dec 03 '20

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '18

Wow, I nearly forgot about all of that. Now, I would love nothing more than a caged MMA match with that bastard! LMAO

2

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '18 edited Dec 03 '20

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '18

Hahaha, just because we practice and study Zen doesn't mean that we automatically become perfect Zen masters. I still get angry, and I still have plenty of wild emotions, but imagine my same personality at this point without Zen! Admittedly, my understanding of Zen at this point has a more intellectual foundation to it, meaning that I can explain concepts and talk of the Dharma itself, and I am only influenced by it up to a point in regular life. Now that I have this understanding, the next stage is to live within it, and act in full accordance with it to become a better person.

So yes, there are still plenty of attachments and aversions, and human errors and weaknesses. These things take years if not a lifetime to master. I find Ewk's tactics deplorable, but what really bothers me about him is that he is the one person who makes the community a worse place because of his actions. No one else here, no matter what they do, comes close.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/koalazen Mar 14 '18

Do you have good alternatives?

4

u/ewk [non-sectarian consensus] Mar 14 '18

Read Huangbo.

1

u/koalazen Mar 14 '18

Are you saying everyone who read huang bo realized the one mind he’s talking about?

5

u/ewk [non-sectarian consensus] Mar 14 '18

No. I'm saying we can't talk about what he is talking about unless we know what he is talking about.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

[deleted]

3

u/ewk [non-sectarian consensus] Mar 14 '18

Also the punctuation.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

Huangbo:

All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists.

That's pretty easy.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

Wtf is a "One Mind"?

You mean there's no time, space, money or gravity?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

It's an arbitrary name. We can call it the Banana if you prefer, or maybe the Bahamas. Then we can all awaken and dwell in the Bahamas.

The important part is the description, the label is unimportant.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '18

I think that the term refers to something specific and relevant. Something real, that can be observed firsthand. And lacking that connection I conclude that I do not understand the statement.

→ More replies (0)