zen and now - article from tricycle

[David Jamieson]

interesting read, worth a look

http://www.tricycle.com/feature/peace-street

[taai gihk yahn]

nice article; Tricycle almost always has high quality articles

[David Jamieson]

I thought that article really illustrated the place of zen in our society in the here and now. Despite it's antiquity, it is in my opinion some of the freshest thinking going.

[taai gihk yahn]

I thought that article really illustrated the place of zen in our society in the here and now.

seeing things "such as they are" would seem prudent these days...

Despite it's antiquity, it is in my opinion some of the freshest thinking going.

I agree; IMPE, Ch'an is pretty much the best "idea" ever produced by humanity; it is inclusive, individualistic without being narcissistic, timeless in terms of its applicability and ultimately anti-"ism"; the difficulty is that the classical stuff can be difficult to "decipher" because of the cultural coding, so to speak, which seems esoteric now; IMHO, the contemporary correlate would be Krishnamurti;

[SimonM]

Zen advice stripped of esotericism:

1) Deal with each moment as it arises. Don't overly concern yourself with what has passed and what has not yet happened.

2) Don't get too attached to your sh!t. Everything changes eventually.

3) The only way to cause change is to act to cause it.

4) Be aware of the world around you.

5) Be nice.

[David Jamieson]

I agree with that, except for #5.

You could act in one way and have that be perceived as both nice and not nice depending on the point of view.

Can we change it to "bring no harm"?

btw and fwiw, I fail at that point. Not as little as I would prefer.

[taai gihk yahn]

yeah, "nice" is relative - how about those crotchity old Ch'an monks who used to beat their students w/the "encouragement stick"?; not very nice; instead of "nice", I'd say be "compassionate" - which can encompass stick beating if it serves an individual's awakening (which is why as the encourager, you better be very clear about your own motivation and where that student is "at")