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That was Zen; This is Dao ^_^From: Steven
Subject: Philosophy
Date/Time 2010-03-17 15:50:57
Remote IP: 76.247.152.202
Message>>>A common trap is we seek out practices
>>>to reinforce our negative patterns not to change them.
That might be somewhat true, but if the practices themselves are
good ones, then what invariably happens is that eventually--like a
twig under pressure that snaps--you are forced to change. Core
patterns come out whether you like it or not, and then you have to
deal with it.
>>>Keep in mind Yudelove was going outside Healing Tao practice
>>>to get the results that he got. There are intentions inherent
>>>in allot of practices.
I don't really know him personally, or know exactly what he was
doing, so I can't really comment here either way . . .
However, I will say this: In a lot of self-empowering practices,
AND THIS INCLUDES THE HEALING TAO, you become a much stronger
and more powerful individual . . . physically, emotionally,
energetically, psychically, etc. What can happen is that as
you gain power, so does the ego. I've seen many people, and
this includes advanced Healing Tao practitioners, get really
huge overbloated egos and get really arrogant and consequently
less compassionate. I've seen such things in other people, and
I've seen such things develop in myself as well. This power
can be a seductive trap and create ego trips, and a person really
has to take action to help curtail that seductive tendency. That's
probably one of the things I do like about Zen and Zen Buddhism, is
that part of the practices help to reduce personal egotism and
increase compassion for others.
>>>Really, you like Zen? I find it so adult and stuffy.
>>>Of course it does attract allot of academics. I do love
>>>simple refined Japanese food. :-)
Yes, I do.
Although I'll say that I'm PRIMARILY a Daoist, and only secondarily
a Zen person. Basically I follow the Healing Tao, but annex
the few parts of Zen I like that I find as useful additional
tools for Daoist practice.
Zen meditation is about getting to know your unchanging core
beneath the waves of change and thought that buffet you around.
This is a useful tool to have in Daoist alchemy. How can
you work with yourself, when you don't even understand yourself?
Secondly, Zen meditation is a practice that was actually stolen
from Daoism originally under an original Daoist meditation
practice called Zuowang. Michael Rinaldini, an American Daoist
priest wrote about Zuowang in the Journal of Daoist Studies vol 1.
Michael Winn referenced it in JDS vol 2. as one of the tools
for "fasting the heart-mind", although he seemed (to my opinion)
to be a little biased against it . . . seeming to imply that
it's not as good as some other alchemy practices.
But guess what, in any of his classes whenever he
says to the class, "why don't we all just lay down and let it
digest", guess what we are doing? It's really an unstructured
low-key form of Zuowang/Zen. I find Zen meditation to be
a great way to provide some Yin space to let the alchemy digest
as well as getting insight into my essential nature. It's also
a great way to help quiet the monkey mind. Whenever your mind
wanders, you just return to your breath. It helps slow down the
incessant and constant chatter, which is only amplified (in my case)
by being in an academic environment and spending a lot of time
"thinking" for graduate work.
Also, guess what Iron Shirt and I-Chuan is?
It's a standing form of Zen and Zen Buddhist practices!
Granted, in Healing Tao we also do other things while in an Iron Shirt
pose like doing the MO or connecting with the Earth Energy or
Bone Breathing, etc., but it was a practice borrowed from Zen and
Zen Buddhist traditions.
As for it being stuffy, have you been to a Zen temple before?
It might not be what you think. The Zen temple I attend, I was
surprised at how relaxed the environment is. For instance, if
you go to an afternoon service, you show up and it is just
attended by ordinary folks about 15 in number--50-70% of which
have never been to the temple before at all. You enter the main room, find
a meditation cushion, and meditate for a half hour. Then the
Zen student running the "service" announces to the group that they
are going to do some chanting, and explains "to those who have
never been here before" what they are doing (but they do this
every week, as every week at least 50% are new). Then another 15
minutes of sitting meditation, followed by a short reading. The
Zen student then expresses her opinion of the reading, and then
opens it up to an informal discussion. It feels more like a
group of people coming to meet together for meditation and discussion than
"a service" as such.
Yes, there are a few ritual elements that you can observe, but actually
much less than to be expected, and nothing more than you'd see in any
temple, Daoist, Buddhist, or otherwise.
So I don't know that I'd say it's adult and stuffy.
It doesn't feel that way to me.
I'm actually surprised, in some ways, of how non-judgemental they are.
After a meditation class I took with them, we all sat around and had
some informal conversation. One of the girls in the class was a
lesbian and mentioned she's active in some local Gay/Lesbian group.
The senior Zen student and the Zen priest both mentioned that the temple
has an active Gay/Lesbian Zen group, and gave her information about
how to get involved with them and also gave her a flyer (which they
have in the temple by the door) about Gay/Lesbian issues. I found
such a compassionate and non-judgemental attitude to be quite
refreshing. In fact, in some cases, less judgemental than
some experiences in the Healing Tao . . . in particular on that
end, I had a gay male student who trusted me and talked with me
about a bad experience they had with a HT instructor who made
them feel humiliated because of their orientation. Now I'm
sure this was an accident on the part of the instructor
and no malicious intent was intended and moreover, I won't
go into the specifics there because of the trust placed in
me to keep it private. However, I wanted to mention this as an
example of how the Zen tradition is NOT STUFFY and very
heart-centered and welcoming . . . because here was a particular
instance of a more relaxed, open, welcoming, less uptight
attitude than what happened on an occasion in the Healing Tao . . .
and as far as the Healing Tao goes, we are USUALLY pretty relaxed
and easy going. So I don't know what Zen experiences
you've had, but they are not the ones I have had anyway.
Also, one thing I wanted to mention is that the Zen temple
I go to is of the KOREAN ZEN tradition. It is different from
JAPANESE ZEN, which is what most people think of when they
hear "ZEN". I've not been to a Japanese Zen temple, so
I can't give a direct comparison, but I do know they are
fairly different. Being that Korea is connected to mainland
China, maybe the culture is more similar than it would be
if it were Japan (pure speculation on my part).
Also, I'm not the only person in the Healing Tao that
finds value in Zen meditation . . . a senior Healing Tao
instructor I quite respect (who I will keep nameless)
also does it.
And anyhow, it's part of OUR tradition, it's just the
Buddhists stole it from us (the original Zuowang), I'm
just reclaiming it. I think it's artificial to
not do certain practices that are useful just because
somehow they got connected in with Buddhism. It's
too useful of a tool to ignore.
>>>Did you even hear those funky stories of zen masters
>>>chopping the hands off of students to enlighten
>>>them to the present moment?
LOL, no.
I don't expect anyone to try that on me anytime soon,
and if they do, I will be the first to enlighten them
in the present moment of their mistake in trying ^_^
If anything, my "self-empowerment" has enabled me
to be irreverent in situations where the respected
superior has acted or spoke in error :P
Smiling to you on this wonderfully sunny day :)
Steven
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