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BLOB_CASTLE  ·  3795 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Zen Masters?

First off, thank you for such a thoughtful response.

You make some great points. Equity seems to be a large component of the Buddhist tradition (with the exception of excluding women for a while. I don't quite understand that). It's funny that we've deluded ourselves into thinking we aren't worthy of the same achievement as the person who told us we can. But wasn't it two straight weeks of meditation after he left his ascetic friends that he spent under the bodhi tree? Regardless, it did require a lot of meditation.

I would say that I agree with the Nichiren quote. Buddhism takes a lot from Hinduism in that Buddhahood is a lot like Hindu's concept of Brahmam, except that we are Brahman and Brahman is us, right? I seem to understand "enlightenment" as the full complete realization of the Buddhahood of/in everything and in every moment (even those of a hectic life).

    For me, it's the journey, not the destination.
I agree. But not to sound too esoteric, isn't all of this a journey with no destination? Doesn't the "no-self" principle promote that? We don't have a "self" because it implies distinct entities? If we don't have a self, my essence (which I'm not sure if it differs from a soul), is the same as your essence, the essence of my coffee mug, the coffee within it, etc (Side note: I think quantam physics . It will continue being after the form that contains my essence is long gone. In that way it's all a journey, right?

Haha, see? This is why I think a Zen master would be beneficial. They'd be able to validate these thoughts as true or false (or both?). But maybe through enough zazen I can validate them on my own.

What a funny thing this is.