General Music Chat

Osiris, Just a pattern of stars , Christ...an entire institution, Aquarius - Anthony Hopkins.

Here is some more entertaining conjecture ... http://youtu.be/mOu9tV6uy2E

One could say that I tend to be agnostalgically curious about what appears to be happening ... ... that we call "life". Religions seem to have developed from a primal need for an explanation of our existence. As has science, which has debunked many assertions made by various religions .. Galileo etc. .. but still falls very short of understanding the universe, or how humans are able to wonder about it. It would be very difficult to rule out the influence of psychedelics on religious experience and thought.

Vinny, I agree with what you are saying. I feel the age old debate between science and religion is a moot point. Science explains a lot, but not everything. Western religion offers insight but then jumps to blind faith based fantasy to resolve where science falls short. Personally, I feel in order to bridge the gap, a more transcendental, middle path, zen approach is necessary. "God is everything and God is nothing" How do you argue with that?

"The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra is a great book that goes into that.

Osiris, Just a pattern of stars , Christ...an entire institution, Aquarius - Anthony Hopkins.

Here is some more entertaining conjecture ... http://youtu.be/mOu9tV6uy2E

One could say that I tend to be agnostalgically curious about what appears to be happening ... ... that we call "life". Religions seem to have developed from a primal need for an explanation of our existence. As has science, which has debunked many assertions made by various religions .. Galileo etc. .. but still falls very short of understanding the universe, or how humans are able to wonder about it. It would be very difficult to rule out the influence of psychedelics on religious experience and thought.

Vinny, I agree with what you are saying. I feel the age old debate between science and religion is a moot point. Science explains a lot, but not everything. Western religion offers insight but then jumps to blind faith based fantasy to resolve where science falls short. Personally, I feel in order to bridge the gap, a more transcendental, middle path, zen approach is necessary. "God is everything and God is nothing" How do you argue with that?

"The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra is a great book that goes into that.

Actually pretty cool... I have personally found an extraordinary relational symmetry between Zen And Christianity.
Those of you have have actually read the bible , would note that the spirit / dogma of Christian essence presents itself in the concept of love and an author thereof (God). Zen, recognizes, upholds that author, and provides a universal mechanisms for all children of God to clear the obstacles in the path that leads to Christ. When God says to accept and walk the Path of Christ, by simply believing in Christ, he sets the objectives for his children to follow and tells us to "be righteous" His margin of tolerance is narrowed to the simple edicts of (10 commandments) . The practice of Zen can help us obtain that stature through mechanisms of discipline, which in my opinion are unparalleled by any other religion .

Dont believe me? Consider the following idea. (And don't forget...God invented Zen)

A bullfighter will kill the bull in the name of sport. From the "TRUE" christian perspective, Love would not allow sentient beings to live at the expense of other sentient beings... That is...what is your life, if you must desecrate its sacredness by taking another life. Zen would tell us that the Bull and the bull fighter are connected. The sentient being is the bull fighter. His purity becomes marred when he destroys the life of the bull, for the simple reason he as now upset or violated the chain of life connection.

Having adopted this philosophical approach, I have come to understand the importance of the very life that Christ has been trying to tell me I should keep...

As for the cynics. We all serve somebody... Perhaps you just don't agree with whom I serve. I serve Christ, and I feel I have been blessed with the skils of Zen to recognize the greater aspects of our universe...Life.

Osiris, Just a pattern of stars , Christ...an entire institution, Aquarius - Anthony Hopkins.

Here is some more entertaining conjecture ... http://youtu.be/mOu9tV6uy2E

One could say that I tend to be agnostalgically curious about what appears to be happening ... ... that we call "life". Religions seem to have developed from a primal need for an explanation of our existence. As has science, which has debunked many assertions made by various religions .. Galileo etc. .. but still falls very short of understanding the universe, or how humans are able to wonder about it. It would be very difficult to rule out the influence of psychedelics on religious experience and thought.

Vinny, I agree with what you are saying. I feel the age old debate between science and religion is a moot point. Science explains a lot, but not everything. Western religion offers insight but then jumps to blind faith based fantasy to resolve where science falls short. Personally, I feel in order to bridge the gap, a more transcendental, middle path, zen approach is necessary. "God is everything and God is nothing" How do you argue with that?

"The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra is a great book that goes into that.

Actually pretty cool... I have personally found an extraordinary relational symmetry between Zen And Christianity.
Those of you have have actually read the bible , would note that the spirit / dogma of Christian essence presents itself in the concept of love and an author thereof (God). Zen, recognizes, upholds that author, and provides a universal mechanisms for all children of God to clear the obstacles in the path that leads to Christ. When God says to accept and walk the Path of Christ, by simply believing in Christ, he sets the objectives for his children to follow and tells us to "be righteous" His margin of tolerance is narrowed to the simple edicts of (10 commandments) . The practice of Zen can help us obtain that stature through mechanisms of discipline, which in my opinion are unparalleled by any other religion .

Dont believe me? Consider the following idea. (And don't forget...God invented Zen)

A bullfighter will kill the bull in the name of sport. From the "TRUE" christian perspective, Love would not allow sentient beings to live at the expense of other sentient beings... That is...what is your life, if you must desecrate its sacredness by taking another life. Zen would tell us that the Bull and the bull fighter are connected. The sentient being is the bull fighter. His purity becomes marred when he destroys the life of the bull, for the simple reason he as now upset or violated the chain of life connection.

Having adopted this philosophical approach, I have come to understand the importance of the very life that Christ has been trying to tell me I should keep...

As for the cynics. We all serve somebody... Perhaps you just don't agree with whom I serve. I serve Christ, and I feel I have been blessed with the skils of Zen to recognize the greater aspects of our universe...Life.

Ch'an Master Huang-po says ... All Buddhas and all sentient beings are no different from the One Mind. In this One Mind there is neither arising nor ceasing, no name or form, no long or short, no large or small, and neither existence nor non-existence. It transcends all limitations of name, word and relativity, and it is as boundless as the great void. Giving rise to thought is erroneous, and any speculation about it with our ordinary faculties is inapplicable, irrelevant and inaccurate. Only Mind is Buddha, and Buddhas and sentient beings are not different. All sentient beings grasp form and search outside themselves. Using Buddha to seek Buddha, they thus use mind to seek Mind. Practicing in this manner even until the end of the kalpa, they cannot attain the fruit. However, when thinking and discrimination suddenly halt, the Buddhas appear.

The Mind is Buddha, and the Buddha is no different from sentient beings. The Mind of sentient beings does not decrease; the Buddha's Mind does not increase. Moreover, the six paramitas and all sila, as countless as the grains of sand of the Ganges, belong to one's own mind. Thus there is no need to search outside oneself to create them. When causes and conditions unite, they will appear; as causes and conditions separate, they disappear. So if one does not have the understanding that on'es very own Mind itself is Buddha, he will then grasp the form of the practice merely and create even more delusion. This approach is exactly the opposite of the Buddha's practice path. Just this Mind alone is Buddha! Nothing else is!

The Mind is transparent, having no shape or form. Giving rise to thought and discrimination is grasping and runs counter to the natural Dharma. Since time without beginning, there never has been a grasping Buddha. The practice of the six paramitas and various other disciplines is known as the gradual method of becoming a Buddha. This gradual method, however, is a secondary idea, and it does not represent the complete path to Perfect Awakening. If one does not understand that one's mind is Buddha, no Dharma can ever be attained.

The Buddhas and sentient beings possess the same fundamental Mind, neither mixing nor separating the quality of true voidness. When the sun shines over the four directions, the world becomes light, but true voidness is never light. When the sun sets, the world becomes dark, but voidness is never dark. The regions of dark and light destroy each other, but the nature of voidness is clear and undisturbed. The True Mind of both Buddhas and sentient beings enjoys this same nature.

If one thinks that the Buddha is clean, bright and liberated and that sentient beings are dirty, dark and entangled in samsara, and, further, if one also uses this view to practice, then even though one perseveres through kalpas as numerous as the sand grains of the Ganges, one will not arrive at Bodhi. What exists for both Buddhas and for sentient beings, however, is the unconditioned Mind (Asamskrta citta) with nothing to attain. Many Ch'an students, not understanding the nature of this Mind, use the Mind to create Mind, thus grasping form and searching outside themselves. However, this is only to follow the path of evil and really is not the practice path to Bodhi.