Zen and the Enlightened Mind
"I have forgotten everything. I don't remember a single word"(Masunaga 36). This is the mind of one who seeks the Way. In A Primer of Soto[JS1] Zen Dogen explains the Way of the Buddha and stresses the importance of "sitting in meditation" or zazen as a means of reaching the manifestation of wholeness. The manifestation of wholeness is a state in which one abandons both mind and body and empties oneself of ignorance, delusions, and dualistic modes of thinking. One who is free from dualistic modes of being enters a world in which both subject and object exist. This is a non-objective mode of being where "all self-centeredness has been emptied, where words and concepts are used not to divide but to unite, the self enters into a mode of being of the other and identifies itself completely with the other"(Taitetsu 130). Thus, the result is openness and liberation beyond the dichotomous world. It is important to note that Dogen believes that this state of being cannot be obtained however with any thought of this gain, rather one should study Buddhism only for the sake of Buddhism. Dogen places importance on the urgency to study the Way by pointing out the impermanence of life. Dogen believes that because of the transiency of life one should "avoid involvement in superfluous things and just study the Way"(Masunaga 83). This enforces the emphasis of detaching the self of worldly affairs. For Dogen there is also a detachment from language and written scriptures for it cannot serve as a means of explaining philosophical truth. Dogen instructs that no mater how elegant prose might be, "they are merely toying with words and cannot gain truth"(Masunaga 33). Language only obstructs the understanding of Zen Buddhi...
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... there is no Enlightenment to obtain. One just simply is. The world of ignorance, greed, and self-centeredness is non-existent for the Enlightened mind is completely open and liberated.
Works Cited
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While the idea of attaining enlightenment can be taught, the method or path of attaining that enlightenment cannot be taught or passed along. For most of his life, Siddhartha tries to achieve enlightenment through the rejection of his desires, thus becoming a Samana. Soon enough, however, Siddhartha realizes that the path of the Samana is not the right one for him, and soon after he starts to study the doctrine of the Buddha. Yet Siddhartha soon starts to see flaws within the Buddha’s doctrine:
Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel describes the ritualistic arts of discipline and focus that the Zen religion focuses around. In this book, Herrigel describes many aspects of how archery is, in fact, not a sport, but an art form, and is very spiritual to those in the east. The process he describes shows how he overcame his initial inhibitions and began to look toward new ways of seeing and understanding. In the beginning of the book Herrigel tells us that he is writing about a ritual and religious practice, “whose aim consists in hitting a spiritual goal, so that fundamentally the marksman aims at himself and may even succeed in hitting himself.” (Herrigel p. 4) Through his studies, the author discovers that within the Zen ritual actions, archery in this case, there lies a deeper meaning. Herrigel explains throughout this book that it is not through the actual physical aspect of shooting arrows at targets that archery is Zen, but through the art and spirituality through which it is performed. It is not merely shooting an arrow to hit a target, but becoming the target yourself and then, in turn, hitting yourself spiritually. By meeting this spiritual goal, you will then meet the physical goal. The struggle then is, therefore not with the arrow or the target but within oneself.
24 Amore, Roy C. and Julia Ching. The Buddhist Tradition. In Willard G. Oxtoby, Ed. World Religions: Eastern Traditions. P. 221
In The Heart of Understanding, Thich Nhat Hanh’s uses simple but powerful words and real world examples to illustrate the profound Buddhist philosophy from the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, an important representative of Mahayana Buddhist literature. The Mahayana school of Buddhist teachings emphasizes the doctrine of Sunyata- emptiness. The doctrine of emptiness, one of the most important Mahayana innovations, focuses on the relational aspect of existence. Thich Nhat Hanh coins and introduces a new word- interbeing to explain the state of emptiness. This idea of interbeing not only illustrates emptiness well but also provides understanding of other fundamental Buddhist ideas such as No-Self, impermanence and non-duality.
The second classic criticism of Utilitarian Principle is that Mill’s dichotomy of higher and lower pleasures create the need to calculate the happiness derived from each category of pleasures. This has left critics asking “Is a dissatisfied Socrates better off than a satisfied fool?” In response, Mill says that people learn to distinguish physical (or lower) pleasures from mental (or higher) pleasures with training. We possess the tendency to favor the higher pleasures, as we are human beings rather than mere
Masatsusu, Mitsuyuki. 1982. The Modern Samurai Society: Duty and Dependence in Contemporary Japan. New York: AMACOM.
‘Of Mice and Men’ is based on the experiences of a migrant farmer, set in 1930’s America. The characters are also symbolized as realistic people, but influenced by the issues and circumstances based on the Wall Street crash, the American Dream and being set after WWI. I empathies for these characters for the consequences of these historical events are what to have made ‘Of Mice and Men’ a tragedy in relation to loneliness.
Mill, in response to objections about pleasure, claims that there are some pleasures that are better than others. He states that the life of a reasoning, thinking person is superior to a human, rather than just the appetite of an animal.(513) In supporting this claim, he mentions how those who support a similar view have written before that the pleasures of the mind are superior than the body.(513) To support this idea, Mill mentions the idea of competent judges. For someone to be a competent judge be...
The forefather of Madhyamika Buddhism was Nagarjuna. T.P. Kasulis writes in his book, Zen Action, Zen Person that Nagarjuna was a predecessor to the development of Zen Buddhism. Nagarjuna is regarded though as a patriarch of the Zen tradition. He was the affecting principle to demonstrate logically the "emptiness", or rather sunyata of philosophical distinctions. Kasulis also explores Nagarjuna's "Logic of Emptiness."
Mill says “Of two pleasures, if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasure.” (541) The pleasure that people choose over a different pleasure, event though they may undergo more discomfort to get it is the pleasure deemed higher. Moreover, Mill states that people will always prefer the pleasure with the highest appeal, “few human creatures would consent to be changed into any of the lower animals, for promise of the fullest allowance of the beast’s pleasures” (541). Since the human already has a higher level of pleasure than that of the animal, the human will never choose to go down a level even if they were promised endless amounts of pleasure
Shirane Haruo. et al. Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900. New York: Colombia University Press, 2002. Print.
LaFleur, William R. The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan. 1983: University of California Press, Berkeley.
Even with this argument as presented by Mill, there are still questions that remain unanswered, e.g., What is it that people desire, do they desire to be happy or do “they desire what they think will bring them happiness” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 61)? The criticisms presented thus far, on the “principle of utility as a correct moral principle” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 60), leaves me to hold a moral judgment and answer to the question, “Utilitarianism: A Workable Moral Theory?” And as cited by Driver (2014)
My own personal commentary shall emphasize the ultimate truth about emptiness is realizing all is empty, even the knowledge and practices that allow us to realize it. In this way, Buddhism turns in on itself, negating the existence of its own essence. I also pay special attention to the training of the bodhisattva, who has gained superior insight, and therefore practices the perfection of wisdom in a particular way.
The value of different pleasures is also a point of interest for Mill. Mill’s version of utilitarianism requires a comparison between different types of pleasures. Mill says that pleasure can be measured by both quality and quantity. A pleasure could be consi...