[Buddha-l] the body in Buddhist Practice

[Stuart Lachs]

Vincent wrote:
> yes, he was also with Tien-tai masters. Dogen is a enormous figure in
> Buddhism.
> The point was about the message of Stuart Lacks when he observed in
> Advaita the body position is not so important. When it seems he was
> using some reference to zazen, then I wrote about other views existing
> in Chan. Now best clarified with your message.

You should read  my message again. I was not saying that in Advaita Vedanta 
the body position during seated meditation is not important. I said I sat 
with a fellow from that tradition who could go into "samadhi" rather easily 
and stay there for long periods of time in spite having quite bad posture. I 
also mentioned an American (in the  Zen tradition) who sat with ease despite 
his size and bad posture. I visited a  Kirpal Singh center years ago where 
some  people meditated leaning  against a wall and in other positions that 
would be described as bad posture by Zen people. I assume the K.S. people 
did fine in their meditation as no big deal was made about people's posture. 
I don't want to bore you with more examples. My point was that the strong 
emphasis on posture in seated meditation, especially in Soto Zen may be 
cultural.

Often problems arise when certain elements are pointed out as being bad form 
or incorrect. For instance, coming into the meditation hall late can be made 
into a big problem by underlining that it is disturbing to others and so on. 
Yet if no point is made of it, it would be no more bothersome than a honking 
horn or a chirping bird. Setting up strict rules may seem necessary and 
serve a purpose, but like many things in life, they also may have a down 
side.

Dogen seemed to have a particular dislike for Ta-hui. I don't have the 
source now, but I believe he called him a fraud or fake. Interesting for a 
prominent Zen person to hold this opinion of another very prominent Zen 
person. Afterall, Ta-hui was pretty much the leading Zen figure of his day. 
Miriam Levering has written much on Ta-hui.

Stuart
>
> I think when one read about the evolution of the practice in any
> master, also that master is a product of his times and his personal
> karma and trends. In this way Dogen becomes finally an adherent to
> seated meditation and it doesn't mean he was not in contact with other
> things neither his previous practices were not right. It was his
> evolution.
> All teachings can be perfect depending of the practitioner. There is
> people who is not fully satisfied with zazen or any other, and it
> doesn't mean any practice is not effective. Just depends of every
> person and his moment.
>
> ES> To return to the Buddha's words,"In this very body,
> ES> six feet in length, with its sense-impressions, its
> ES> thoughts and ideas... are the world, the origin of the
> ES> world, the cessation of the world, and the Way that
> ES> leads to the cessation of the world."
>
> and nothing impedes that one can realize the same thing while he
> is walking. Outside the room the Mind continues. Not?
>
> best regards,
>
>
>
>
>
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