[Buddha-l] Bourgeois Buddhism

[Jo]

Hello Kobutsu,

This was also what I tried to say, in my own terms since I'm not a Zen Buddhist. 
So thanks for a clear statement here, of what I deem to be the natural proclivity for prapanca. 

Joanna


-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com [mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Kobutsu Malone
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 3:48 PM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Bourgeois Buddhism

I will try again to post on this topic. First, I think I should state that I am an American Rinzai priest.  I neither consider myself a scholar, nor a practitioner, or a theologian, or debater… or anything else for that matter!

The way I perceive things, if someone says, “I’m a Buddhist”  
great!  Wonderful… that’s very nice.  I don’t subscribe to the  
“belief” mechanism so I don’t need to believe their statement.   
It may or may not be true… and that’s OK, either way.

As for my reference to “Buddhadharma,” I intended to point to the Buddha’s teaching that all beings are primarily awake! (Buddhas) irrespective of what they call themselves or what they do not call themselves.

I perceive that we often become overly entangled in verbal thought  
forms that cascade into each other in an apparently endless fashion.   
The practice of zazen gives us respite from the indulgence in attachment to these verbal thought cascades and presents us with an experience that enables us to enter into the space between the verbal thought forms as they arise and subside… in time, with practice, this space becomes wider and more expansive and we are able to function comfortably in that spacious environment free from the need to constantly define reality in intellectual terms.

I’ve found this approach very useful in my prison work, in that an organic kind of empathetic attitude coming from that spacious place tends to somehow be sensed by others as non-threatening.


Kobutsu



Ven. Kobutsu Malone
古佛新道和尚

The Engaged Zen Foundation
Post Office Box 213
Sedgwick, ME 04676  USA

(207) 359-2555

http://www.engaged-zen.org/Kobio.html













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