Saturday, January 7, 2012

drip, drip, drip

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Skimming over the Internet threads at Zen Forum International and here on this blog -- the ones concerning Eido Tai Shimano and his various depredations -- I notice only belatedly that ZFI deleted my opening letter on the topic ... and who knows what else besides? The Shimano issue has been contentious in its time and some were unable or unwilling to dig into what was too volatile, too apostate, too messy, too unapproved. OK.

What occurred to me today as I skimmed all that heart-felt, exasperated, angry, wishful, soothing, bullshitting, condemning, elevating, self-serving, altruistic, camouflaging, revealing, tut-tutting ... what occurred to me today was that I wanted to say thank you to those who contributed. The issue is drip-drip-dripping into an obscurity that is natural to all things. Like all things, it has been or is en route to being forgotten ... until it is rediscovered in some new time and place. The notion that its lessons could somehow be learned and not repeated is pie in the sky ... otherwise known as bullshit. Human beings are human beings ... i.e. Buddhas. They do their best or do their worst and best and worst together drip-drip-drip into the maw of forgetfulness. OK.

But another thing that crossed my mind was how I dislike the habit of quoting or relying on Zen master this or Christian saint that or reb this-and-that... the 'authentic' and 'approved' stuff. I don't care what they said or whether they were holier than a bread box ... I do care what YOU say or what I say. True, we can all take some lessons from those who went before, but those lessons are only as good as YOU are. Mostly they are just farts in a wind storm.

But YOU are not that way.

YOU are alive.

Spiritual endeavor is not some golden-fleeced roadkill.

Buddhism is what is alive.

What is alive does not accede like some drooling, lock-tugging sycophant.

YOU are alive.

YOU, after all, are Buddha.

Thank you very much.
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3 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear that you were censored on ZFI. I have been stunned at a couple what I viewed as honest if pretty direct things I and others have posted that have been quickly axed, especially with what Nonin is allowed to get away with - it's his site, he gets to say what he wants. I think it should be allowed to get a bit messier, but instead I generally think you get a narrow, selectively PC crowd of grayhairs who beat everything to death. Lol.
    I generally avoid the place now, but there is some good stuff there no doubt. Cheers.

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  2. As one of the founders and moderators at ZFI, I completely disclaim the notion that an "opening letter" was removed. I have no recollection of a letter being removed, and if there was such a letter removed I will certainly be happy to explain the reason or see that it is reposted. Genkaku, I hope you can help me verify this charge of censorship or that if it can't be verified that you apologize for it.

    Generally dissing internet forums is easy. Moderating one's own language so that posts don't need to be removed is difficult. I'm very proud that posts at ZFI do not get removed for the wrong reasons. Sure, from time to time, even the moderators don't unanimously agree on the removal of one or another post, but we deal with it and don't hide the ball. What we don't allow is personal attacks or ad hominem, off topic, dissing other Buddhist traditions or other religions, or dissing the moderators, etc. I can sincerely and confidently say that we try our best to make ZFI a forum with good content, and not just another place for people to rant. But we never censor for content unless there is a specific reason that the content is objectionable such as swearing, personal attacks, words that seem to have no purpose other than causing discord in the sangha, etc. There is even some silliness allowed in certain of the forums.

    It sometimes happens that people are blind to what they wrote that caused their post be removed, or knowing what they wrote are blind to why it was not appropriate, and that is not in our control.

    None of the moderators does it full time, so trying to keep posts on topic OR to deal with people who want to post about Zen who have never belonged to a zen sangha or had a zen teacher, OR manage people who practice Theravada and want to tell us Zennies how wrong we are about the Dhamma, etc. can be a real chore to keep up with. Overall I think 95% of our contributors get what we are providing and that the moderators are doing yeoman's custodial work in keeping it a nice place to visit.

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  3. "But YOU are not that way.
    YOU are alive.
    Spiritual endeavor is not some golden-fleeced roadkill.
    Buddhism is what is alive.
    What is alive does not accede like some drooling, lock-tugging sycophant.
    YOU are alive.
    YOU, after all, are Buddha.
    Thank you very much."

    That very much reminds me of the koan "Yunmen's Idle Speech" that is Case 39 of the Gateless Checkpoint (Wumen Guan/Mumonkan)
    Yunmen: Because when monk a asked, "The brilliant light silently illuminates the whole river and sands . .”, the one sentence was not yet ended when Men quickly said, “Aren’t those the words of the excellently gifted Zhangzhuo?”
    The monk said, "Yes,"
    Men said, "Fallen speech!”

    I agree wholeheartedly that we should say our own words and not rely on the words of others. Of course, we have developed just the opposite habit because society usually has "expertitis" and wants proof from experts and authorities for everything. But even when the authorities are in agreement, such as with climate change, there is a significant minority who will ignore the majority of experts to believe their own "experts" who deny the truth of the matter. Yes, relying on one's own realization can be very daunting and tests the conficence of the most intrepid.

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