Such behaviour not only upsets the monastic routine but may even corrupt the Japanese monks, so that as a result of costly experience many Zen monasteries have now closed their doors to foreigners — Wayfarer
One day when Abba (Father or Elder) John was sitting in front of the church, the brethren were consulting him about their thoughts. One of the old men who saw it became prey to jealousy and said to him, “John, your vessel is full of poison.” Abba John said to him, “That is very true, abba; and you have said that when you only see the outside, but if you were able to see the inside as well, what would you say then?”
One day some old men came to see Abba Antony. In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test them, the old man suggested a text from the Scriptures, and beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant. Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the old man said: “You have not understood it”. Last of all he said to Abba Joseph, “How would you explain this saying?” and he replied “I do not know.” Then Abba Anthony said, “Indeed, Abba Joseph” has found the way, for he said, “I do not know”.
A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him for a word. The old man said, “Go and sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything”
… all the future follows from the past; and all, past and future, is created and issues out of that which is forever present … from what we have said it is abundantly clear that neither the future nor the past exist, and therefore it is not strictly correct to say that there are three times, past, present, and future. It might be correct to say that there are three times, a present of past things, a present of present things, and a present of future things. Some such different times do exist in the mind, but nowhere else that I can see …
But personally, I have always found Zen a rather intriguing tradition that reminds me of Christian monasticism that can be equally regimental. Apparently, the Japanese word zen comes from Sanskrit dhyana, “meditation” via Chinese chan and the roots of the tradition are traced to India in the early centuries of the Christian Era. — Apollodorus
Not only that. But many people interested in Zen seem to think that Zen is a kind of "anything goes"; that if they are "just doing their own thing", they can call it "Zen". It's bizarre. How did it come to this???I agree that Westerners, and perhaps people in general, tend to pick the easy bits and ignore the discipline and the hard work. — Apollodorus
I heard that in an older version of the story, there is no strawberry, but a poisonous fruit, and that a Buddhist teacher, wanting to appeal to a Western audience, made some changes to the story.Back when I was in college I took a class in philosophy and one of the philosophies touched upon was the eastern philosophy of Zen. Part of the Zen philosophy is about "living in the moment" and a classic story in the Zen philosophy is a story where a man is being chased by a tiger, he comes to a cliff and he's hanging over the edge of a cliff by a vine. He sees a strawberry on the vine, he plucks it and pops it in his mouth, it is wonderfully delicious. — HardWorker
Part of the Zen philosophy is about "living in the moment" — HardWorker
should I go buy it and not think of the big credit card bill I will be getting in the future? After all, that's living in the moment. — HardWorker
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