Replying to LO30754 --
Hi At and all,
At started the thread "Why are we living?" with the question, "Why are we
living?".
<snipped>
> Eventually they converged into one single question:- Why are we living?
>
> Why do we live?
<snipped>
The latest messages in this thread were about a taxanomy of problems.
It is good that At remarked that a question doesn't need to be a
problem.
He wrote,
"The fact that i could not find a satisfactory answer to it created a
problem for me. But the question itself is no problem for me
-- it is something which simply requires an answer".
I would propose that even that is not necessarily. One can entertain a
question like "Why are we living?", without looking for an answer.
This is how in Zen koans were used, koans are not answered, but
resolved.
A good text to read about Zen koans is Zen Koan Practice by Genjo
Marinello
[See below for URL... ]
Genjo Marinello writes, "To work on a koan is to let a koan work on
you." In the part of the world where At is living this would sound
something like: "This question (Why are we living?) wants to work on
you.".
There is one difficulty though, Marinello writes, I quote,
"I have heard Genki Roshi (Zen master & Abbot) refer to them [koans]
as a can-opener for the Heart/Mind (kokoro). They are like a
door-knocker, they are of no use, unless used properly as a tool to
knock on the door of one's Heart/Mind. Koans should only be used after
one's meditation has entered Samadhi. Samadhi is the condition of
one's mind when all the silt and ripples (ideas, thoughts, feelings,
judgments) have quieted and the mind has become clear, calm, clean,
naturally reflective and free-flowing in this moment. If your mind has
not yet achieved Samadhi, don't bother with koans. Koans deliberately
stir up the waters of the mind, and if the mind is already disturbed,
koan practice will only make things worse."
I can sense that the "Why are we living?" question is perfectly timed
for At but not necessarily for the majority of listmembers.
Greetings,
Ren'e
[Host's Note: Rene included a URL that causes problems with some SPAM
filters... The page looks interesting, so here's how you can assemble
the url... I've divided it into three lines... put the lines
together adding a dot at each of the two line breaks.
http://www.zenproject
faithweb
com/zen_teachings/koan_practice.html
.. Rick]
--"Rene Post" <renepost@xs4all.nl>
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