After reading a couple of interesting blogs today, Zen Bastard and Buddhism Sucks (which I found from reading Uku's blog The Possible Way, I had a thought that's occurred to me here and there over the years...
Am I...am I...could I be...Buddhist?
I mean, I do meditate. I've read a lot of Buddhist teachings and in the beginning used those teachings along with those of my decidedly un-Buddhisty teacher to further understand my path.
Some of what I do could certainly be considered Insight Meditation practice. So, could I be a Buddhist?
I don't think so. Despite the fact that I relate more to Buddhists then any other kind of religious folk, to me the very idea of calling myself a Buddhist is absurd. I don't follow any particular teaching or scripture...in fact, I think most of it is useless or worse.
But let's just say that I do have an affinity, a very special affinity for Buddhists and for the practices of meditation in whatever form they come. But I doubt I will ever be a card carrying member. Still, never say never!
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6 comments:
I dunno. What's your shirt size?
Katz!!!
Well, I'm glad I'm not a Hong Kong tailor trying to custom-fit a shirt for you then.
lolz..I think I meant Katsu but couldn't remember correctly
let me try again
Katsu!!
Buddhism or not, I think people like you who want to integrate practice into their daily lives are on the right track. Those who see practice as 30 minutes and out are not. All the rest is for show.
interestingly enough this has been, for me, the 'where' all these years of practice lead to: to the disappearance of 'buddhist' and the end of 'zen'
I think such categories, categorizing simply goes away,
and it is 'just our life.'
What continues 'buddhism' and 'zen buddhism' for me, is being the step before the last step: for others to 'find' zen buddhism, or any practice for that matter, there need to be people practicing it.
When I first started sitting, way back before google, before personal computers, no gps on cell phones, etc, I found my 'zen center' in the yellow pages and arrived at a two story duplex, the bottom rented out to support the priest who livied with his jisha (assistant) in the two bedroom apartment above.
The living room was the zendo. And this was the 'Zen Buddhist Temple of Long Beach.'
I like the stories of hermits taking to the mountains, but I didn't have to go looking that way.
So.
Somebody needs to do it, somebody needs to oversee the doing of it.
In many ways the weekly sitting with the group I sit with now is a way to thank my first teacher, whom I never thought of thanking.
To get to 'no buddhism' means passing through 'buddism' and returning to the step before 'no buddhism' so that others can follow buddhism the full distance until there is nothing to follow: like that old hotdog stand joke, "one with everything'.
I think this blog is your step just before the last step.
The place where these things get talked about before they go away.
Can't tell you how much I appreciate this. You have a very positive influence on my own practice, and I benefit from coming here.
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