[Buddha-l] Loving your object of study

[curt]

Jackhat1 at aol.com wrote:
>  
> (a) intellectual inquiry which aims for and  impacts one's own liberation;
> (b) intellectual inquiry which doesn't aim  for or impact one's own 
> liberation;
>
> It is possible to engage in (b)  passionately as a scholar (or speculative 
> philosopher) and not practice the  dharma.  It is possible to engage in (a) as a 
> seeker and not practice  scholarship.  

I think it's good to have positive examples/role-models. I would suggest 
the Korean scholar/sage Chinul as one in this regard. According to the 
traditional version of his bio (which is of course highly 
hagiographical) he had three "Great Awakenings" during his life - all of 
which occurred while deeply absorbed in Sutra study.

Robert Buswell's excellent book "Tracing Back the Radiance" has a lot of 
biographical info on Chinul.

Curt