[Buddha-l] Re: Tozan's blue mountain and white cloud

[Piya Tan]

Dear Ben,

That's useful to know. I suppose, Zen at its best is something like a talk
between two wouldbe lovers:

"If you love me, get over the words and distance, but give space."

In early Buddhist mindfulness practice, too, we need to come to a
stage when we go beyond words and concepts, and "feel" the experience
directly. Feeling here meaning going beyond any medium (words,
thoughts) and have a direct experience of things.

Interestingly, Ajahn Brahm is one of those monks who often get
invitations to talk at Zen
gatherings.

I'm there is a natural ancient link in early Buddhist meditation and
Zen (Chan, Son), especially
Zen without its formalism and rituals, Japanese or otherwise.

Gassho,

Piya Tan




On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM, BCarral <benitocd at yahoo.es> wrote:
> On Friday, April 18, 2008, Piya Tan wrote:
>
>  > Anyway,  I  have  digressed.  More on Chan. How right
>  > would  I be in saying that the koan specifically, and
>  > Chan  in general, work best in a Sinic ambience: Chan
>  > is best taken Chinese (or East Asian).
>
>    I lead the Oviedo Zen Center which is in the Chinese
>  tradition  (although  we  have  a  liturgy in Spanish),
>  attended only by Spaniards, and I can say that they can
>  get Chan quite well.
>
>    I  read  them  some  koan from time to time, just to
>  feel  their  minds, and they find it a quite shattering
>  practice.
>
>    But it's not because of language, it's because their
>  mind is blocked by concepts. For instance, I once asked
>  them,  "Why  do we have eyes?" And they were all caught
>  by these words. Otherwise they are very good students.
>
>    Best wishes,
>
>    Ben
>
>  --
>    BCarral
>      Asturias, Spain
>
>
>
>
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