Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: rbowman Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: Joy of this, Joy of that Date: 8 Dec 2024 03:36:03 GMT Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: <495550f7-796e-4414-67ae-26d3f8ba16f1@example.net> <33442f75-5afe-ce6b-d5b2-19efc78a72d3@example.net> <2c1fb128-258b-7848-e896-3246674d460f@example.net> <2d814efc-b5f8-a1f9-d273-77016cb3cbae@example.net> <9cGcnY0c8c3LA8_6nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d@earthlink.com> <6465d1f8-6fab-e3bd-0345-86011937364d@example.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net qJKZ5FGkkKZGRygptlwYoAP2XFV5/kv4SKkDjqTTJtd7WGpsOy Cancel-Lock: sha1:XfGuNudVoAkRIB2BB/5eUN75fqk= sha256:yE/WDcQfw3ltmpg0whqmMjQ9IgT8rSfHmgLy137G1ps= User-Agent: Pan/0.149 (Bellevue; 4c157ba) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:61927 On Sat, 7 Dec 2024 23:36:46 +0100, D wrote: > I saw a documentary where an abbott said that she uses (abbess?) the > students answer to the koan to gauge the students spiritual progress. > Somehow that feels so strange to me, since enlightenment is an > individual phenomenon, so how can you build a "scale" based on the > answer to nonsensical questions? On the other hand, I'm not a student of > zen. Rinzai Zen is often criticized for the koan system. It might have worked at one point before it became formalized. https://www.amazon.com/Sound-One-Hand-Answers-Classics/dp/1681370220 For only $11.99 in the Kindle edition you can get the teacher's edition. Soto Zen is more into just sitting (zazen). And then there is the Western spin. It can be traced back to Alan Watts, and alcoholic British expat, and through him to Christmas Humphreys, the founder of the London Buddhist Society. Then you get to Bennett, the Order of the Golden Dawn, Crowley, Annie Besant of the Theosophical Society, and other assorted nutters. D.T. Suzuki was also from that group and threw in his own spin. Filter it through a generation or two and you have Tricycle. Personally I prefer Rahula's take although he is often criticized as being too Western. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Buddha_Taught