Thanks to Peter for introducing a great topic. I too am enjoying all the
contributions about spirituality and shakuhachi.
Just a little note to Thomas Hare. Thank you for your thoughtful
questions and observations. Of course, the clear distinctions that you make
between Christianity and Buddhism (eg., God, no God) only hold up if you
focus on particular brands of each religion.
As you mention, Pure Land is more similar to Christianity than Zen is
because of the notion of other-power (tariki), in contrast to self-power
(jiriki). But of course, there's plenty of other-power at work within
self-power if you take the importance of Sangha (community) seriously. Yes,
in Zen, you do everything yourself, but one cannot say that it is an
individualist practice in the western sense. Inside yourself, the Sangha is
working to support you, and in the end, the bodhisattva is more than himself.
In Sui-Zen, inside yourself, the teacher and school is working. It is
good to be thankful for that. When one sits with a teacher, something can
happen that is just you, self-power, and simultaneously in the field of
other-power. Sitting knee to knee, just blowing Ro, one can blow down the
bamboo in the field of mutuality that brings joy, even as it is only "what
is." Sometimes, when this merger of student and teacher is particularly
deep, there is what is called Kanno-Doko a precious "mutual exchange of
feeling". My experience is that Kanno-Doko is (paradoxically) a source of
self-power, welling up within me from the common ground passed on to me from
the teacher. To me, this has been a precious Sui Zen experience.
With respect to Christianity, Thomas's comments seem directed more toward
the literal, Protestant variety of Christianity rather than to the
contemplative and mystical varieties (ie., Roman Catholic and Orthodox). For
example, the great Zen writer, D.T. Suzuki saw many parallels between Zen,
Pure Land and the Dominican (Christian) spirituality of Meister Eckhart (14th
c.). See Suzuki's book, Mysticism, Christian and Buddhist.
One can also find many deep resonances between Zen and Christian practice
in the works of Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. See his Mystics & Zen Masters,
The Way of Chuang Tzu, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Current
Buddhist-Christian dialogues continue to break down the stereotypic
differences. See, for example the Dalai Lama's commentaries on the Gospels
(The Good Heart), and such books as The Gethsemane Encounter, a record of
continuuing conversations between monks and nuns from both traditions that
take place periodically at Merton's monastery.
One can also point to many books being written by Roman Catholic monks
who are also officially recognized Zen masters (eg., Robert Kennedy, Thomas
Hand and William Johnston). All of these Christian folks that I've mentioned
experience a parallel to the Zen saying "If you see the Buddha on the road,
kill him." With Meister Eckhart, they say it eventually becomes necessary
"to let go of God for God's sake," or that one must eventually enter "The
Cloud of Unknowing," in God, or that "the God that we can think of cannot be
God because otherwise, when the thought goes, God would go too."
Serious Sui Zen students hope to have the experience (beneath cognition)
of Ichion Jo Butsu, or becoming Buddha in one sound. Perhaps the Christian
parallel is to have the experience of the mind of Christ and the kenosis
(Greek, self-emptying) of Christ in one sound.
Peace,
Jonas
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