This video was randomly recommended to me and it's only 15 minutes long but it has it all, including a Buddhist Master who draws penises on the walls of temples.
The monk answered you may spit we bow. In the sense that bowing was the monks way of disrespecting the idols.
I hope I remembered that right.
@dioma The koan does like this (paraphrasing):
A man is smoking a cigarette in the temple and dropping his ashes on the Buddha because he believes that all things are Buddha and thus the statue of Buddha is no different than an ashtray. What would you say to him to help him?
The man is very strong and will not allow you to hit him, and you cannot use force. He knows enough about Zen to understand all things have Buddha nature, but is unenlightened.
What would you do?
Hmh I would say that although all things are buddha, water can't be set a blaze. And a statue is not an ash tray.
(Is Buddha nature then like a body made up of many different materials with distinct purposes, but united in a common purpose? Or is everything really the same, but why can't water be used like fire then?)
@dioma That was a good answer actually. Well done.
Buddha nature is just shorthand for "the absolute", the real. Call it Buddha Nature, the Tao, the "True Self", the "Big I", the Logos, the Kingdom of God, or whatever you want.
These are all mere vocabulary. You cannot describe it because all words identity in order to separate. Something is A and thus is not B, C, D, etc.
However "It" is everything, including A - Z, and everything in between. Thus words are meaningless, and yet we use words
I would have never learned about Nietzsche or Buddhism without you. Thanks!
Knowing that nothing objectively matters really takes the edge out of things, while also allowing me to focus on what is important to me and not be shamed into doing someone else's biding. And Buddhism justifies why we should still act with compassion to each other because we are all connected. I like that combination.
Its weird that this point of view is not more widespread. Current scientific understanding underlines that nothing we do makes any difference to the inevitable heat death of the universe. Yet almost no one seems to act on that understanding. They keep running around pretending that what they do is super important.
I get it though. I still feel anxious and jealous sometimes even though it makes no rational sense. That's just part of being human.
@dioma My guess is that it has a lot to do with the fact that enlightenment and personal actualization is hard to monetize.
watching TV or playing videogames are are very flawed and ineffective form of meditation when you get down to it. It's all about mindlessly "flowing", but TV and videogames are monetizable, while sitting zazen or taking a peaceful walk through nature is difficult to monetize.
You don't need a lot of money to be happy once you give up impressing other people.
