Don't become a Zen Devil!

[egoless]

I have strong feeling that many people need to revisit this!

 

This summary was written by @Juan Cruz Giusto: 

"“If you cannot weep with a person who is crying, there is no Kensho”.

Zen Deviltry is something that is happening in the West when we just take the techniques of the Easter traditions and don’t take any philosophy and cultural baggage. In a sense is good because some of the philosophies are outdated and unnecessary but, it can lead to problems.

In Mount Hiei, the monks were fighting each other because they built different sects. Notice that, even they were enlightened, they were behaving like animals!

People nowadays are thinking enlightenment as a simple thing as though it is just one insight and as soon as you have that insight, it is the end of seeking, illusion, personal development. They think that after enlightenment, there is no more need to improve yourself, learn and live life. They believe that after enlightenment there are no more values, principles, pursue of mastery, no more goals, no more purpose, no more career, no more business, relationships, pursue of excellence, education, hard work, thinking, planning, strategizing and no more caring. But this is a very simplistic notion of Enlightenment.

Notice that if it was that simple, there would not be many spiritual schools. In reality, there are TONS of schools, teachings, teachers and so on.

The various masters have:

-          Strong values and principles

-          High Passion

-          Commitment to mastery

-          Commitment to excellence

-          Very hard working

-          Make plans and goals

-          They are not lazy

-          They conduct business

-          They engage in the world

-          They care about society

-          They care about ecology

-          They care about relationships

-          They are very caring individuals

-          They are very educated and read a lot

ENLIGHTENMENT SHOULD MAKE YOU MORE CARING, NOT LESS! If it’s not this way, you are making it in a Zen Devil way.

The solution to this is to be face to face with a great master. Nonduality is not learned, IS EMBODIED. It is not about sitting in your cushion and having a brilliant insight, it is a lot more than just that.

There is distinction: Small Nonduality vs Big Nonduality.

People get cocky when they know about Nonduality and compare it with duality. But this creates a high level duality! REAL ENLIGHTEMENT IS A FULL INTEGRATION BETWEEN THE DUAL AND THE NONDUAL!

Big Nonduality is humble. It understands and integrates duality and Nonduality both. Big Nonduality is so nondual that even the mundane stuff is embraced. He sees that, even though the good and the evil are not existentially true, they exist and they are part of the world. It is also generous. They don’t criticize. They see a place for therapy, working on your career, working on your relationships, on the bad habits. Small Nonduality will say that everything is illusion and you should go straight forward for Enlightenment. But you must realize that not all people are ready for Enlightenment and it may take them a decade to work themselves up to that. BIG NONDUALITY IS INCLUSIVE!

Zen Devil: One who has the experience of Satori but has done no scholar study of literature. It is the one who sits and meditate all day but doesn’t expand his knowledge of the world.

Wild Fox Zen: It is one who only reads the books and knows the theory of Enlightenment but doesn’t have any insights.

You want a Middle Way. If you want to master Enlightenment, you will need to invest more than 10.000 hours to really master and embody it. If not, how do you explain the hard-core training and disciplines of the different traditions.

There is a lot more than just an Enlightenment experience:

-          There are different depth of Enlightenment and there is a whole spectrum and variety of enlightenment experiences

-          Develop love and compassion

-          Emotional Mastery

-          Cultivation of Unconditional Love

-          Relationships: You need to learn how to have enlightenment relationships with people

-          Eliminating bad habits

-          Education: There is a lot to learn about the world

-          Being a good citizen and contributing to society

-          Having an ethical career that is contributing to raising its levels of consciousness

-          Transcending your culture

-          Taking care of your physical body

-          Develop good character

-          Concern for the environment

-          You can develop spiritual powers

-          Understanding (relating your insights with business, relationships, the environment, society, evolution, physics, biology, physiology).

“Post-enlightenment practice meant finally ceasing to be preoccupied with your own personal condition and attainment and the devote yourself and your practice to helping and teaching others. Finally, you realize that Enlightenment is a matter of endless practice and compassionate functioning and not something that occurs one and for all in one great moment on the cushion”.

Emotional traumas and self-development is not accomplished by enlightenment only. Being a good person is separate from enlightenment.

A COMMITMENT TO NONDUALITY IS TO EMBODY IT.

Reason is a function of the mind and existence is beyond that. The fact is that there are not reasons but VALUES AND PRINCIPLES STILL MATTER (this is the paradox of self-development). Existentially, there are no reasons but DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE PRACTICAL LEVEL where it does matter how you act, think and behave.

True goodness comes spontaneously. The true question is how you are going to decide how to play the game, and karma still exist (your actions have consequences).

YOU ARE NOT TRULY ENLIGHTENMENT UNTIL YOU CAN HAVE COMPASSION FOR THE SUFFERING OF OTHER. You may not suffer anymore but there are many people that are going to still suffer (how about your mom, that is going to still be suffering because she isn’t enlightened, or the guy in the street that is dying because have nothing to eat). THE THING IS THAT OTHERS ARE YOU! IT IS ALL YOU!!!

You should work a lot while you are working towards enlightenment. The psychological work that you are doing right now (taking care of your finances, your relationships, career and life purpose, rearranging your values) are going to do be really useful when you get enlightenment. EVEN MORE, ENLIGHTENMENT CAN TAKE THIS TO THE NEXT LEVEL."

Edited March 23, 2018 by egoless

[kieranperez]

Be more concerned about you becoming a Zen Devil

[Joseph Maynor]

1 hour ago, kieranperez said:

Be more concerned about you becoming a Zen Devil

Haha.   It's not let me tell you who you are!   It's let me tell you who I am.

Watch this entire video.  It's brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbj4nLOPN8o&t=127s

Edited March 23, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[herghly]

One of the view videos I haven't seen ... will watch later today