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This part covers Confucianism, Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. Dao is the next part.

 

I'm not trying to be too exhaustive nor talk of the founders, it is rather a general understanding of their beliefs and teaching, with some comparison drawn to Daoism to keep that in perspective.

 

 

IV. Philosophy

--Confucianism

--Neo-Confucianism

--Nothingness

--Emptiness

--Buddhism

--Zen Buddhism

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IV. PHILOSOPHY

 

 

CONFUCIANISM:

 

Confucianism is an ethical/moral system (founded by Confucius, ¿××Ó£¬Kong Zi) by which man seeks harmony within society. This harmony is achieved by adopting a proper ¡®way¡¯ of conducting and governing the state and the self; thus it is both a political and humanistic philosophy. He emphasized education, proper definitions (particularly relationships), and ethics/morals (virtue and principles) in order to develop human-heartedness; to develop a ¡®man of virtue¡¯.

 

Due to the preceding centuries of war and unrest, he was at times blunt towards the government, giving them a politically pragmatic [golden] rule: ¡°Your job is govern, not to kill¡±. Thus, Confucius¡¯s desire (or ¡®way¡¯) for the government was to govern in ethical actions, as an example to the people. Although Confucius thought that laws and punishment helped to keep people in line, he emphasized a government by example: Political virtue and principle should naturally lead to governing less as best.

 

The story of the weeping woman underscores the situation that existed in his time: Upon seeing a woman deeply weeping, he inquired as to the problem. She related that her husband, father-in-law, and son had all died from a tiger. When Confucius recommended that she leave this area she replied that there is no government oppression in her area. Then Confucius utter one of his famous political assertions: ¡°A harsh and oppressive government is more ferocious and fearsome than even a tiger¡±.

 

Confucians followed what was referred to as a ¡®way [dao] of human concern¡¯ which carried the idea of social and mutual concern that fosters good relations: He sought to improve ¡®humanness¡¯, ( ÈÊ , Ren, note the character pictures two people.), According to Confucius, the ¡®man of virtue¡¯ (¾ý×Ó¡ªJun Zi) is one where neither riches nor honor corrupts and poverty does not sway his moral values. Confucians sought to cultivate virtue in order to most effectively change (and restore harmony to) man and society. For the Confucian, ¡°Loving people and treasuring things¡± was paramount.

 

That the statement is not to be understood in a materialistic sense (as envy or desire to accumulate goods) can be seen in the following statement from his Analects:

¡°With coarse rice to eat, with only water to drink, and with my elbow as my pillow, I find delight in all. Wealth and honor attained through immoral means have as much to do with me as passing clouds¡±.

 

Daoism can in part be seen as a counter-balance to Confucianism: The mental focus, the effort required and the constant attention and attempts to regulate emotions or desires seemed artificial to the Daoist. For the early Daoist, a similar statement is made, but an opposite reflection occurs. For the Daoist: ¡°despising things and valuing life¡± was paramount.

 

And a Daoist parallel statement about the virtuous man goes:

¡°The ideal man would not even remove a hair from his body in exchange for profit¡±.

 

Whereas Confucians wanted an active role in society, to control it, to guide it, and plan it¡¯s changes, the Daoist considered such ideas an exercise in futility and as creating a wider gap between people and the environment/nature/universe, which they believed was the source of health and happiness. Confucius saw the growing gap as between relationships and he wanted to bridge those; whether within the family or government to people.

 

Whereas Confucians would achieve their ends by ethics, education, virtue, and aesthetics, the Daoists found man-mind distinctions, labels and morality a form of disease; Such ¡®ways¡¯ are not the ways of nature but are forced and unnatural human endeavors to wrestle control of society and nature. The Daoist did not argue against the regulation of morality, but the ability for this to achieve maximum satisfaction of the human. Any imbalance between man and the universe would potentially affect one¡¯s emotion, health, and longevity. Thus, Confucians primary concern is with man and his social organizations and responsibilities and the Daoist¡¯s primary concern is with man and his proper view of universal organizations and interdependencies.

 

The saying, ¡°Chinese are Confucian by day and Daoist by night¡±, reflects the social concerns one has during the day and the more metaphysical reflections when at rest.

 

 

Neo-Confucianism:

 

The numerous contributions and developments of the Neo-Confucianism include cosmological, metaphysical, moral, and political issues.

 

Neo-Confucianism combines Taoist and Buddhist ideas with existing Confucian ones. Due to the rising interest of Taoism and Buddhism, particularly how they meet the spiritual and metaphysical interests, the Confucians saw a need to develop a more thorough metaphysical system, which eventually ran as follows: They way of heaven (tian dao) is expressed in principles (li), covered by energy or matter (qi). While they felt that man was born good, he needed to fully develop this goodness; to purify ¡°li¡±.

 

Neo-Confucianism had the slogan, ¡°The three teachings are one.¡± There is the story of the Chinese Buddhist who was said to wear a Confucian hat, a Buddhist rope and Taoist shoes, and who taught emptiness/non-attachment, morality and the love of all beings.

 

In the late sixteenth century, the Jesuit Ricci reported : "The commonest opinion held here among those who consider themselves the most wise, is to say that all three sects come together as one, and that you can hold them all at once.¡± (The three sects: Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism). ¡°The Vinegar Tasters¡± is a picture of the three sects standing around a vat of vinegar.

 

To see a YouTube video of ¡®the three vinegar tasters¡¯, scroll to the bottom:

http://www.edepot.com/taoism_3-vinegar-tasters.html

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Before looking at Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, two important concepts which developed out of Buddhism were Nothingness and Emptiness:

 

NOTHINGNESS

 

1) Western view, Religion: All things are created out of nothing (first mover; cause and effect by a source outside of and above ¡®things¡¯). To the western mind, nothingness is ¡®non-existence¡¯ often in a nihilistic sense.

2) Scientific view: Nothing can come from nothing (Law of conservation of energy; natural law and chance)

3) Eastern view: Everything comes from nothing (everything is interrelated and interdependent; everything also returns to ¡®nothing¡¯ as the source.)

 

A table is called a ¡®table¡¯ since someone gave it that name based on the material, the look, functionality and work-energy processes required to create it. It does not come out of nothing on it¡¯s own; external and pre-existing matter make it what it is; finished with a shining lacquer of a label called a ¡°table¡±.

 

 

1) Consider the famous Zen riddle: ¡°What was your original face before you were conceived?¡±

 

Zen riddles (called Koans, and which were often logically meaningless) often took some generally familiar concept and attempted to turn it upside down in order to get a monk to ¡®rid himself¡¯ of such concepts; to see that the conceptual framework that we live in is a ¡®man-mind¡¯ one and not one based on an awareness of ultimate reality (or an awareness of your relationship to it). This disharmony/disunity of thinking (separation of heaven/earth/man) is felt to cause the strife, suffering and evil in the world.

 

In Buddhism, one has to see that in their philosophical construction there is really no ¡®me¡¯; if there is no ¡®me¡¯, then how or why would I ask a question like ¡°where did I come from?¡± , ¡°how did I get here¡±¡­ To ask such questions also assumes some sort of linearity in think (and time); a beginning (and logically an ending). But Asian philosophy sees life as a cyclical process like a wheel, without any defined beginning and ending.

 

By asking the monk a question that contained an idea they understood (face), the master sought to show the monk that this is simply a time dependent, made-in-man¡¯s-time concept, yet confuses it by using time as a concept in his question. This koan is meant to show that our definition/distinction/labeling of ¡®things¡¯ is based upon our own mental construction; A face is part of a person but a person (like everything) must comes from pre-existing things, as understood in the east: Everything is relational; ¡®Things¡¯ only exist, or are understood due to their relationship (interdependence) to some pre- or co-existing matter.

 

Applying this to ¡®nothing¡¯ means, that only the concept of ¡®nothing¡¯ can be defined without appealing to pre-existing matter. Since it does not require color, shape nor weight it precedes notions/concepts/definitions/distinctions; it is a thing ¡®in-and-of-itself¡¯. In this sense, a ¡®true¡¯ definition/distinction is impossible; the definition/distinction of any one thing involves the definition/distinction of everything else. Ultimately, this divides reality up into parts. Daoism, Buddhism and Zen seek to show that everything traces back to being a part of a ONENESS; everything in it¡¯s original form returns to nothing and therefore is the same as nothing (SAMENESS). In the sense of this koan (and most koans seek to point this out hundreds of different ways), everything comes from one source and returns to that source, the Oneness; Nothingness. In Daoism, this is Dao.

 

2) Consider the Zen story:

 

A young student of Zen wanted to proudly show his understanding, and called upon his master saying:

"The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings do not exist,

The true nature of phenomena is emptiness.

There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity.

There is no giving and nothing is received."

 

The master, Dokuon, who sat quietly with smoking pipe in hand suddenly hit Tamaoka with his pipe.

This startled the monk and made him quite angry.

 

Dokuon asked, "If nothing exists, where did all this anger come from?"[/i]

 

The idea that ¡®nothing exists¡¯ [in a negative sense¡ªno things exist] is a wrong construction of the eastern concept of nothingness. Yet the master purposely uses a wrong construction as part of his argument. Things exist due to their having been conceptualized and labeled as a distinct thing dependent upon other man-mind concepts.

 

The eastern metaphysical concept of ¡®nothing¡¯ [in a positive sense] has ¡®inherent existence¡¯; nothing else contributes towards it. What the master wants to point out is that (borrowing from the original face construction) ¡°original anger before it was conceived¡±, comes from ¡®nothing¡¯; therefore ¡®nothing¡¯ is the source of and in unity with anger. To see ¡°one¡¯s original face¡± or to see where ¡°one¡¯s anger comes from¡± is to see nothingness; to see nothingness is to see something; though something is not to be called something¡­ Therefore, it traces back to ¡®nothingness¡¯. In Daoism, this is Dao.

 

To achieve an understanding:

1) ¡®Things¡¯ do not have ¡®inherent existence¡¯; everything comes from pre- or co-existing ¡®things¡¯: INTERDEPENDENCE

2) ¡®Inherent existence¡¯ is a state in which no interdependence arises or exists; NOTHINGNESS.

3) Through a process of ¡®reversal¡¯, everything eventually traces backwards to a single source: SAMENESS.

4) Nothingness is the binding source of everything; everything comes together with the source. ONENESS.

5) In Daoism, this movement (identification of anger back to nothing) is called: DAO.

6) In Buddhism, it is the non-dividing of an ¡®undivided reality¡¯: UNDIVIDED REALITY

7) Man-mind concepts as ¡®anger¡¯ can now be accepted as a meaningful term, within the ¡®nothingness¡¯ construction: ANGER

 

Zen Buddhism has a saying: ¡°Before Zen, ¡®mountains are mountains¡¯ and ¡®rivers are ¡®rivers¡¯; Realizing Zen, ¡®mountains are not mountains¡¯ and ¡®rivers are not rivers¡¯; After Zen, ¡®mountains are mountains¡¯ and ¡®rivers are rivers¡¯ ¡±.

 

This is three stages in two movements:

1. Before Zen, a man-mind time concept: a mountain is a mountain; (first movement: from man-mind concept to nothing)

2. In Zen: a mountain is not a mountain (it is nothing); (second movement: from nothing to undivided reality concept)

3. After Zen: Applying the concept to man-mind time, the mountain is understood to be a mountain (ONE with nothing).

 

In Zen, this is: ¡®directly seeing to an undivided reality¡¯.

 

 

EMPTINESS

 

The Buddhist ¡®emptying of the mind¡¯ requires one to see ¡®things¡¯ for what they are, as a ¡®thing¡¯. It is NOT ¡®in-and-of-itself¡¯; It is ultimately interdependent on everything, by:

- their causes (pre-existing processes)

- their parts (made up of pre-existing materials)

- the mind (labeled and given a name)

 

Consider the Zen riddle: ¡°If you see the Buddha, kill the Buddha¡±

 

In short, this is the killing (complete removal) of all man-mind label/distinction/concept; If even ¡®emptiness¡¯ exists as a concept, then one must learn to ¡®empty themselves of emptiness¡¯.

 

Consider these quotes to convey the idea of emptiness and/or nothingness:

 

1) ¡±Form is exactly emptiness; emptiness exactly form¡± ¨C The Heart Sutra

 

2) ¡±Everything comes from nothing, and in turn, ultimately, everything is nothing, in this way everything is one.¡± ¨C S. Suzuki

 

3) ¡±When you cling to a hairbreadth of distinction, heaven and earth are set apart¡­. The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving, is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow.¡± Seng-Ts¡¯an, 3rd Patriarch of Zen. Poem , The mind of Absolute Trust

 

4) ¡±But completely experiencing the nature of the mind involves complete openness, or complete nothingness; when you really experience the nature of the mind, there is utter stillness with no observer observing anything, no experience, thought or label.¡± -- Diamond Heart Sutra

5) ¡±Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void.¡± ¨C The book of the five Rings , The Book of the Void

6) "You are only made of non-you elements". That is, your body is composed entirely of non-body elements - dirt, plants, decomposed bodies, stardust, etc.¡± -- Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh

 

7) ¡±Even emptiness itself, which is seen as the ultimate nature of reality, is not absolute, nor does it exist independently. We cannot conceive of emptiness as independent of a basis of phenomena, because when we examine the nature of reality, we find that it is empty of inherent or independent existence. Then if we are to take that emptiness itself is an object and look for its essence, again we will find that it is empty of inherent existence. Therefore the Buddha taught the emptiness of emptiness." -- 14th Dali Lama

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BUDDHISM:

 

Buddhism is an offspring of the religion of India, Hinduism; Buddhism itself is a non-theistic, ethical self discipline of your thoughts and actions. Buddhism believes that all phenomena of the universe is simply manifestations of the mind. That the individual is made up of a chain of cause and effect, a retribution of Karma. Life is the circular process of living and dying (reincarnation); Death is just another the transition from one part of the process to the next one.

 

The present life is based upon what one has done (good and bad) in past lives; and the present life (which includes the past) is what the future life will be based on. This presents a cycle called the wheel of birth and death (Samsara), or the wheel of becoming. To be released from this cycle is the goal of man and the result is a state of enlightenment, or Buddha-nature; It is the point at which the concept of the ¡®self¡¯ gives way to the understanding of a more original identification: One with Universal Mind.

 

Buddhism developed a formal manner in which to help man overcome his wrong view of the self and ego, which includes: Three trainings, four noble truths, five precepts, and the eightfold path. The manner of this approach is called ¡®following the middle way¡¯ because it is between self-indulgence and self-mortification (the latter which Buddha subjected himself to for years and realized was wrong).

 

Buddhism developed a thorough ontology (metaphysics of existence, being, and reality) but tends to avoid cosmology (where did we come from). Although Daoism is less interested in and less grounded in intellectualized steps of behavior, they share some of the same metaphysical concepts of man and ultimate reality; But for the Daoist, one achieves it not by following prescribed steps; To avoid a heavy burden, just don¡¯t pick it up. Live simply, naturally and spontaneously, as nature.

 

As early as the second century, there were stories that Buddha was actually a disciple of Lao Zi. (compare the ¡®lost years of Christ¡¯ in India). This originated from the known disappearance of Lao Zi but then the story goes he went west and founded disciples in India, thus making the Buddhist writings only a variant of Daoism. The story aside, it is well known that the Buddhist writers who came into China to learn of the Daoist way did eventually borrow many terms and concepts to ease the understanding of their ¡®way¡¯. In turn, the Chinese translated the Buddhist beliefs using many Daoist terms.

 

Buddhism received criticism from Confucians and wrote ¡°The Disposition of Errors¡±, a defense of Buddhism around 500 AD. When asked why the Buddhist system is not mentioned in the Confucian Classics [of five works], the response is that not all wisdom can come from one person or writing. When asked to reconcile Buddhist practices as appearing in opposition of Confucian ideals, it was pointed out that Confucius praised rulers who went against the rule. When asked why foreign (barbarian) ways should change what is Chinese, the response was that gold and jade do not harm each other. In other answers, the text quotes from Confucian and Daoist texts. This ¡®defense¡¯ showed that Buddhism had some antagonism from Confucianism rather than Daoism, although it also revealed it¡¯s thorough understanding of the different philosophies but willingness to embrace them all.

 

Buddhism¡¯s entry in China (Buddhism in China) should be differentiated from Buddhism that formed into a particularly Chinese influence that eventually would be Zen Buddhism.

 

 

CFL previous posted comments on Buddhism:

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=248968

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=248991

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ZEN BUDDHISM:

 

The actual term Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word chan2 (ìø), which was based on another foreign term for meditation. The history of Zen traces back to the teachings of Bodhidharma who arrived in Southern China from Southern India around 520 AD. At the time of his entry, he taught a particular form of Buddhism well established in India and had been previously taught in China by visiting Buddhists.

 

Bodhidharma, the first Patriarch of Zen Buddhism (also credited with teaching the shaolin monks breathing techniques which would develop into Shaolin Kung fu), was well versed in the sutras popular in India (for the Mahayana school, the two important texts were the Lankavatara and the Diamond Sutra). He had a strong belief in the style of teaching that would become the hallmark of Zen: ¡®instantaneous¡¯ enlightenment through realization not discourse.

 

A monk complained to the first patriarch of his unsettled mind and asked the master to pacify his mind. The master told the monk to bring out (ie: physically present) his mind and he would pacify it. When the monk replied this was impossible to do the master replied, ¡°There, I have pacified your mind¡±. The monk was Hui-ko, the soon to be second patriarch of Zen.

 

A hallmark of Zen teaching is mind transmission; Bodhidharma, wrote these famous lines on the mysterious method of Zen:

¡°A special transmission outside the sutras;

No reliance upon words or letters;

Direct point to the very mind;

Seeing into one¡¯s own nature.¡±

 

[This is similar to the idea presented in the Dao De Jing¡¯s (The Way and it¡¯s Power) opening lines of a ¡®nameless¡¯ dao which cannot be spoken since man-mind labels create man-mind reality, which separate us from a reality of one with nature.]

 

Hui Neng, the sixth patriarch of Zen, penned The Platform Sultra. As a child, he heard a Buddhist reciting a passage out of the Diamond Sutra and soon took up a 500 miles journey to North China where the fifth patriarch was teaching. This famous Zen story goes that Hui Neng (then working at the monastery as a rice cook) wrote an enlightened counter-post to a monk¡¯s posted writing; although both are really conveying the same thing, Hui Neng¡¯s was particularly superior in turning the first one¡¯s reality upside down:

 

Monk:

¡°Our body is the Bodi-tree

And our mind a mirror bright.

Carefully we wipe them hour by hour,

And let no dust alight.¡±

 

 

Hui Neng:

¡°There is no Bodi-tree

Nor stand of a mirror bright.

Since all is void,

Where can the dust alight?¡±

 

The master was so shocked at the depth of understanding of this cook¡¯s post that he approached Hui Neng in the night, passed him the robe of confirmation¡ªto be the next patriarch of Zen¡ªand urged him to immediately leave and stay underground since some who coveted the rope would certainly try to do him harm.

 

Another of Hui Neng¡¯s famous counter comments comes during his wanderings in seclusion:

Two monks argued over the movement of a flag in the wind; One stated the flag was moving and the other that the wind was moving. Hui Neng passing by, stated, ¡°You are both wrong. It is your mind that moves¡±. (It is your mind which makes up concepts such as flag or wind)

 

The monk who posted above attempted to usurp the claim of patriarch and setup the ¡®northern school¡¯ of Zen (gradual enlightenment); The gradual method permitted a slower response to attainment of enlightenment. Hui Neng¡¯s branch became the southern school (sudden enlightenment). The sudden method sought to ¡®shock¡¯ or ¡®shake¡¯ the mind into a sudden realization of the undivided nature of reality; Thus, Hui Neng is considered the father of Modern Zen. A few of the famous masters in his line include Mao Tsu, Huang Po and Rin Zai; The Rin Zai School would eventually go to Japan and find fertile ground to grow. Master Dogen from Japan went to study under the Rin Zai school but found it¡¯s method not agreeable. Upon his return to Japan about five years later he founded the Soto School of Zen. His writings can be found in ¡°Moon in a Dewdrop¡±.

 

Zen Buddhism, Buddhism and Daoism all maintain the concept that man has a faulty view of the self and the universe; Man should not ¡®cut himself out of reality¡¯, but see the undivided nature of reality. All three hold to some form of ¡®reversal¡¯ or returning to their original state; In Daoism, reversal is the movement of Dao; In Buddhism, the ¡®wheel¡¯ realizes the return; For Zen, a proper view of reality and various methods encourage one to return to a state of ONE with Reality. For Buddhism and Zen, this was a state of enlightenment. [For the wheel of becoming, compare the existentialist Sartre¡¯s similar view; ¡®we are always in a state of becoming¡¯]

 

In order to get to the point of seeing reality undivided, riddles and various methods were employed (ie: shocking or striking); later methods used hours of meditating on a koan in order to try and empty the mind of all distinctions that divide or cut up reality. Inflicting a small amount of pain in some way was common, as well as countering questions with seemingly irrelevant or absurd answers. Examples follow:

1) The famous koan of ¡®What is the sound of one hand clapping?¡¯ is the ultimate question/expression of ONENESS; In response, a monk who understands will thrust one hand into air to reflect his ONE hand as THE undivided reality.

2) As is the story of the very young child-monk who mimicked the masters one finger thrust at random times. One day, the master cut off the boy¡¯s finger, and as the boy cried the master thrust a single finger into the air. The boy instinctively mimicked in response by thrusting up his hand and extending the missing finger. The boy is said to have immediately ¡®seen to the undivided reality¡¯ ; he¡¯s mental idea of having extended a ¡®physical finger¡¯ which was not physically there made him ¡°See into one¡¯s own nature.¡±

3) As well, the puzzling question of ¡°how can a bird come and go?¡± is also a direct expression of the futility of dividing reality; The bird is simply at one ¡®moment¡¯ right ¡®here¡¯, right ¡®now¡¯; there cannot be going or coming.

4) And again, the obscure answer of ¡®the air in the mountains this time of year is quite refreshing¡¯ to the question: ¡°how much does 10 lbs of flax cost?¡± is also a direct expression of an undivided reality; The cost of flax (as a man-mind concept) returns back to a universal ONENESS as does the answer concerning space and time (another man-mind concept); Thus is the concept of ¡°SAMENESS¡± of all things.

5) One famous ¡®blinding one¡¯s eyes to see¡¯ was the renowned sutra reader who had read every classic text he could to understand enlightenment; One night he went to visit a famous Zen master. When the visitor hesitated to enter, the master went and got a candle; as the visitor grabbed the candle into his possession and stepped forward, the master blew out the candle. At that moment, the sutra ¡®expert¡¯ understood the undivided nature of reality; The flash of an empty universe in which all things are gathered was realized as the candle blew out.

 

 

The quintessential method and position of Zen is ¡°nowness¡± , ¡°life now¡±; living life in the fullest and simplest way possible regardless of what one is doing at that moment is a ¡®Zen moment¡¯; one of acting naturally in accord with nature (naturally without effort is a more Daoist idea than Buddhist one);

 

The classic Zen saying goes: ¡°When hungry, eat, when tired, sleep¡±.

 

 

CFL Zen Buddhism Stories:

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11119

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