Another important Sutra that explains the futility of "studying" Zen Buddhism is the Diamond Sutra (金剛經). Any right minded intellectual without previous exposure to this lineage of Buddhism will likely to have his mind "blown away" by the Buddha's exposition. The Sutra is deconstruction rather than construction!
But then what is important? The most important thing is the Route-to-enlightenment (no matter how difficult Enlightenment can be defined, if at all possible). And the first step is always Morality (rather than meditation!).
In Buddhist lingo it is called Discipline (戒). Or simply "don't do bad things, do good things" 诸恶莫作。诸善奉行。 In Christianity it is like "Love thy neighbour as thyself".
But, why study the Diamond Sutra? Because without such understanding, morality can only lead one to become a virtuous man rather than an enlightened one.
Good introduction to the Diamond Sutra. I will check it out when opportunity presents :) By the way, just noticed the Bronze Award from Count Sneaky on your sidebar...Congratulations! you encourage many bloggers :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. CS is an interesting personality, and above all HUMAN (and BTW you too!). To be frank, I am not immune to the "intellectual frustration" of the Diamond Sutra. After all, I am HUMAN too!
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