> ... that zen is fundamentally amoral.
Hi Daniel, zen is non-moral; Zen appears not to stress the crucial role of moral rectitude and virtue in its practice. Best wishes, --ED --- In [email protected], "empty0grace" <empty0grace@...> wrote: > Hi Ed, I will leave this to the Zen-heads here to respond to definitively, but if I have understood Bill correctly, the answer would seem to be yes, that zen is fundamentally amoral. Hence Zen and art of [insert martial art of choice]. If this is true,then either Zen never was Buddha Dharma (as Bill asserts) or those aspects of Zen used to enhance the art of killing represent a profound corruption of the Buddha's teaching. You see in the Theravada, and in most of the Mahayana as well, a thief breaking into a house is recognized as possessing great mindfulness, but this is clearly not right mindfulness. Lacking the qualities of moral rectitude, self-integration and generosity that morality bestows, this kind of mindfulness cannot lead to the emergence of consciousness into the Unconditioned, Nibbana. I cover this more thoroughly in my talk on my YouTube Channel: The Adornment of Virtue (on the top row). A mind in which there is crookedness, remorse, violence, untruth, poor self esteem or self contradictions is not capable of true and pure samadhi, and cannot conform to Reality. So morality protects the mind for the development of unification of mind - samadhi, which in turn supports insight, which in turn leads to release, and which altogether enter upon the Deathless. To understand this, one needs to understand conditionality, otherwise one is blind to this. So here one sees how right understanding supports the development of both moral rectitude and samadhi. So I would say that right understanding of the conditionality and generation of wholesome mental factors does indeed help, very much. Best wishes, Daniel --- In [email protected] <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/post?postID=PVyvNByJFPOranjzR_I\ V33UBSUtxaRU_IBSLuDTBYnIIUmrGYma0nK7JaxX9IrfTfT8dHVgK79JX4WdBbuG-SJPu> , "ED" <seacrofter001@...> wrote: > > > > "I would say therefore that mindfulness, if supported by sila, > (virtue, morality) is the womb of bodhi." (Daniel) > > Does the above statement underscore a fundamental difference in emphasis > between Zen and Theravada Buddhism practice? > > --ED
