Beverley, Your question below is very simlar to the question asked in probably the most famous of all zen koans, the koan Mu.
When Joshu, a venerated ancient zen master, was asked by one of his student's 'Does a dog have a Buddha Nature?', Joshu replied 'Mu'. I certainly cannot come up with a better response than that. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], Beverley Huish <beverley.huish@...> wrote: > > Hi Bill, > > Thanks Bill, your duality and sentient / cognitive explanation are very > helpful. > > My question originally came out of my wondering where on the scale the > Buddhists > tend to draw the line regarding sentience. Is the Earth included as a > sentient > being? The sun? An amoeba? A neutron - being that neutrons apparently > are > aware that eg humans are observing their behaviour? > > (I realise that I, being a professed newbie, tend to lump all Buddhists > together > in the way that some people might lump all fish together (including sharks > and > minnows under the same heading). I have noticed that this is not the case > but > the distinctions aren't clear yet.) > > :-) > > Beverley. > >  > > > > ________________________________ > From: Bill! <BillSmart@...> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, 30 May, 2011 11:17:24 > Subject: [Zen] Re: Sentient Beings > >  > Beverley, > 'Sentient' is of course a general English word, not a Buddhist-specific > word, so > you'd only have to look it up in a dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online > defines > 'sentient as: >     > 1: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions <sentient beings> > http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentient > You might read some Buddhist texts that say something alike 'all sentient > beings > have Buddha Nature'. Buddha Nature is just another term for awareness, and > the > only way we humans have of being aware is through sensual experience. But > it is > an awareness BEFORE our discriminating mind starts post-processing these pure > sensory experiences by filtering, augmenting, categorizing, judging and (most > critically) separting them into subject/object. Like: 'I see the flower, > but > the flower is not me - I am separate from the flower. I am 'in here' and it > is > 'out there'. > Instead of just referring to awareness as Buddha Nature, our discriminating > mind > has even split our awareness up into 5 categories: touch, sight, hearing, > smell > and taste. > Please note (especially all you Theravada afficionadoes out there) that > 'sentient' does NOT mean 'having cognitive ability'. The awareness of > Buddha > Nature can only be realized through sentient abilities, not cognitive > abilities. > IMO - Bill! > > --- In [email protected], Beverley Huish <beverley.huish@> wrote: > > > > Hi, > >  > > I keep coming across references to 'sentient beings'. How does Buddhism > > define > > > > a sentient being? > >  > > :-) > >  > > Beverley. > > > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
