ED, You are persistent! Do you have a profession in sales?
The reason you'll see a lot of zen teachings which say that zen or zazen has "no hope, expectation, reason or gain" - no goal, is that it anything like that would be an attachment. Attachments cause suffering. That's Buddhism 101. So...zen teacher's don't want you to just add on another attachment. I can only answer for myself. When I began zen practice I certainly had a goal. It was a very selfish goal. That goal (attachment) certianly got me started and helped me persist in my early practice. BUT at sometime I had to abandon that goal for at least 2 reasons: 1 - is that it was a goal that if achieved would be harmful to me, and 2 - is was just another attachment that I had to 'see through' and discard. Actually in writing these I just found out they say the same thing. The goal turned out to be just another illusion. So...zen teachers usually (and properly) just tell a student that zazen has no goal. What they don't say I guess is that if you are practicing zen with a goal in mind, you'll eventually have to deal with that also. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "ED" <seacrofter001@...> wrote: > > > > Bill!, > > No goal for any specific zazen session. OK. Any hope, expectation, > reason or gain for being involved in zazen, in general? Any hope, > expectation, reason or gain for being involved with Zen? > > Thanks, ED > > > > --- In [email protected], "Bill!" <BillSmart@> wrote: > > > > ED, > > > > Please read (again) Warner-Schwarner's comments below, especially this > one: > > > > [Warner-Schwarner] The goal (or even "a goal") of zazen is not to > clear your mind of thoughts. There is no goal of zazen. > > > > ...Bill! > ------------------------------------ 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/
