Mike,
Like you, I too believe that the historical Buddha... -- as far as the annals
of History can accurately go -- ...spent the remainder of his life after
awakening in endless samadhi. Who knows how he maintained it and perpetuated
it. It's true we don't know what his practice was or how regularly he kept his
nose to the grindstone. ...Unless we read the scriptures, but their
historicity may not be undoubted, as is unlike the case of the Holy Scriptures
of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ;-)
Why, ...in Zen practice, we have Kinhin, too, called by some "Walking
Meditation". The Buddha is said to have walked around a lot. Slowly.
I believe there's evidence he practiced continuously. You could see it in his
eyes; in his Ajna; and in his Nimbus, or aura.
He had giant group meetings with Arahats, Devas, Bodhisattvas, and others,
where it is noted that they were all in samadhi, and all became awakened.
Pretty good batting average, better than most sesshins I've been on, but I
guess it all depends on the clientele and the Teacher. ;-)
So, yes, it's documented that the Buddha practiced.
Regarding our Ch'an retreats, BTW, Sheng Yen told us once during retreat that
he does not practice as we do while we are holding retreat. He told us that
paying total attention to all of us, and taking care of all of us, was his
practice during those 7 or 8 days. Now, the Buddha had a flock of millions or
billions. He was the "World-Honored One", and who knows how broad that world
was, as conceived and reported in those days. So if his practice, his
meditation, was to hold in his heart all those beings, he must have had a very
strong practice indeed.
Practice, meditation, takes many forms. Once one has awakened, it *may* go on
endlessly, except, perhaps, as I have noted, in cases of intermittence caused
by accident, ill health, over-work, poisoning, etc., conditions or catastrophes
that mangle the body badly.
Yep, he practiced, I mean to say.
--Joe
> uerusuboyo@... wrote:
>
> Edgar,
>
> It doesn't even matter to me whether the historical Buddha existed or not.
> But I still see you think meditation only consists of sitting cross-legged
> under a Bodhi tree.
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