Pure Land teachings from a Zen perspective

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Astus
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Re: Pure Land teachings from a Zen perspective

Post by Astus »

Dharma Flower wrote: Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:06 am Please see this post from Meido Moore Roshi, I'm sorry if I've misinterpreted it:
viewtopic.php?p=441660#p399918
He did not write that Hakuin had confirmed such a view where nenbutsu could be the cause of kensho. In fact, he wrote: "nothing to do with Nembutsu itself really".
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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Re: Pure Land teachings from a Zen perspective

Post by Dharma Flower »

Please keep in mind that sudden enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation is a teaching of the Rinzai school.

In comparison, Soto Zen de-emphasizes the necessity or importance of the kensho or satori experience, instead seeing practice itself as an expression of our inborn enlightenment.

In light of Soto Zen, reciting the Nembutsu might be an expression of how we're essentially Amida Buddha already in our true nature, rather than a means to an end.
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Re: Pure Land teachings from a Zen perspective

Post by Dharma Flower »

Astus wrote: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:38 pm He did not write that Hakuin had confirmed such a view where nenbutsu could be the cause of kensho. In fact, he wrote: "nothing to do with Nembutsu itself really".
Thank you for your response. I'd rather encourage others to read Meido Sensei's words, and especially the quoted passages from Zen Master Hakuin, for themselves and form their own conclusions:
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=26151

The link to Master Hakuin's words on the Nembutsu in that thread is now broken, but they can also be found here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=mzgHa ... &q&f=false
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