If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
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If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
If Mahakashyapa was the first Chan/Zen patriarch, then isn't Chan/Zen a Sravakayana school considering that all the disciples of historical Buddha were Arhats?
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
Besides that the whole succession of patriarchs, especially the Indian part, is a fiction, one of the Mahayana interpretation of the major disciples of the Buddha is that they were actually bodhisattvas under cover.
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"
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"
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
The point of the list of patriarchs was not that each patriarch in the list was a Zen Buddhist, but that there was an unbroken succession of enlightened teachers from the Zen teachers of China back to Buddha. This was important in Chinese culture, where filial respect for one's ancestors was so emphasized.
"It's as plain as the nose on your face!" Dottie Primrose
- LastLegend
- Posts: 5408
- Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:46 pm
- Location: Northern Virginia
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
Zen is Buddhism and Buddhism is Zen. You cannot meditate without understanding Buddhist teachings.
It’s eye blinking.
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
Nope it's not. 1) Sravakas know no buddha nature concept 2) Sravakas do not meditate, method is to listen to teachings and reflect upon them and that creates conditions for sati to arise and with it, they can have an insigth into the reality directly.himalayanspirit wrote: then isn't Chan/Zen a Sravakayana school
In Zen 1) introduction to buddha nature 2) meditation / enquiry into it.
"Be Buddhist or be Buddha"
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
Sravakas do not meditate?!!!!!booker wrote:Nope it's not. 1) Sravakas know no buddha nature concept 2) Sravakas do not meditate, method is to listen to teachings and reflect upon them and that creates conditions for sati to arise and with it, they can have an insigth into the reality directly.himalayanspirit wrote: then isn't Chan/Zen a Sravakayana school
In Zen 1) introduction to buddha nature 2) meditation / enquiry into it.
Kåre A. Lie
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
I love this concept of the major disciples as undercover agents!Astus wrote:Besides that the whole succession of patriarchs, especially the Indian part, is a fiction, one of the Mahayana interpretation of the major disciples of the Buddha is that they were actually bodhisattvas under cover.
Kåre A. Lie
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
He was not...........really.....although many Chan and Zen practitioners prefer to think that He was so as to increase their personal faith in Zen methods. If anything, the founder of Chan or Zen was Bodhidharma, before Him, no such school or method existed......himalayanspirit wrote:If Mahakashyapa was the first Chan/Zen patriarch, then isn't Chan/Zen a Sravakayana school considering that all the disciples of historical Buddha were Arhats?
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
Perhaps I was overgeneralising, there are streams where meditation is performed but is regarded as a method for a very advanced practitioners only.Kare wrote:Sravakas do not meditate?!!!!!
If you read some modern interpretations, like from Sujin Boriharnwanaket clearly the base is on listening and reflecting only.
"Be Buddhist or be Buddha"
Re: If Mahakashyapa was first Zen/Chan patriarch..
They do but the Zen methods differ a lot from the Thervadins' one........Kare wrote:Sravakas do not meditate?!!!!!