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Atman, Other-Emptiness, and other Buddhists

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Ekanta

om sai ram
I find it a bit misleading when you use Soto Zen as an example of your position. Knowing your position, you'd do well to read the 21st chapter of the Shobogenzo, where Dogen explicitly denies your position.

I've spent 10 years in the soto-zen lineage of Taisen Deshimaru (innumerable sesshins and was a zen-monk)... I rank that higher than simply reading a chapter.
 

dyanaprajna2011

Dharmapala
I've spent 10 years in the soto-zen lineage of Taisen Deshimaru (innumerable sesshins and was a zen-monk)... I rank that higher than simply reading a chapter.

You would have to admit that spending a great deal of time in/with something doesn't necessarily equate to having learned anything from it.
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic Bully ☿
Premium Member
Yes and I was saying that
1. To "discern the fabrications" is a way to dispell ignorance.
2. To "stop entertain fabrications" is another way. This is the soto-zen way.
Hence, ignoring any sensory distortions associated with meditation, etc. :)
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
Here's where I think the problem is coming in. Buddhism teaches anatta-that there is no eternal, independent, ego-soul. What some people seem to be getting out of this, is that there is no such thing as being itself. That all this, ourselves, everything, is somehow just an illusion. The Buddha never denied that there was an existential self-what he denied was an independent eternal self. Our existential self is made up of the five aggregates and the eighteen sense bases.

Dhyana

What you say may be true of a school that holds that individual souls are eternal and separate from each other and God.

But advaita holds no such notion. In advaita, in the ultimate, the Seer, the Seen, and the Seeing is non-dual. So, when I study the following, it is clear that the Sunya and the Seer of the Sunya are not two. If Sunya and the Seer were two, then the Sunya would be broken. OTOH, without a Seer, the Sunya will not be known. And the Sutta below confirms of one who is fully aware.

Patisambhidamagga Sutta

This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic Bully ☿
Premium Member
Dhyana

What you say may be true of a school that holds that individual souls are eternal and separate from each other and God.

But advaita holds no such notion. In advaita, in the ultimate, the Seer, the Seen, and the Seeing is non-dual. So, when I study the following, it is clear that the Sunya and the Seer of the Sunya are not two. If Sunya and the Seer were two, then the Sunya would be broken. OTOH, without a Seer, the Sunya will not be known. And the Sutta below confirms of one who is fully aware.

Patisambhidamagga Sutta

This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.
Advaita is not Buddhism, either.
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
Advaita is not Buddhism, either.

Sure. Advaita is not Buddhism.

But denying a Seer of Sunyata/Nirvana is not teaching of Buddha, either, as the sutra cited shows, IMO. :D

Patisambhidamagga Sutta

This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.

In absence of all skandhas, in complete emptiness, the one is fully aware shines.
 
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Ekanta

om sai ram
Patisambhidamagga Sutta

This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.
It echoes and is explained further in the Nirvana sutra:

“You have asked what the Buddha-dhatu [buddha-nature] is; so listen with sincerity, listen with sincerity. I shall analyse and elucidate it for your sake. Nobly-born one, the Buddha-dhatu is termed ‘ultimate Emptiness’ [paramartha-sunyata], and ultimate Emptiness is termed ‘Awareness/ Knowing’ [jnana]. So-called ‘Emptiness’ is neither viewed as emptiness nor as non-emptiness. The wise perceive emptiness and non-emptiness, the eternal [nitya] and the impermanent, suffering and bliss, the Self and the non-Self. The empty is the totality of samsara and the non-empty is Great Nirvana … Non-Self is samsara, and the Self is Great Nirvana. To perceive the emptiness of everything and not to perceive non-emptiness is not termed the Middle Way … to perceive the non-Self of everything and not to perceive the Self is not termed the Middle Way. The Middle Way is termed ‘the Buddha-dhatu’. For this reason, the Buddha-dhatu is eternal and unchanging. Because beings are enveloped in ignorance, they are unable to perceive it. Sravakas and pratyekabuddhas perceive the emptiness of everything, but do not perceive the non-emptiness … they perceive the absence of Self in all things, but do not perceive the Self. For this reason, they do not attain ultimate Emptiness. Because they do not attain the supreme Emptiness, they do not traverse the Middle Way.”
“The Middle [Way] is paramartha-sunyata [Ultimate Emptiness]. This sees the non-eternal [anitya] as non-eternal and the Eternal [nitya] as the Eternal.”
Nirvana Sutra :: Appreciation of the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra"
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
Dhyana

What you say may be true of a school that holds that individual souls are eternal and separate from each other and God.

But advaita holds no such notion. In advaita, in the ultimate, the Seer, the Seen, and the Seeing is non-dual. So, when I study the following, it is clear that the Sunya and the Seer of the Sunya are not two. If Sunya and the Seer were two, then the Sunya would be broken. OTOH, without a Seer, the Sunya will not be known. And the Sutta below confirms of one who is fully aware.

Patisambhidamagga Sutta

This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.

If we contemplate then we understand that the Sunya/Seer/Awareness are not three different things. The Sunya is Aware. The Sunya is the Seer.
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic Bully ☿
Premium Member
This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.​
If we contemplate then we understand that the Sunya/Seer/Awareness are not three different things. The Sunya is Aware. The Sunya is the Seer.
Disagree. Look at the process, not for things. Emptiness means empty of independent self, aka interconnectedness--the chain of interdependent co-arising. Understanding interdependent co-arising, one can end interdependent co-arising of the fabrications. You want to blow out the fire, not fan it.
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
Disagree. Look at the process, not for things. Emptiness means empty of independent self, aka interconnectedness--the chain of interdependent co-arising. Understanding interdependent co-arising, one can end interdependent co-arising of the fabrications. You want to blow out the fire, not fan it.

Whatever ma'am

Patisambhidamagga Sutta

This is the ultimate meaning (paramattha) of emptiness [as it relates to] all
kinds of emptiness, which is the terminating of [temporal] occurrence in one
who is fully aware.


..........

Processes are temporal. All temporals are terminated in ONE WHO IS FULLY AWARE. And the aware one is not temporal. Sorry.
 
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Ekanta

om sai ram
Yep. Some of them want to distort the teachings, even. Perhaps meaning well, but it still happens regrettably often.
If I quote several sutras and the zen tradition how am I distorting the teaching? And what teaching are you refering to?
I understand very well why you (for example) write like you do, but its a mystery why several posters cant see that what I write is part of the buddhist tradition.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Here's where I think the problem is coming in. Buddhism teaches anatta-that there is no eternal, independent, ego-soul. What some people seem to be getting out of this, is that there is no such thing as being itself. That all this, ourselves, everything, is somehow just an illusion. The Buddha never denied that there was an existential self-what he denied was an independent eternal self. Our existential self is made up of the five aggregates and the eighteen sense bases.

This. SO MUCH this!
 

dyanaprajna2011

Dharmapala
If I quote several sutras and the zen tradition how am I distorting the teaching? And what teaching are you refering to?
I understand very well why you (for example) write like you do, but its a mystery why several posters cant see that what I write is part of the buddhist tradition.

Because what people like me and crossfire have posted is part of buddhadharma, whether you want to see it or not. It's not suggestible that one try to view one religion through the lens of another, if one wants to truly understand that religion. Buddhism is not Hinduism, or any other religion.
 
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