tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post3172060256236230884..comments2022-12-11T04:55:14.695-07:00Comments on Zen Naturalism: There Is No Brad Warner and He Writes A Lot Of BooksPoep Sa Frank Judehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13609272991412471770noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-77973283834262229522017-09-24T13:32:20.210-07:002017-09-24T13:32:20.210-07:00Zero, you are welcome to your 'no-thinking....Zero, you are welcome to your 'no-thinking.' But you'll never be as free of thought as the stone buddha sitting on my altar. You seem to miss the whole point of zen naturalism and this blog. <br /><br />And you clearly do not understand the purpose of the capitonym prominently used in religious (as well as philosophical and political) discourse. Capitalized words are often used to differentiate a philosophical concept from how the concept is referred to in everyday life; specifically, words used for transcendent ideas as when a buddhist teacher writes "Reality" or "Mind" rather than simply "reality" and "mind."<br /><br />By the way, the heart of the buddha's teaching is that there is no "True Self" or true self; even tradition holds that while all dharmas, except nirvana are impermanent and unsatisfying (anicca and dukkha) even niravana is without self (anatta).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Poep Sa Frank Jude Bocciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00228444148690700478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-1864384996101655972016-08-05T15:26:48.093-07:002016-08-05T15:26:48.093-07:00To cast aside the no-thinking vein of Buddhist med...To cast aside the no-thinking vein of Buddhist meditation is to throw out its liberation. The way to break through to nirvana is through thoughtless samadhi. Many koans talk about zero; nirvana is an eternal nothing. It is not truly tasted without the dialectic of the conditioned self. Otherwise, it just is. People capitalize True Self or Reality out of reverence for it, not for philosophical imperatives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-19245278354651689282016-08-05T15:26:25.461-07:002016-08-05T15:26:25.461-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-38486397856244734302014-05-25T17:30:35.923-07:002014-05-25T17:30:35.923-07:00You actually make it seem so easy with your presen...You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find <br />this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand.<br />It seems too complicated and extremely broad for me. I'm looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!<br /><br /><br /><br />Here is my site - <a href="http://Www.pinterest.com/VapePens/2014s-best-vape-pen-deals/" rel="nofollow">Best Vape Pen</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-2779951595536045562014-01-18T23:04:45.352-07:002014-01-18T23:04:45.352-07:00Glenn,
Thanks for your comment.
Sadly, I think ...Glenn,<br /><br />Thanks for your comment. <br /><br />Sadly, I think the fact that <i>Tricycle</i> has offered Warner a column is all the evidence needed that he has indeed some real influence on contemporary x-buddhism. His blog seems to get a lot of attention and like those followers of Noah Levine, many of them seem to think they're actually fringe, radical or even "punk" when to my eyes they just wear the uniform. <br /><br />I know you categorize me among the x-buddhists, but there is no way the status quo would grant me the attention or the soap box they've given to the two "punks" (reminds me of Capt. Beefheart's dismissal, "Open up another case or the punks!") and the other authorized new kids spouting same old: Lodro Rinzler, Ethan Nichtern and who knows who else?<br /> <br />You've most likely not seen this earlier post, but I'm so off the radar that some whispers of what I'm doing here in Tucson raised some serious hackles among the amerikan zen establishment when it reached some authorized ears:<br /><br />http://zennaturalism.blogspot.com/2013/06/on-gen-x-dharma-teacher-gathering.html<br /><br />What made me laugh is the question as to why I wasn't invited to the "Gen X" mutual appreciation gathering! I was already questioning my teachers for almost 20 years before he took up zen study!<br /><br />Anyway, yes I will continue to push what I see as the truly radical implications of the buddha hypothesis and call out all those who consciously or ignorantly flinch from them.<br /><br />Thanks for your work. Has the book been reviewed (or even acknowledged) by the buddhist 'press?'Poep Sa Frank Judehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13609272991412471770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-30661717944782572002014-01-18T10:09:48.935-07:002014-01-18T10:09:48.935-07:00I've had in mind to write a post arguing that ...I've had in mind to write a post arguing that Bad Brad Warner, just as you say, "shows himself to be the traditionalist, conservative, safe zen practitioner and teacher that he actually is: “hard-core” be damned." I hope your post will be the first in series, by you and others, detailing yet another master explicator who, in the end, flinches from his own conclusions. Warner's writing on God would not stand up as a college undergrad paper. It's filled with the errors of logic and shoddy thinking that you point out, and more. It will take work to expose the nature of Warner's teachings. But given that he likes to record them in sexy (to some, I guess) books that sell (I guess) and thus have influence (does he?) makes the effort worthwhile. Actually, I am starting to wonder about the extent of his role he actually plays in contemporary American x-buddhism. Anyway, thanks for the post.Glenn Wallishttp://www.speculativenonbuddhism.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-63891988689089072192014-01-14T18:31:53.498-07:002014-01-14T18:31:53.498-07:00Bob, I cannot tell when or where this term or conc...Bob, I cannot tell when or where this term or concept originated. It certainly seems to be present in some of the oldest Upanishads. Current Vedanta teachers talk about "objectless awareness" as being just that: awareness without any object. As one such teacher, Naanaguru says: "Awareness is there but the object isn’t there."<br /><br />Interestingly enough, I just googled a soto zen site and they describe zazen in this way: "Zazen is consciousness becoming conscious of itself, awareness resting on awareness. It is the transformation of body-mind-universe into a non-dual awareness/consciousness."<br /><br />Of course, while one can argue (as I do) against the Vedantin postulating the possibility of awareness independent of an object (this would be atman which buddhism rejects, by the way) and instead I would say that awareness is always aware of something: "subject is subject because of the object; object is object because of the subject" as <i>Trust In Mind</i> puts it. THAT is my understanding of non-duality: the mutual arising and conditioning of awareness and its object.<br /><br />Now, the zen site quote just makes no sense and is internally contradictory. If consciousness is becoming aware of itself then both subject and object are there! By definition if such a thing as pure awareness (pure subjectivity, absent any object) existed (which I argue above can never exist for neural beings) it could never be known! One gets trapped in an infinite regress as awareness becomes aware of itself, then it is no longer "pure awareness" or "the subject." One would have to posit an awareness aware of this awareness and so on....Poep Sa Frank Judehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13609272991412471770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-24576687769655388982014-01-14T18:27:46.323-07:002014-01-14T18:27:46.323-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Poep Sa Frank Judehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13609272991412471770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241684761340467690.post-22555987065202056012014-01-13T22:23:11.522-07:002014-01-13T22:23:11.522-07:00Where does the term objectless awareness come from...Where does the term objectless awareness come from and how does it fit into this conversation?Bobnoreply@blogger.com