Buddhism Now
In Zen they say that ordinary mind is the way, ordinary mind is Buddha. In the early days of practice we might take this to mean that our minds as they are is the Buddha, is the way of Zen, is the immediate and straightforward life of liberation. This may sound plausible, logical, because we’re also told that the Buddha is within. It isn’t long however before we begin to feel that while ordinary mind might be Buddha, our mind doesn’t seem to know it. Our mind doesn’t feel liberated and in fact feels most unliberated and sometimes still very unhappy. At this point we could feel that ordinary mind is not the way, ordinary mind is not the Buddha. We could then easily drift away from Buddhism thinking it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t work for me. (more…)
Filed under: Beginners, Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, Ch'an / Seon / Zen, Diana St Ruth | Tagged: Amida Buddha, Buddha, Mumon, Mumonkan, Nyoirin Kannon, ordinary mind is Buddha, ordinary mind is the way, Zen | 6 Comments »
