Thoughts on koans

I am still going over some reading about koans from last week and I thought it might be a fun idea to share what our favorite koans were on this page!  I think they're absolutely beautiful examples of writing because of how short many of the koans are.  Upon first glance it would be easy to think that they lack substance, but that's far from the truth.  My favorite koan that I've looked at is about Bodhidharma: 

Bodhidharma Sets the Mind to Rest

Bodhidharma faced the wall. The Second Ancestor, having cut off his arm, stood there in the snow and said, "Your disciple's mind is not at peace yet. I beg you, Master, please put it to rest."
Bodhidharma said, "Bring me your mind, and I will put it to rest."
The Second Ancestor said, "I have really searched for my mind, but I cannot find it."
Bodhidharma said, "There, I have put it completely to rest."

Most of us, if asked, would say we want to live for a long time. More, many of us might say we'd like to live again after this life ended. This shows that we are very attached to this life and want as much of it as we can get. This, in fact, is not a source of happiness for us, but is a source of suffering because it keeps us locked in our own small perspective, unable to appreciate the bigger picture of being. We are "clinging to this life."

In the Early Buddhist Discourses, which are said to be the word of the Buddha (but remember were kept alive in an oral tradition for 400 years or more before they were written down), Buddha describes several different phases of awakening. The gist of these stages is that we gradually overcome our "clinging to life" in stages.

A Stream Enterer is free from:

• 1. Believing in a separate self or ego
• 2. Attachment to rites and rituals
• 3. Doubt about the teachings

A Once Returner has greatly diminished:

• 4. Sensual desire
• 5. Ill will

A Non Returner is free from:

• 4. Sensual desire
• 5. Ill will

An Arahant (Worthy One) is free from all of the five lower bonds and the five bonds, which are:

• 6. Craving for fine material existence (such as desire to be a soul in heaven)
• 7. Craving for existence on the level of formlessness (such as desire for life as pure intellect)
• 8. Conceit
• 9. Restlessness
• 10. Ignorance

 So the goal is really to wise up and let go of attachment to existence even of the most subtle sort. This is not suicidal or nihilistic. Instead it is a natural consequence of realizing that in the greater scheme of things our ego perspective is a result of ignorance and should be dissolved so that we can cease the endless cycle of causing and receiving suffering.

On the major branches of Buddhism

Over time, many different branches of Buddhism developed. Around 100 BCE there were 18 canonical schools. They were mostly alike but observed some different monastic rules (called Vinayas). Today people talk confusedly about Buddhist schools. There are three major groupings: Southern, Northern and Eastern. The Southern School is usually called Theravada or Nikaya Buddhism. The Northern School is called Tibetan or Tantric or Vajjrayana Buddhism. The Eastern is usually called Mahayana Buddhism and includes Zen or Ch'an Buddhism. All of these names are problematic because Tibetan Buddhism also uses Mahayana texts and philosophy.

"Mahayana" is crucial to this class. Essentially, it is a philosophical current of Buddhism that emphasizes the "Bodhisattva Path." A Boddhisattva (Awakening Being) is a person or being on their way to becoming a Buddha. Bodhisattvas are known for their great compassion for all living things. In later texts they will often have marvelous powers.

If you compare the early Buddhist discourses with other things we will read later, you will see that these early texts do not often emphasize saving others but mostly looking after one's own awakening. All the texts we are reading (besides Early Buddhist Discourses) are considered Mahayana texts. Some were composed in India, others in China and Japan.

So as far as the riddle on the stone(in the Samsara Film) "How can one prevent a drop of water from ever drying up?"
When I fist saw the stone my three best guesses were:
1. Drink it
2. Put it in the ocean
3. Release it into outer space

I would like to know if any of yall had any guesses when you first saw the riddle. Comment away!

I think it might be useful to put up a post about the history of Buddhism.

Modern scholars date Buddha's birth to 480 BCE and his death to 400 BCE. Buddhists in Asia often give different, older dates.

Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini (then Northeastern India, now Nepal). At this time in India there were many Sramanic (Sramanic= Renunciant = renouncing conventional society, i.e. work and family) traditions. It was commonplace for some men to give up a family life and become religious wanderers living on alms food and sleeping in forests and caves. Farmers and workers happily supported these wanderers because they were considered devout and holy people.

Buddha himself practiced this renouncer's lifestyle after he left his parent's palace. Then he had his awakening (Buddha means "awakened one") under a tree in Bodhgaya, India. The core of his awakening is typically presented as an insight into the interdependence of all causes and thus all things. After this, he became a teacher and established monasteries (called Sanghas = group) to support other people in their practice.

Buddhism centers around monasteries, groups, not solitary wanderers. Buddha established the monastery as a kind of middle path between undisciplined lay life and self-mortifying ascetic forest dwelling. The "middle path" means we should neither follow all our bodies desires nor neglect our bodies.

Buddhism is probably the world's first genuinely monastic religion and this feature is what distinguished it from most other forms of religion in India at the time and what helped it spread into China, central asia, southeast asia, japan and tibet between 100 BCE and 700 CE. Buddhism was the only pan-asian religious tradition then and it remains the most visible one today.

Buddhism spread because in part because it did not describe merchants and traders as impure, it accepted them. Monasteries gave merchants places to stay as they travelled, like an ancient hotel chain. Merchants gave to monasteries to keep them available for use and so Buddhism developed along all the trade routes of Asia (what is called the Silk Road).


Over centuries Buddhism became the dominant religion in Asia, though it became less and less practiced in its birthplace of India. Still today, Buddhists are rare in India, but found in great numbers in Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan.

Welcome!

Hello!

Welcome to the blog for Philosophy and Film: Zen Buddhism for Summer 2015.

Post questions and comments as you work through material for this course here.

Answer other people's queries or just share links to other Buddhists films or news stories.

AAD