Originally posted by Tenzin:
The 7th International Zen Conference concluded it's 2 days
event today at Suntec and it was truly an inspiring experience:
getting to know the approach of Zen Buddhism and the teachings
shared during these 2 days. Below is a very interesting example
given by one of the Zen Masters as an illustration of the nature of
the mind:
As we all know, Winnie the Pooh will take all the honey his friends
have in their home and they will do what they could to avoid that.
It so happened that one day, Winnie paid a visit to the
Rabbit:
[b]Winnie: Is there anyone home??
Rabbit: * Keeps quiet *
Winnie: Is anyone in there????
Rabbit: NO!
Winnie: Oh, I'm sorry.... * but thought to himself
after a while * Hmmm.... if there is nobody home.............
how could nobody say there is nobody...... If someone says
there is nobody home, there must be somebody!
Winnie: Open up! I know someone is in there.
Rabbit, is that you?
Rabbit: * Knowing he made a mistake *Oh all right,
come on in......
-------------------------
Personal interpretation & explanation as requested by
Zeming:
The mind is a result of various constituents or functions as we may
learn from the sutras taught by the Buddha, such
as the 5 aggregates, like 'feelings' and 'consciousness'
(just to name a few)*. An englightened person is one who is able to
identify these constituents through their deep meditation, and
further break them down and disallow their influences. When all
these constituents are identified and disallowed to continue
working, one will be enlightened, and the 'self' will exist no
longer.
As such, if we are to say 'we' are nobody? Who exactly is that
person making the statement? Since the mind is a result of various
subtle functions, how could the mind be referred as 'somebody' or
'I', when it is a result of the initially very different functions
of the mind? What made up this 'somebody' or 'I' concept?
In Zen Buddhism, they teach us to understand this nature through
their Kong-An and unique meditation, to identify what are creating
that 'I' and to understand what is really happening.
* Reference:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/khandha.html[/b]
The Zen Conference must been very interesting!
An englightened person is one who
is able to identify these constituents through their deep
meditation, and further break them down and disallow their
influences. When all these constituents are identified and
disallowed to continue working, one will be enlightened, and the
'self' will exist no longer.
I have two questions:
1) does that mean that each of the 5 skhandas are independant of
each other?
2) you said 'constituents are identified and disallowed to continue
working', in that case, does the Buddha lack the 5 Skhandas?
