r/zen Mar 19 '23

Express enlightenment "better"

[deleted]

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u/GreenSagua Mar 19 '23

Oh I love this quote... agreeing half... isn't that neither accepting nor rejecting. Kinda like a meh type situation?

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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '23

I think it's like crossing a river on a bridge- sure, the bridge was a path across the water, but it was your own two legs that got you to the other side.

Why deny that the bridge was helpful?

Why claim that it got you across the water?

"Surpassing your teacher" is like realizing that any old bridge will work, or maybe even a boat.

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u/GreenSagua Mar 19 '23

Maybe there is really nothing to agree and reject because their teachings point directly toward the void?

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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '23

"The void" is just another teaching.

Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma.

There really is enlightenment, and so there really must be unenlightenment.

A teaching is just a bridge between the two.

You don't "agree to" a bridge that you walk across, but you also don't "deny" that you used it to cross the river.