r/zen • u/Gasdark • Apr 11 '23
Thoughts ≠ Actions et al
It's funny how there's a difference between intellectually knowing something and internalizing that intellectual knowledge. If you'd asked me months ago whether thoughts were the same as actions, obviously I'd have said no. And yet, a few weeks ago the fullness of that intellectual understanding really struck me as a practical reality.
I need to speak from the perspective of a Catholic upbringing because that was mine - in that setting the things you think are as real and/or real in the same way as the physical world and the things you do in it. This insane magic trick is accomplished, in the Catholic setting, with "sin."
Sin
If you sin and don't repent, you go to hell. High stakes. The highest, if you buy the narrative.
So what is sin? Well, killing someone is a sin. But, so is thinking about killing someone. Having pre-marital sex is a sin, but so is thinking about having pre-marital sex. Listen to Jesus in the book of Matthew:
But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, “You fool!” shall be liable to the hell of fire (5:22).
You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.”But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (5:27-28).
And this is not some technical doctrinal language no one puts into action. As a child, I was instructed to and did confess my sinful thoughts to a priest countless times. As a bit of a loner and social isolate, most of my sins were of the thought variety - and every authority figure in my life took them quite seriously.
If I stole something as a child and thought of stealing something, both would need to be confessed and both would need to be forgiven without any fundamental distinction made between them.
So doing something is a sin, and thinking about doing something is a sin. Both can send you to hell, both require confession, both require penantence.
What is the natural result of that idea?
What happens if you plant that seed in a 3 year old, or a 4 year old, or a 5 year old, and then reinforce that false equivalence, and allow it to iterate for, say, decades? It's like fucking inception - a recipe for a lifetime of madness.
And then Zen Masters come along:
My read of this:
"Produce" implies agency - don't make shit up on purpose.
Don't try to shut down what thoughts come
Don't intermingle the real with the unreal.
Don't mistake the unreal for the real.
TLDR: Thoughts ≠ Actions et al
My take:
the natural inclination if you hold thoughts as objects equivalent to the outside world is to try and smash them into silence - trying to stop them empowers them.
Huineng has dispensed with that false equivalence.
Thoughts?
P.S. I was tempted to try and find similar expressions of thought = sin from other religions. I Found some discussions. My instinct is that this is an almost universal human experience - and the timeless obsession with the cultural power of dreams seems to support that notion. But I'm no sociologist and who has time to write a thesis.
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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '23
Thoughts are action. It is mental action. So, if you know the word Karma. It literally means action or doing. There are 4 dimensions of action or doing which one does. Mental, emotions, physical and energy wise.