LOVE AND COMPASSION IN ZEN TRAINING
Chin-na is a compassionate art. A chin-na master just disables the fighting ability of his opponent without irreversibly damaging him.
Question 7
From what I understand, endless love and compassion are hallmarks of enlightened beings. Could Sigung please discuss love and compassion in Zen?
Andrew R
Answer
The terms “Enlightened” (with a capital E), and “enlightened” (with a small e) need some clarification. Enlightenment (with a capital E) is the highest and most noble attainment in Buddhist cultivation. It is described as returning to God the Holly Spirit in Christian terms, where there is no differentiation whatsoever, and there is God and only God.
On the other hand, enlightenment (with a small e) may mean different things to different people, but generally it means attaining a very high level of understanding or experience, but there is differentiation into countless entities, and not the highest spiritual attainment where there is no differentiation.
An Enlightened Being is the Spiritual Body of the Buddha, called God, Tao or other terms in different religions. An enlightened being is one with a very high level of spiritual, moral, scientific, philosophical or any other attainment in experience or knowledge, or both.
In Enlightenment there is no love and no compassion, no hatred and no cruelty. There is no differentiation whatsoever. It is infinite and eternal. That is what Lao Tzu means when he says “The Tao that is called the Tao is not the Tao”, because if something can be called the Tao and the remaining things are not, there is already differentiation.
It is the same as saying that in God the Holy Spirit, there is no God the Father and Satan the Anti-Christ, no heaven and no hell. There is only God and nothing else. In scientific terms, in Infinite Reality there are no electrons and protons, no butterflies and no mountains. It is just a universal spread of energy or consciousness.
Obviously, enlightened beings mentioned by you have not attained Enlightenment (with a capital E), otherwise they would not be differentiated into individual beings. They are beings in the phenomenal realm who have attained very high levels of their cultivation.
If their cultivation is in moral or spiritual development, they are full of love and compassion, otherwise they will be unable to attain their very high level of attainment. Leaving aside altruism, hatred and cruelty, which are the opposite of love and compassion, go against their development.
If a person is full of hate and cruelty, his moral is bad, and his spirit is imprisoned. To release himself from bad morals and imprisoned spirit, so that he can start his moral or spiritual cultivation, he has to avoid hatred and cruelty. To rise in his moral or spiritual cultivation, he has to be loving and compassionate.
If the enlightened beings are in such fields like politics and business, they may be full of love and compassion if they are also highly moral and spiritual despite being very successful in their fields. But it is more likely that they are indifferent to love and compassion because love and compassion more often than not hinder their progress. A shred politician or businessman, for example, often has to compromise his love and compassion if he wants to be successful.
Enlightened beings in crimes, i.e. those who have attained a very high level in committing crimes, have to go against love and compassion because these emotions are counter-productive in their criminal development. A scam worker or a murderer, for example, cannot even do his work if he has love and compassion.
Zen means meditation, which is a training of mind. If a cultivator trains his mind for such professions like becoming a teacher or a healer, he will grow in love and compassion. If he trains his mind for such professions like becoming a lawyer or to win prize money in fighting, he would have to compromise love and compassion. If he trains his mind to be a top criminal, he was to grow in the other direction of love and compassion, i..e. he harbours more hatred and becomes more cruel.
The teaching in our school places a lot of importance on moral and spiritual development. Hence, our Zen training like the Intensive Zen Course in Hawaii will enhance our feeling of love and compassion. The development is intrinsic. In other words, our students need not be constantly reminded to be loving and compassionate, they will automatically manifest love and compassion as they develop.
Zen monks in Zen monasteries are full of love and compassion because their training is centered on moral and spiritual development. However, at the highest level when they wish to be Enlightened, they have to be equanimous. Even noble emotions like love and compassion will bide them to the phenomenal realm. Because of their great love and compassion for others, very highly developed beings, like Bodhisattvas, may postpone their entry to Buddhahood, or return to the phenomenal realm from Transcendental Reality to help others. Guan Yin Bodh Satt is a shining example.
Low and compassion are cherished values in our school
The above is reproduced from the thread Zen Intensive in Hawaii Q&A in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum
LINKS