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Embracing Uncertainty in Zen Practice
AI Suggested Keywords:
Zen-Riffs
The talk explores the philosophical inquiry into consciousness, questioning its role in understanding the self and the world within Zen practice. It emphasizes the significance of embracing uncertainty and not-knowing as central to deepening one's practice and understanding, particularly through the method of "still sitting" as a transformative Dharma door. The discussion references the metaphor of not knowing as "nearest," suggesting that while living, there is an inherent form of knowing intertwined with ignorance, urging an exploration of this dynamic.
- Zen Practice: The discussion centers on how Zen encourages questions rather than definitive answers, fostering an awareness of the complexities of consciousness and existence.
- Not Knowing: This concept is portrayed as an essential aspect of Zen, highlighting how embracing ignorance can lead to deeper insights.
- Still Sitting: Described as a meditative practice that transcends mere antidote to distraction, it is a method for accessing deeper understanding and knowledge beyond the conscious mind.
AI Suggested Title: Embracing Uncertainty in Zen Practice
What about what you don't know? What about what you don't know? You don't know all the workings of your body. What's going on? You can sense when it's working well, functioning well, pretty well. You are your body, but you're also an observer of your body. What's that about? And Buddhism has never taken consciousness seriously as the definitive way of knowing.
[01:05]
But ask yourself, do you really believe in consciousness? Do you make your life, determine your life by what you can make conscious and believe or approach. These kinds of questions drive Zen practice. Zen practice, instead of giving you answers, gives you questions. Questions in the midst of, do we really know what's going on?
[02:12]
How can we approach what's going on? And if consciousness is only one way of knowing, well, you know that you dream, you have all kinds of things happening which are outside, barely overlap with consciousness. What's going on? One of the keys, one of the doors, one of the Dharma doors is really Still sitting, absolute still sitting, discovering still sitting. For still sitting is not just a kind of remedy for distraction and activity.
[03:21]
Still sitting is a door to knowing, knowing more, approaching more. So a monk was going on a pilgrimage and his teacher asked him, where are you going? And he says, I don't know. I don't know. And his teacher said, as many of you know, most of you know, he said, not knowing is nearest. Near what? Not knowing is nearest. Of course, if you're alive and functioning, there's knowing going on. So there's no such thing as not knowing. So what is the not knowing which is nearest? What is the knowing which is not knowing which is nearest?
[04:24]
This question must be approached.
[04:31]
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