Zen and The Holy Spirit

Zen and the Holy Spirit
Zen From Wikipedia

Zen is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism which strongly emphasizes the practice of moment-by-moment awareness and of 'seeing deeply into the nature of things' by direct experience. Zen Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, and, as such, its teachings are deeply rooted in those of the Buddha. Zen is not primarily an intellectual philosophy nor a solitary pursuit. Zen temples emphasize meticulous daily practice, and hold intensive monthly meditation retreats. Practicing with others is valued as a way to avoid the traps of ego. In explaining the Zen Buddhist path to Westerners, Japanese Zen teachers have frequently made the point that Zen is a way of life and not solely a state of consciousness. D.T. Suzuki wrote that the aspects of this life are: a life of humility; a life of labor; a life of service; a life of prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation. Zen teachings often criticize textual hermeneutics and the pursuit of worldly accomplishments, concentrating primarily on meditation in pursuit of an unmediated awareness of the processes of the world and of the mind. D. T. Suzuki asserted that satori (awakening) has always been the goal of every school of Buddhism, but that which distinguished the Zen tradition as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. In India, the tradition of the mendicant (bhikkhu) prevailed, but in China social circumstances led to the development of a temple and training-center system in which the abbot and the monks all performed mundane tasks. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration, and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Zen had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life. Most Zen monasteries and training centers, in the East and abroad, emphasize regular meditation, both on a daily basis and in monthly retreat, as well as a discipline based in practice schedules and everyday household chores such as cooking, cleaning, and gardening as an essential part of the path to enlightenment. Thomas Merton (1915-1968) the Trappist monk and priest was internationally recognized as having one of those rare Western minds which was entirely at home in Asian experience. Like his friend, the late D.T. Suzuki, Merton believed that there must be a little of Zen in all authentic creative and spiritual experience. The dialogue between Merton and Suzuki (Wisdom in Emptiness" in: Zen and the Birds of Appetite, 1968) explores the many congruencies of Christian mysticism and Zen. (Main publications: The Way of Chuang Tzu, 1965; Mystics and Zen Masters, 1967; Zen and the Birds of Appetite, 1968)
THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of Gods favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God. Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient
and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for Gods love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 What makes me a Christian? I can hear you shouting now - You must be born again, Believe in your heart, confess with your mouth But what does all that mean? Weve already explored the fact that it is the Holy Spirit that brings us into a state of new birth. It is not something you or I or any third party can determine to accomplish and make it so. So what does it mean? What is the actual state of experiential new birth? Before we go to far let me say I do accept and hold to the early historic creeds of the Church (Apostolic, Nicene). I can endorse most Evangelical Statements of Faith with some minor exceptions. But most of these statements leave a great deal of room for interpretation and varying explanation. Generally, most being arbitrarily and unnecessarily narrow in scope as to exclude the greater portion of those who would be called by the name Christian. A while back, maybe a year ago, I made a statement to a group of friends that most Christianity is little different than Buddhism. By this I did not mean that Christianity had syncretized Buddhist theology and doctrine, but that our practice of principles, Biblical and Godly as they may be justified, amounts to essentially the same impersonal relation to creation and our Creator as Buddhism. Biblically justified Christianity or Eastern Buddhism - impersonal religious practice all amounts to the same thing. We, in the Church, have mastered the art, and now the science of Biblical hermeneutics and exegesis. Our religion of the Book is on a par with rocket science and brain surgery. And even these disciplines are seemingly simplistic by contrast to the BS we can spew and brews we can conjure. And just like Burger King, if you ask, seek and knock long enough You can get it your way. But, what makes me a Christian? Is it my resolute adherence to a creed, a mumbled prayer confessing my sins past, present and future and a plea to keep me out of hell? What is my Christian life? Is it church every Sunday, Wednesday prayer meetings, tithing, benevolence and charity work on the weekends, a trip to the Gulf Coast to do Gods work in hurricane relief? Is it quiet times, Bible studies, youth groups, nursing home visitation, Christmas and Easter, and maybe a few others to bolster my religious ego. What is the primal nature of Christianity? Is it dogma gleaned from the Book? Is it the
academic intellectualization of concepts and principles too deep and mysterious for your average schmuck to realize? Or is it a reality and life given credence to in the Book but super spiritualized as to remain hidden and the perceived property and domain of the initiated few guardians of the faith, accredited and ordained to maintain decent and proper religious order? Is it conceivable that someone may be receptive and responsive to the Holy Spirit and yet Biblically ignorant? I hear your argument, Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God - Oh yes - I feel your pain. Besides taking a verse out of context - What word are we talking about - the LOGOS. Check this out - Pay Attention - The Bible, is never defined as the "logos", except as is defined by we believers in relative recent history, attempting to nail down the mind of God as tangibly and in as concrete a manner as is possible. But as is understood in the general thought of the "Scriptures", both Old and New Testaments, "logos" transcends the limited and narrowly definable, understanding and knowledge of God as handed down to us in the Bible, the Scriptures. the Bible as "logos" may only be reasoned as applicable, in that the Bible is the only historically reliable source of recorded information received by the "faithful" from the beginnings of our faith (2012 I no longer believe this statement). As such, it is the one unchanging objective source to assess to our relation to the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit is ever communicating - in relation to us - and as the case may be, in spite of us. And as the Church is seemingly in a never ending state of self absorption, both as individuals and collective ecumenical communities, circumventing us. Character in us- the Christ character- is a manifestation realized in the course of experiencing life in relation to the Holy Spirit. It is not academic religion. It is the practice of moment-by-moment awareness and of 'seeing deeply into the nature of things' by direct experience. Any schmuck can KNOW this. It is not a religious mystery. I grant you that it appears that the mystics are the ones expressing the truth. But it really isnt a mystical mystery. It is in the Book. It is not some foreign New Age concept. It isnt any more a Buddhist discipline than a Christian relation. But it is a relation. And I am coming to realize that if we - the Church - cant get over our religious academics and intellectualizing, realize that concepts and principles (no matter how Biblical) are secondary, and begin walking in and experiencing that relationship we purport to have Well - you get the picture - you finish it

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Zen From Wikipedia

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