[MD] tiny skull... change... nothingness...

[Heather Perella]

     I just want to say, Chin your posts have been
pretty interesting, especially this one.  Glad your
chattin' with us.

Spiritual Adirondack

  P.S.  Never knew about the Chritian influence on
Buddhism, and you said Zen Buddhism as well has been
influenced putting Buddha into a deity role.  This is
a far cry from Dogen wouldn't you say.  Maybe this
deity role is more Rinza Zen, thus, an attempt to
shock or juggle the mind.  


     [Chin] 
> I can’t believe I have read the whole thing. I have
> read ahead to all 
> that has been said, and I ‘Think’ your term for
> Essence goes beyond 
> that which fits in with the Buddhist religions
> influenced by Indian 
> Christianity, and beyond that of Ether or Aether of
> the 19th century 
> to describe space, or that of Aristotle as the Fifth
> Element, but what 
> I see is a statement that “We can know” the creator
> or creation of the 
> universe. I think maybe this is the difference
> between Nothingness and 
> Essence, but I couldn’t begin to explain Nothingness
> as used in Zen 
> Buddhism before the influence of Christianity, other
> than to say 
> Nothingness in Zen might mean “We do not know,”
> creation, or an end or 
> beginning can not be identified, or even ourselves. 
> 
> I don’t think it is the same as Nothingness Theory,
> which I think you 
> could keep searching and find others who do not
> offer even the same 
> theory as the author you pointed to. I have.   
> 
> Per Zen Buddhism, the universe cannot be said to
> have been created, 
> nor have a beginning or an end, which does not agree
> with the theory 
> the universe was created at all. 
> 
> Is your Essence an attempt to explain the creation
> of the universe? If 
> so, I think this would explain the Christian
> influence in the more 
> modern Buddhist beliefs which placed the Buddha as a
> deity. Zen 
> Buddhism does not offer an answer, but only a means
> for searching. 
> 
> I think Essence is more a Western way of looking at
> things. Not saying 
> this is good or bad, but just maybe incomplete, or
> premature. Essence 
> in more modern Buddhism could be translated loosely
> as meaning soul. 
> 
> When I say Conscious Universe, it is a simple
> conclusion that if we 
> are only a small part of the whole, and we are
> capable of conscious, 
> the universe is also capable of conscious. 
> 
> I will not carry this further now, as it would not
> have to do with 
> Nothingness, and I think this needs be settled in
> our minds first. 
> 
> Does that make any sense?
> 
> BTW, I am not Chinese, but have been accused of
> speaking Chin-ese ;), 
> Chin is just a play on my last name, Winchester,
> which became 
> Chinwhisker, which was shortened to Chin. First name
> is Ron, which has 
> evidently quit showing up in my emails for whatever
> reason this time 
> around. I have been using Chinwhisker as a
> knick-name for years. 



 
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