Comments for . sean feit . dharma, yoga, art .

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by Koshin Moonfist

Koshin Moonfist — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:05:16 +0000

What an incredibly wonderful taste I got from having read this article and all of the comments. Responsible caring people. Caring enough to peel an onion one layer at a time. The acknowledgement and acceptance of “tears of transgressions of Sila” causes ripples and sometimes these ripples are needed to straighten things out / heal. Another Vote for Ethics Councils! Gassho,

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by Alisha

Alisha — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:49:07 +0000

Sean I was very touched by your article. Thank you for speaking deeply to this complex issue and weaving in the exploration of the teachings on sila and emptiness. As I feel into the questions you raise I am noticing that what comes up for me is a sense of the frailty and challenging unfoldment of the human experience as we travel on our paths. As I think about the many teachers I have encountered I realize that they too are each travelers on their paths… and each have their karma. And so, while there is a pain in my heart in imagining the suffering so many experienced at the hands of a teacher they placed their trust in, I also feel a certain compassion for your teacher and for his own unfoldment, as complex and painful as it may be. As I feel into his mind, I can feel the confusion that is there, the learning and growing he is still to do, even while he rests in a certain kind of clarity and awake-ness.

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by seanfeit

seanfeit — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:20:02 +0000

Thanks, Craig. That integration is also my hope. I see it happening in many places, like in the ethics councils and guidelines that have arisen at Spirit Rock/IMS, Kripalu, and at SF Zen Center (among many others). In each of these, democratic structures like teachers councils have arisen to replace the patriarchal hierarchy, and in each I see the seeds of a wiser western sangha. Blessings in your practice.

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by seanfeit

seanfeit — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:17:08 +0000

Thank you, Genjo. And gassho. (Condolences also for the loss of Genki Roshi this winter. Blessings to his family and the whole sangha.)

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by seanfeit

seanfeit — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:13:55 +0000

Hi Noway,

I understand your caution, re: letting practitioners choose for themselves, though I do not fully agree in cases where demonstrable harm is being caused. And even students who have the capacity to think for themselves will still be affected by their position in an unequal power imbalance. That imbalance is not necessarily bad, and can be very beneficial when the teacher/therapist/guru is truly supportive of the students’ well-being. But that profound level of trustworthiness requires support systems, and this post was about the support system of Buddhist ethics (sila) specifically as a protection against the tendency for power imbalances to give rise to harmful action. My interest here is specifically in the relationship between Buddhist doctrines of Emptiness and ethical conduct, as a curiosity around what kind of cultures we are creating in western spiritual practice.

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by Noway

Noway — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:11:01 +0000

It’s really up to the student to decide whether he/she is being helped or not. What feels like a safe practice environment to one person might feel like a sterilized preschool for another. So who is to decide what is best for the masses of zen practitioners, the arrogant pyschologists, who strive to place teachers and students into nice neat categories like “exploiters”, “narcissists” and “victims” to validate their own puritanical/pseudo-scientific perspective, or you the practitioner, who hopefully has enough analytical capacity to think for oneself? This is the fundamental question. I don’t agree with Sasaki’s conduct but I would never deprive anyone the opportunity to train with whomever they wanted to train with, provided they had all the necessary information, good and bad.

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by Genjo Marinello

Genjo Marinello — Sun, 05 May 2013 01:09:19 +0000

Excellent piece. Enlightened beings are not subject to the laws of cause and effect because from the absolute perspective there are no beings at all. We ignore the laws of cause and effect at great peril to ourselves and others. So many Zen Masters and gurus of all kinds have fallen into this trap of self-delusion.

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by Steno

Steno — Sat, 04 May 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Yes, reality is insubstantial, illusory. However this includes our understanding that everything is illusory. That insight isn’t real either. So then we are back to square one. We just do not have anything that is real.
So, if the game of “human on Earth” down here has rules like “free will”, “responsibility” and “accountability”, then you’d better play by them!
Justifying selfishness with spiritual talk will get you in trouble.
Of course! That is so obvious!

The spiritual game we play down here is finding the right use of will.
Making the right decisions, and making them for the right reasons.

The heart recognises in each situation what is both true and relevant. So the way to live from that recognition is what a spiritual tradition – so Zen also – is supposed to help us discover.

Better not follow a teacher like Sasaki then.

He is confused.
And thus pretty confusing.

Comment on Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki by Craig Paup

Craig Paup — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:50:23 +0000

Thanks for this. I am a long time student of Sasaki Roshi and you sum up very well the understanding that I have been coming to in the past months. I have been practicing with another sangha which emphasizes sila and have taken lay vows there, as well as continuing my practice with Rinzai Ji. It is my hope that that the integration you describe will become better embodied in our practice as we work through this difficult time.

Comment on Vegetarian Buddhist? How unusual. by Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki | . sean feit . dharma, yoga, art .

Sila, shunyata, sex, Sasaki | . sean feit . dharma, yoga, art . — Fri, 03 May 2013 08:12:53 +0000

[...] and an ongoing inquiry for anyone who takes the practice of them seriously. I’ve written elsewhere, for instance, about Theravada practitioners who fret over the killing of ants in their kitchen, [...]