In the land of self-imposed ignorance

Under the bewitching power of ignorance we always tend to look here rather than there or the same, focus on the wrong things.  Our ignorance is often lead by our habits:  habits we believe to be authoritative when in fact they are assumptions which often have no real basis.

We don't want to admit it, but most of us are terribly ignorant about almost everything.  The fact is, we cannot study everything so as to become consummate experts.  We cannot be all at once an expert carpenter, automobile mechanic, physician, economist, and educator.  Often, we have to rely on experts.  But then how do we know our experts are all that reliable?  We really don't.  We just assume they are experts and leave it at that.  

In all of this, what we don't want to recognize is our own laziness when it comes to getting ourselves out of the morass of our self-imposed ignorance.  We would rather argue fallaciously the rest of our lives, defending our turf of ignorance, than change our nescient opinions.  It is almost as if we are saying, "I wish not to be informed of the facts."

On the subject of modern Buddhism, the average Buddhist who attends their Dharma or Zen center has full confidence and faith in their teachers.  But are their teachers really experts?  What do they actually know about the Pali canon or the Mahayana canon?  Are their teachings even in line with the canon?  How close to the original discourses of the Buddha, for example, are the teachings of Stephen Batchelor who wrote the book, Buddhism Without Beliefs?  Why should his interpretation of Buddhism be believed which is laden with modern prejudices even going so far as to suggest that Buddhism is a form of agnosticism?

When Bernie Glassman who is a Zen master and founder of Zen Peacemakers, writes in The Huffington Post (February 17, 2011 10:10 p.m.) that the emptiness of the five skandhas in the Heart Sutra means emptiness as "the oneness of life, which means life as it is, without any distinctions," how do we know he is correct in saying this?  Commentarial literature specific to this Sutra says otherwise.  According to Vimalamitra emptiness of the five skandhas points in the direction of an illusory like the emptiness in the example of a dream or the moon in the water (cp. ed. Lancaster, Prajnaparamita and Related Systems, p. 142).  The Buddha never regards the skandhas as otherwise than something to be rejected.  They are suffering; they are Mara, the killer, etc.  Their emptiness is not the oneness of life but, instead, the hollowness and emptiness of illusion, itself. 

I find one of the most remarkable things about the 20th and 21st century is how people are kept ignorant while believing, at the same time, they are really gaining knowledge.  In Buddhism this phenomenon is quite astonishing given the fact that much of the Buddhist canon is accessible to anyone.  The problem is, the Buddhist public prefers to be kept in the dark—ignorance is bliss, in other words.

 

Comments

[zac]

I believe that, by placing one's beliefs and methodology, concerning Buddhism, above another persons belief, by elevating one's self higher by claiming that their way is the only 'true' way, they inherently violate the very concept of Buddhism, and the Buddha himself would reject those teachings, as he himself rejected the teachings of the Ascetics when he set off to discover truth.

[Bill]

What is a lay person to do?

[Anal Wangeler]

Oh my GOD! This little gongregations' childish and arrogant "oh the western mind is just sooooooo degenerate compared to the eeeever so wise east... and us, of course" -whining is getting ridiculous (a little understatement perhaps). It's adolescent orientalism stink is felt in high Tushita heaven. One Mind... pffft! One Giant Ego is more like it.

[minx]

Because the practicioner refrains from the deepest aspects of proper dhyana, ignorance reigns in his mind about his true nature.

Because the practicioner refrains from confirmation(from a sutra or teacher) of experienced states from the deepest aspects of proper dhyana it is easy to review a false enlightenment as a right one.

Because the practicioner refrains from accepting his true nature as purely imageless in comparison to any thing or state forming in his mind, the false paths of Mara the killer equalling a string of continous rebirths, remains as a painful reminder of his grave errors.

The One Mind is pure and perfect in its suchness, completely dynamic in its instant response, utterly painful in the wrong hands and inexpressibly blissful in the right ones.

[solon]

Agnosis, original greek "agnosia" meant in ancient times; ignorance or more correctly, being without knowledge or one removed from gnosis - knowledge.

A modern american acolyte of material or quasi nihilistic movements, might reckognize himself as agnostic (read one without knowledge) and pridefully so. Much like a student of math bragging about his ignorance in higher math and still expecting to be admired or reckognized by those whom fully possesses every facet of the latter.

That is the face of todays average western mindset. The prideful reckognition of ignorance, like it were a set of beautiful and precious imaginary clothes of the vain and naked king parading through the streets of his admiring peers. Pride often go hand in hand with vanity. A very dangerous pair of seeds leading to grave and unnecessary future suffering if nurtured in the creative substance of the One Mind for many years. Would you really like to eat such dangerous fruit, once the plant carrying this poison is fully grown?