The Western delusion believes that it already understands the nature of reality with the help of its crystal ball of materialism. As for the typical, run-of-the-mill Westerner, he believes that he has a good eye for determining what is true and what is not true about reality. He will agree that matter is unconscious, the mind is created in the brain and psychic phenomena such as NDEs are delusional. But this is all part of the grand scheme of materialism which should not be confused with science which according to the Oxford English Dictionary is:
“The state or fact of knowing; knowledge or cognizance of something specified or implied; also, with wider reference, knowledge (more or less extensive) as a personal attribute.”
The dogma of materialism, which is not science based, believes that only matter exists (how does it know this?). And when asked what is matter? it has no satisfactory answer, except perhaps, matter is resistance. But this answer is metaphysical. It no longer belongs to matter. Resistance is immaterial.
For hundreds of years the West has embraced what is known as mind/body dualism. This is the belief that mind or spirit is distinct from material bodies that are mechanical in operation which is part of the material universe. The most recent attempt to get rid of the dualism is to ignore, completely, the right and place of spirit. This leaves us with a new kind of atheism, one that wages war against spirit, in short, against all of religion.
In light of the above, it should not be surprising that Zen Buddhism is still little understood today because of the pervasiveness of materialism. The spiritual meaning of Mind, presented under different names in Zen, seems to have few Western scholarly takers who are willing to unpack its enormous spiritual history.
Putting aside materialism, we have to engage with science which is the state or fact of knowing. Akin to this, Zen Buddhism’s science is to realize Mind by transcending all thoughts so that we might directly behold Mind which is the essence of thought. Thoughts only serve to hide Mind’s immaculate essence. Mind’s importance becomes clear in this passage from old documents found in Tun Huang which also inform us what Zen is about.
HUIKE ASKED: If there are people intent on seeking the Path of Enlightenment, what method should they practice, what method is most essential and concise?
Bodhidharma answered: Let him just contemplate mind—this one method takes in all practices, and is indeed essential and concise.
Huike asked: How can one method take in all practices?
Bodhidharma answered: Mind is the root of the myriad phenomena. All phenomena are born from mind. If you can completely comprehend mind, the myriad practices are complete. It is like a great tree: all the branches and flowers and fruits grow based on the root. The tree grows only if the root survives. If the root is cut, the tree is sure to die. If you cultivate the Path by comprehending mind, you save effort and success is easy. If you cultivate the Path without comprehending mind then you waste effort and there is no benefit. Thus we know that all good and evil come from one’s own mind. If you seek outside of mind, it is impossible” (Cleary, Zen Dawn, p. 81-2).
As long as we adhere to materialism the entrance to Zen Buddhism remains shut. There is no possible way to understand it if one has not been sufficiently weaned from materialism. As long as the West continues brainwashing everyone with materialism, conflating it with science, it is doomed. Not only is religion a victim but so is science.
Ungern Sternberg:
Just recently I figured out the game of materialism: to equate it with science. it is the same with skepticism. It is really materialism. I can understand someone who is fed up with Christianity. It sounds better to say, "I am an atheist" than, "I am anti-religious" which materialism espouses. Ironically, materialism hasn't been 'scientifically proven'.
Posted by: Thezennist | September 15, 2013 at 03:15 PM
You may want to check out the works of Wolfgang Smith such as "Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Beliefs" and "Science and Myth: What We are Never Told."
I think another problem beyond the association of materialism with science is the idea of some inherent opposition between science and religion in the popular mind, as if one has to choose between either believing in science or a particular religion, thereby making science and materialism their religion.
It also seems there is a lot of effort among various religious scholars and believers to rectify the postulates of their particular religion with the views of modern science, which of course has the underlying implication that to them science is supreme and their religion secondary. Didn't the Dalai Lama even say something along the lines of "If science disproves something in Buddhism that something must be discarded?" I wonder then what he makes of the increasing materialism of modern science and the notion that consciousness is merely the product of the physical organism?
As for me, I tend to agree with what Evola had to say in that snippet I posted here a few posts back and therefore science is mostly irrelevant to my interests and goals. To employ the terminology you used in your recent blog post, science is concerned with measuring and discovering laws of the animated whereas gnosis is knowledge of the animative. Science can never measure or "know" That which cannot be found in the objective sensory realm, i.e. how can the Knower be found in the known? I suppose it is equivalent to Bodhidharma saying it is futile to look for Buddha outside of Mind. It is amusing that many modern atheists/materialists base their atheism on the fact that the Knower (or the transcendent God of Christianity) cannot be found in the known and objectively measured for all to see.
Posted by: Ungern Sternberg | September 15, 2013 at 01:31 PM
I like how you connect dualism with materialism. I think that's the crux of the matter. Because the West was so radically dualistic, it now tries to reduce everything to one pole of the dualism - to matter - but that's still dualistic!
But the modern scientific view is paradoxical in many ways. the perfect proof of that is the Berkeley quote in another of your posts. They actually believe the brain produces the mind, and thus "paints" the world (with colors & shapes & etc) - but the brain itself is a certain shape and color ... so the brain creates the mind that creates the brain. It's absolutely contradictory.
We should perhaps see it as Schelling saw it: "Nature is visible Spirit; Spirit is invisible Nature."
Posted by: Methexis | September 15, 2013 at 04:41 AM
I was depressed and Soto zazen cured me. Later I found on your blog the idea that it was a placebo effect. Now I consider that idea to be the truth.
I find there are simpler and more effective methods to directly interact with the placebo effect, for instance chanting (like in Nichiren).
The power of the mind is a deep mystery. I just watched this documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvbQnMvhQFw
about placebo surgery(!) ... that has the same effects as actual surgery
But Buddhism is ultimately not about activating placebo to fix our samsaric lives ... it must be about seeing the Truth.
Posted by: Methexis | September 15, 2013 at 04:31 AM