If our true nature were a butterfly, we could eventually catch it with a butterfly net. But our true nature is not a butterfly. There is nothing by which we might capture it. Seeing or realizing our true nature is about beholding something that is not actually hidden from us but rather something our prejudices and presuppositions conceal from us. In an odd way, our prejudices and presuppositions are like insect nets that will enable us to catch the elusive butterfly of Buddha-nature. But this nature ain’t no butterfly! The nets are useless.
When the novice mind (J., shoshin) takes up Zen Buddhism for the first time it comes equipped with prejudices and presuppositions which it believes will allow it to realize the true nature of reality. But these prejudices in the novice mind only help to block out the novel while the presuppositions are what the novice mind believes true nature is about.
The main difference between the average novice and the practitioner of several years, even though both have not realized their true nature, is the practitioner has less in the way of prejudices and presuppositions. We might envision our novice out in the woods with a butterfly net trying to catch the butterfly of Buddha-nature. Our practitioner, on the other hand, is not chasing anything. He is trying to be open—open, that is, to the unexpected. Getting rid of presuppositions proves more difficult. But it can be done.
The novice mind has some major handicaps. If the novice is going to resist getting rid of both his prejudices and presuppositions, eventually he will grow tired of Zen Buddhism and quit; having, in addition, a load of bad karma.
Rather than chase the butterfly that seems to be ever elusive, it may be better to sit quietly and let the butterfly come in it’s own time and rest upon your shoulder.
Posted by: MefromCali | December 16, 2013 at 02:16 AM
(I guess you're in a different time zone now, because as I was writing a comment on the post below, this came in.) Yes, what you say happens. Yes, I did drop out of Zen for several years mainly because I could neither drop away or relate in any serious way to my previous cultural conditioning...or to the new conditioning. Because that's what Buddhism "sounds like" to the average Westerner: just one more set of beliefs & rules to obey with little or no payoff. Except that this "strange" practice is something no one you know or are related to will be curious about or be interested in hearing about. The implication is "Well, WE are satisfied with the way we are...you are the one who's screwed up and dissatisfied." Well, yeah. And in my own Buddhist group I think of people falling into two categories: Busy-bee workers and mental patients. Some are there for company and some for therapy. Of course I place myself in the latter category...and whichever religious tradition I imbibe, I always end up destined for hell somehow. But everyone hastens to point out "That's what you've chosen!" Whatever.
Posted by: Susan | December 16, 2013 at 12:12 AM