Not all religious experiences or religions are the same, although perennial philosophy tells us otherwise. The theology of the Catholic Church is different than the theology of the Christian Orthodox. The same goes for the Protestant churches. Taoism is different than Buddhism. Many religions are not at all on the same page and perhaps will never be.
Buddhists can battle over whether or not the Buddha rejected the ātman. The debates can become acrimonious and often are. Some have read through the Pali canon where they discover there is no explicit rejection of the attā (S., ātman). On the contrary, what they find is that the Buddha rejected the five psycho-physical constituents/khandhas which he says are not our self or, anattā (S., anātman).
Zen Buddhists, certainly battle over whether sitting in zazen is enlightenment or seeing one’s true nature. The awakening that Dogen had is not the same as the awakening Hakuin had. Both are quite different. One rejects kenshō and relies on sitting, the other attains kenshō and rejects sitting as enlightenment.
It is not all that unusual in Zen to find someone who believes they are enlightened; who after a few years might start their own school or give up Zen.
Our personal search for ultimate truth and meaning may never perfectly fit within the four corners of a particular religious doctrine. We may only want to go so far in our quest for ultimate truth because we have other responsibilities. Many of us, in fact, are not ready for the big dive into the deep waters of ultimate reality. We still have a lot of growing up to do.
What I tend to be uncomfortable with is a religion that wants everyone to be on the same page—a kind of conformist attitude—where everyone walks in lockstep. This is okay for the military or if you are playing in an orchestra.
But the religious life is a life of looking within; penetrating the depths of our mental life to find the very substance and source of our thoughts and concepts which transcends them. To get to this level is like finding the right antidote, one specific for the individual illness. As we take our antidote we begin to feel a lot better, but this doesn’t mean we have won Buddhahood. Also, our antidote may not work for another so there is no use in trying be a salesman.
Thumb's up!
Posted by: clyde | February 27, 2018 at 06:02 PM