In appliance world there were many kinds of different machines from vacuum cleaners, toasters, hair dryers to washing machines.
One day some young washing machines happened to come upon an old Buddhist washing machine. He was a 1926 Maytag. He could still do the job of any young washing machine. But there was something about this old washing machine that despite its age seemed timeless and had a certain flair that seemed unusual and unaffected by the years.
The young washing machines, attached to their youth had, as we might expect, a certain arrogance about them as is natural with all youth; who hadn’t really accomplished anything of worth and knew even less about themselves.
Still, they managed to be polite to the old Maytag, after all he was a venerated Maytag who many appliances said was fully awakened and knew the very essence of an appliance—what made them run. After an exchange of polite words and the customary greetings expected between washing machines one of the young washing machines asked the old Maytag if it was true that he knew of the universal essence of all appliances. The old Maytag quietly nodded and said that he did.
“But what could this universal essence be?” inquired the young washing machine somewhat seriously. “We all know the parts we were made from. We have an outer frame which contains all the parts such as a water pump, transmission and motor, the agitator, tub and various kinds of controls. This is all we are sir.”
The old Maytag looked at all the young machines. Then in a jovial voice he said, “Relax friends and listen to my words. Although you are much younger than I, your parts very new and made with plastics that are quite light as compared with what this old machine is made from, in the example of the agitator, there is something ageless within us that suffers no change whatsoever. Of course you can’t see it. You only know the parts of the washing machine such as the spin pulley and the water supply hoses. But as for what makes this odd contraption work and gives the motor its power, you do not know. But this is what I know.”
The young washing machines didn’t know whether to laugh or to take this old Maytag seriously. They were stuck in between you could say. Then the old Maytag sensing their unease said something strange they never heard before. “Have you ever heard of electricity?”
All of the machines remained quiet except for one who said that he had not heard of electricity before.
“Listen carefully my young friends,” said the old Maytag. “We are all fundamentally electrical machines. This electricity is the power that runs our motor and makes the agitator swish back and forth. It is ageless, you could say, and undying too. It never grows old in other words. It is all around us. Even our sun is electrical. Some call it energy some call it a force, but these are just names. Electricity is fundamentally one thousand, billion, billion, billion, billion times more powerful than gravity.”
The young washing machines were dumbstruck. What could they say? They knew nothing about this mysterious power that made them work and made them useful. With their new knowledge, they bowed in respect to the old Maytag and asked if they could become his disciples. He nodded indicating that they could.
PS: There are many spiritual traditions, like shamanism, that are based on entheogens, like ayahuasca. LSD culture was the Western version of that. To reiterate: I am not promoting anything. I don't even drink alcohol anymore. Kids, don't do drugs, etc. But it has a history with spirituality, it's close to the dream yoga practice, even in Buddhism:
read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_psychedelics#Indian_philosophy
re: Soma and "RasayAna" in Vajrayana
Drugs are vulgar. The noble don't need them, but they can be shortcuts for some people to something more noble ie. bhāvanā
Let's not demonize people
Posted by: Vyartha | January 15, 2019 at 08:08 PM
Jung: "be assured, they do not equal true enlightenment."
You're so dramatic. Shinzen is like a cute hamster.
You take him too seriously. He's an endearing creature.
Yes, he's no advanced bodhisattva. But your problem is (yes, I know who you are) - that you see things in black and white terms. Mara this, Mara that, you sound like a Christian preacher!
You need to relax.
It's not "either Mara or Buddha". Some people will start with Shinzen and then be lead to other things. Shinzen is an ordained Shingon monk I think. He does his best to teach students simple shamatha.
It's like the Zennist who had that first Zen teacher who didn't teach him much except sitting and sweeping. Still, it wasn't totally good for nothing. At least it made him realize he has to rely on himself.
This demonizing people is a manifestation of your samskaras, however, your onesidedness is in not balancing wisdom and skillful means. Oh, wow, he did LSD! God forbid! The horror.
I did it, too, and so did the Zennist I guess, and many others. I wouldn't promote it but it is a shortcut to show you with direct experience how the "mind is the painter that paints reality" to quote a great MahAyAna sUtra.
before you call me a Mara's servant let me just stress that I am not promoting LSD or saying it leads to awakening (LOL), just that it shows a person that radically different states of mind are possible. Again, it's not purely negative or positive, like anything else.
You Zen people should learn from the Tibetans to be a little softer and to balance wisdom and skillful means/compassion. You too tight!
Be well, glad to see you're still strong.
Posted by: Vyartha | January 15, 2019 at 07:57 PM
Yes, I agree Jung
I'm not a Shinzen fan
But I liked the idea of "God's Arrow" reaching to itself through space and time.
Posted by: Vyartha | January 15, 2019 at 07:10 PM
Mr. Shinzen, a self-confessed LSD lover back in the 70s and early 80s, is now a staunch defender of the Tibetan Gelugpa Shunyata doctrine and of course on that poor spiritual horizon, an equal defender of the no-self, which the original Buddhas have declared to be anathema and in no way equal to one´s true nature, which is the unconditioned, unborn self.
No wonder he has collected the usual guru worshipping crowd with a couple of nice females at close proximity, looking after his every whim.
Very new age, and not much different to so many Mara-minions before him.
If you buy his message and video preachings then you have in a way confirmed your own ignorance which is basically perpetuated by Shinzens ignorant ramblings.
True enlightenment, even at the first bhumi, reveals the Bodhisattva within and its nirvanic nature, abilities, and functions. The mind in the video, referring itself in its nirmankhayic form as, Shinzen, has no such reference-point to speak of as he hasn't really attained true enlightenment. What he probably has, is entered into the formless meditative states of shunya.
Because he hasn't encountered and self-identified with the true bodhisattva within himself,(the Buddha-to-be), you can see how he struggles in the videos on his youtube site to describe the rather mundane dhyana states he managed to enter and dwell in.
The states are described here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flKM6w1aXa4 but be assured, they do not equal true enlightenment.
Posted by: Jung | January 15, 2019 at 05:14 AM
Excellent blog post btw!
Posted by: Vyartha | January 14, 2019 at 06:07 AM