The Zennist

Dangerous knowledge

Dhyāna (Zen) like its counterpart gnosis moves in the direction of transcendence, that is, transcendence of all phenomena.  It seeks to go beyond even the human range of perceptions and this includes perceiving and perceiver.  It is like a cup of water poured into a vast ocean.  Nothing fundamentally changes, but there is a decisive shift that takes place from the amount (quantum) of water to a boundless ocean.

Accomplished transcendence in Buddhism is our first connection with unconditioned spirit which is beyond all the six senses and our dualizing consciousness (S., vijñāna).

Spirit has found itself and looking back it understands that it really never left its home.  While others have to take this on faith the one who has experienced spirit by  spirit, directly, knows it absolutely; yes it even transcends faith.

The result of this gnosis is to throw light on the amazingly unreal status of human beings and maybe to help them escape from the seemingly endless cycles of suffering.  Mankind in its present state of ignorance still does not understand how the passing of one life connects with the cells of the next life, only to become another life subject to suffering.

The great wisdom gained from gnosis has been repeatedly under attack throughout history.  Incredibly, it is knowledge that is even considered dangerous for the religious and for the political authorities.  This type of knowledge cannot be allowed to spread.  But it does, especially in Buddhism.

The gnostic journey

The notion of a universal gnosticism cannot be easily dismissed at least when we look at the subject from the side of Buddhism and the enlightenment of Siddhartha which I hasten to add is the actual context of Buddhism. 

Yes, Buddhism is about accomplishing a "gnostic" journey.

This gnosis shows him all beings as like an illusion,
Resembling a great crowd of people, conjured up at the crossroads,
By a magician, who then cuts off many thousands of heads;
He knows this whole living world as a mock show, and yet remains without fear.”
(Astasahasrika Prajñaparamita).

Even religion today, in its various secularized forms (which even includes Marxism), cannot manage to accomplish such a spiritual journey.  The followers of modern day religions, without realizing it, pray to a divine image composed from their imaginations.  A lot of wishful thinking is also to be found here.

The mystery of gnosis is only understood by those who walk completely through the dark forest of the six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body & mentation/manas) by which all phenomenal appearances are experienced.  They alone succeed.  The rest are entangled in the senses and their respective fields like the gastronome is entangled in the flavors of a sumptuous dinner, who is unable to transcend it.   

What is it that comes through mother's birth canal?

We generally refer to our bodies which came through our mother’s birth canal has our true self.  In Buddhism this would be a temporal self or the concept of "I" (asmimāna). 

The Ātman or spirit is a different subject altogether (which is a difficult subject for modern day Buddhist to grasp).  It’s somewhat like the difference between a computer that I have on my desktop and the electricity that runs it all.  In this regard, Ātman is like the electromagnetic force.

If the power goes out in my house it's usually because some tree fell on the powerlines that bring the electricity to my house.  But if the computer malfunctions it's not the fault of the electricity.

When the body that went through the mother’s birth canal finally dies showing a flat line on the monitor, this is saying that the monitor cannot detect any subtle signals from the body.  It doesn't mean we are not present or in some other state.

What animates our temporal body cannot be the body that is animated anymore than the electricity that runs our computer is the computer! 

For the sake of discussion, let's say that Siddhartha's enlightenment consisted of identifying with this animative spirit (ātman) which is not some measurable amount or quantum.  It can be likened to a boundless field but nevertheless real.  This is what the Mahāyānaśraddhotpāda-śastra (Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna) is telling us when it says:

“All objects are originally of One Mind and are beyond thought determination. Because unenlightened people perceive objects in their illusion, they impose limitations in their mind. Since they erroneously develop these thought determinations, which do not correspond to Reality (dharmata), they are unable to reach any inclusive comprehension.”

Said another way, all phenomena originate from the One Mind or primary spirit.  Such spirit is beyond the perceiver and perceiving.  Spirit is also Buddha nature, Mind (G., Geist) and Ātman all of which are immeasurable yet real.

Sexual pleasure and rebirth

From Buddhism, as strange as it sounds, I have come to the conclusion that the meaningfulness of human life seems to rest upon the bedrock of the repetition of sexual pleasure and reproduction through repeated births and deaths. 

Sexuality is a bait that never grows old even though it brings sorrow with it and delusion.  Whatever cultural restraint is placed upon it there's no stopping it.  It can only be limited to a certain extent.

With each new birth not only is the framework of delusion passed on but also sexuality which even includes the newborn’s sexuality which extends nonspecifically over the entire infant.  While sexuality specific to reproduction has not manifested itself, it soon will.  In the infant it is there in all its potential and natural capriciousness/perversity.

The sexual drive is an every human being.  It is inserted in the very biological architecture of the human being.  Neither human culture nor human religions can contend with this power and hope to win in the end. This is why we see the birth of new cultures and new religions because the old ones have been defeated by innate sexuality that lives and thrives in biology.

Present day technology will do nothing in the long run to stop the eventual triumph of sexuality with the life of delusion that comes with it.  Soon the Dharma gives way to practical psychology and how to cope with the vicissitudes of daily life.  Most religions today minister to the flesh and the worldly imagination for both control and profit.

Buddha and Christ are not mere names

Both terms "Buddha" and "Christ" are not mere names but represent actual spiritual states.  Buddha refers to one who has awakened to the unconditioned, i.e., Spirit, whereas Christ means being anointed by Spirit which is the same as God (it's very clear in Christianity that God is only Spirit, they are one and the same, Jn 4:24).

Both religions are not in their original form.  Buddhism has changed into nihilism while Christianity worships the flesh which is antithetical to Spirit (prosperity theology is the new Christianity). It gets darker the more we dig down into each religion.

Whether it's learning sitting meditation, or believing that God hands out financial success to those who love him and support his ministry, both religions have fallen into the worst kind of error.  If you haven't thought about it this is the price of materialism.  It even extends to science which cannot get beyond materialism.

Mankind has been traveling down the perilous road of materialism for a long time which is tantamount to relying too much on the left hemisphere of his brain while totally neglecting the right hemisphere.  This road moves more and more into the realm of fantasy and emotion where the dark triad of personality rules (machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy).

Not only have we lost the higher vision of the right hemisphere of the brain but we have lost our bearings as well.  We don't have a compass anymore which is given to us by the spiritual nature of religion.  We have inadvertently constructed a trap which always catches us with new traps, which are more ingenious than the previous ones.  And we call it progress!

Does this mean that all is lost? No, of course not.  It only means that we have to bring back the the part of our brain that has been misused, abused, and ignored.  The Buddha and Christ never died but the materialist thinks they are dead and maybe one day may return!  But with true realization of the Spirit comes the real truth that reaches far beyond the confines of materialism with its maddening paradoxes.

Buddhists are shocked to hear the truth of Buddha's teaching

The real teaching of the Buddha is missing in the modern Buddhist interpretation.  By a careful reading of the words of the Buddha one is able to put together the true teaching which is quite different from the one that most people believe he taught which lies mainly in their own imagination.

In light of this, even the first noble truth is not fully understood.  To the consternation and surprise of most Buddhists they are shocked to hear that the truth of the Buddhist teaching is that the first noble truth of suffering is about what is not the atman this being the five aggregates. These aggregates are suffering (SN 56:13) and with them what is not the self (an-atman). 

The second noble truth is about the cause of suffering which is clinging to these suffering aggregates or the same clinging to what is not the atman.  Putting a stop to clinging to these aggregates is the third noble truth.

Finally the fourth noble truth is yoking with the atman thus fully abandoning desire for what is not the self (SN 22:68).  Here one is free from clinging.  Yes, illusions still remain but there is no clinging to them because one has gone well beyond clinging where suffering is not possible.

Our very temporal thoughts are the sentient beings that we must save by being fully enlightened like Siddhartha when he became a Buddha.

Unlike with Christianity, there will be no savior who will save us from ourselves.  We must do that on our own because the truth is always present but we refuse to give up clinging to what causes us our suffering.

There is an underlying duality in our brain

There is an underlying duality in our brain between the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere.  While they tend to cooperate they can also not cooperate so that there exists an inharmonious tension between the two.  Needless to say, they both have their place:  one side leans towards the individual while the other side is towards the big picture that the individual dwells in. 

When the squirrel eats the acorn on my front lawn the squirrel also has to be aware of the hawk that could be circling overhead looking for a meal.  In other words, man's day-to-day life needs to be also aware of the big picture. 

Some big picture questions are:  Where is this life of mine going?  How do I know if I am on the right path?  Am I is really as smart as I think I am? 

There are many more such questions that arise from the big picture which relies on the right hemisphere of the brain.  We could even say for the religiously minded that the left hemisphere is oriented to the fleshy individual, whereas the right hemisphere is oriented to spirit or the divine.  It truly is Lord (S., Bhagavān) not the left hemisphere.

Leading a balanced life really means living a life where the left hemisphere has to be subordinate to the right hemisphere just like a ship must be subordinate to the direction of travel otherwise it will not get to its destination. 

Keeping with this, Buddhists have always subordinated the individual or left hemisphere of the brain to the Lord hemisphere or the right hemisphere.  The lodestar of the Buddhist is nirvana that is direct intuition of the unconditioned.  In so doing the Buddhist must also realize the perishable nature of the flesh; that it is suffering and there is no spirit to be found in it.

As history shows us, mankind is not all that interested in taking the right hemisphere seriously.  The pleasures of the flesh grab mankind's attention more.  In fact, mankind it seems is always trying to usurp the natural leadership of the right hemisphere, the Lord, that leads us to the other shore.

Welcome to the virtual reality simulation game called life

We might simplify the world down to raw information, just zeros (0) and ones (1).  This is duality (dvaya).  Still, it can offer us no clue as to its actual source.  Non-duality doesn’t mean very much in this situation either.  It can still be broken down to a string of binary numbers (01101110 01101111 01101110 00101101 01100100 01110101 01100001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001).

For the intuitionist this matter is not settled. The intuitionist knows there is something unspeakable which is the source of this binary code.  It transcends zeros and ones.  Let us not forget that Zen is the intuitional school of Buddhism.

The authentic Zennist also knows what transcends the binary nature of consciousness or in Sanskrit, vijñāna (lit. In two parts knowing).  No word or sentence is adequate to the source itself.  Yet, the source can be directly accessed by transcending the binary world reaching veridical reality itself.

If we imagine that our world is based on binary code we can also imagine that we can live in a virtual reality simulation (VRS) game from our birth to our death repeated countless times.  But we could also say that we are trapped in a VRS game called life.

From this we might understand that true religion only begins outside of the VRS game.  It transcends the zeros and ones.  It does not even begin in sacred books.  These books might be the result of intuition of what is actually outside of the VRS game which includes all the senses necessary to play it.  It is also outside of the player whose consciousness has found its way into the VRS game.  We are facing mystery that won't let us go until we have solved it.

Neither Buddha nor Christ were born

Looking at Christianity from a Buddhist perspective I see that Spirit (πνεῦμα) is never crucified.  Only the flesh that is painful passes away because it is intrinsically empty (illusion-like). 

Our passion (πάθημα) causes us to cling to the flesh so that we remain blind as to Spirit.  Christ, who transcends flesh, is beyond all passions.  The crucifixion is the wisdom that knows flesh is not Spirit (L., caro non est spiritus).

The true Cross, itself, is empty of all corporeal things.  It symbolizes transcendence of the flesh.  Jesus represents the mortality and pain of the flesh which in the final mystery vanishes so that only Spirit remains free of its former hiddenness.

In Buddhism, the Buddha represents the state of unconditioned Spirit that transcends all conditioned things.  Both the Buddha and Christ also represent the transcendence of time and space which is always conditioned. 

In a much deeper understanding, Spirit is undualized energy that is free from all dualizing patterns (e.g., observer in the observed).  Hence, it cannot be in any simulation, yet it retains the inherent capacity to receive and transcend all simulations operating in the universe.  This is what Buddhists call prajñāpāramitā in the sense of wisdom that transcends simulation which is never other than empty and illusory.

Whether we attach to the simulation out of desire or let go of the simulation so as, hopefully, to find a better one we, nevertheless, remain bound to it.  We never cease being crucified because we never awaken to our true nature.

The Buddha said: Ānanda and all of you should know that living beings, since the time without beginning, have been subject continuously to birth and death because they do not know the permanent True Mind whose substance is, by nature, pure and bright. They have relied on false thinking which is not Reality so that the wheel of̧ saṃsāra turns. ~ Śūraṅgama Sūtra

The way of every great downfall

Our transformation into a dystopian world, controlled exclusively by the left hemisphere of the brain, is already taking place.  But what is not realized is that this transformation is going against the right hemisphere of the brain which is better at leading the way. 

The left hemisphere always has a limited view of reality.  The right hemisphere leads the way because it knows that the map is not the territory.  At the same time it has a special ability to intuit what the real territory is.  Mystics like Siddhartha Gautama and Plotinus were driven by the right hemisphere to uncover the absolute: to know it firsthand. 

Unbeknownst to the average person, by their worship of technology, they have inadvertently become open to manipulation.  Their life education mainly concerns the left hemisphere of the brain.  Little do they realize that authentic leadership only comes from the right hemisphere which sees the big picture and truly knows what terra firma is. 

The average person only listens to false leaders who continually make excuses for their incompetence.  In this case, deception comes from the left hemisphere of the brain which constitutes much of our education and modern knowledge.  I hasten to add that brains can store wrong information. 

Those oriented predominantly to the left hemisphere of the brain are the techies and the virtue signalers who think it is necessary to impose a meritocracy.  They, naturally, will be the overseers.  This is who is paving our modern road which, ultimately, leads to dystopia.

Some of us have become the Cassandras fated with the gift of prophecy but never to be believed.  This is the way of every great downfall.  And then we have to contend with many false prophets.  From religious charlatans to political opportunists.

Supplemental reading.