> Modern Zen teachers in Japan spring from the lineage of a famous master who was the successor of Gudo. His name was Mu-nan, the man who never returned back.
What happened to his family? It's great that he achieved enlightenment and all, if that's what actually happened, but it's very curious that an epiphany centered around his failure to uphold his responsibilities to his loved ones resulted in his abandoning said loved ones for the remainder of his life.
I hesitate to say this makes a good example of the essential self-absorption I've observed in a lot of Zen philosophy, but this makes a good example of the essential self-absorption I've observed in a lot of Zen philosophy. What good are you, what worth have you, if you spend all your energy making yourself precious and ignore the world as it crumbles to dust around you?
> Modern Zen teachers in Japan spring from the lineage of a famous master who was the successor of Gudo. His name was Mu-nan, the man who never returned back.
What happened to his family? It's great that he achieved enlightenment and all, if that's what actually happened, but it's very curious that an epiphany centered around his failure to uphold his responsibilities to his loved ones resulted in his abandoning said loved ones for the remainder of his life.
I hesitate to say this makes a good example of the essential self-absorption I've observed in a lot of Zen philosophy, but this makes a good example of the essential self-absorption I've observed in a lot of Zen philosophy. What good are you, what worth have you, if you spend all your energy making yourself precious and ignore the world as it crumbles to dust around you?