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#4077 - Tuesday, November 16, 2010
- Editor: Jerry Katz
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
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Here is the beginning of the book The Zen of Advaita-Vedanta Part I: Cracking the Code of the Zen Koan: The Teaching Mastery Of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Introduction
There is no one
There is nothing and no one to get
No one to receive a teaching
No one to give a teaching
That being said
Who hears?
Who reads?
Let’s begin
Nisargadatta Maharaj:
“There is no such thing as
enlightenment,
the realization of that fact is
itself enlightenment.”
Foreword
All spiritual paths are pointers
at best and become religious
dogma at worst. Zen, although a
“clean” form of Buddhism with its
magnificent Koans which both lure
and attract the deconstruction
or de-conditioning of the mind,
nevertheless carries with it (if
these Koans are taken as a real
thing, a real roadmap a real path,
that will do the job) the same
traps as any other dogma.
Zen Saying: If you fall in love
with the road, you will forget the
destination.
Nisargadatta Maharaj:
“I do not believe in spiritual
paths….all paths lead to
unreality.”
“I” was drawn to Zen in the early
1970’s with one of their most
famous Koans, “What is the sound
of one hand clapping?”
Although hypnotized by the
puzzle, I did not “realize” and
“experience” one of its meanings
until 1975, (that there is no such
thing as choice, and that there
was no purpose). In 1979 “I” spoke
to Nisargadatta Maharaj about
this, (that there is no such thing
as choice, and that there was
no purpose, and everything just
happens as it happens) wanting
to “test my understanding”. He
replied, “Obviously.”
The structure of the Koan however
was not revealed in its entirety
for almost 20 years.
This book represents several
things:
1. A cracking of the code of the
Zen Koan and appreciating the
Koan, its “purpose”, “how it
works”, and “where it leads”
2. A completion of the queue
of the mind, with its
extraordinary capacity to
deconstruct, without any regard
from a “me”. In other words it
just happens.
3. The realization of my beloved
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj as the
ultimate Zen Teaching Master,
who used Enquiry like a Koan.
4. For the “reader” and “myself”
the danger of realizing that
even the magnificent Koan
is still a thorn to remove
a thorn. Better said, the
Koan deconstructs and points,
but one cannot “nest” in the
“beyond” or any “experience”
that arises”, even satori. In
short, the Zen Koan too, like
the enquiry process, must go.
5. Finally, this represents
yet another tribute to Sri
Nisargadatta Maharaj, who was
able to pinpoint where the
imaginary “I” imagined it
was, and set it free from its
illusionary existence.
This book is offered to Maharaj,
whose Teaching Mastery leaves “me”
in awe and reverence, even twentynine
years after his passing Jai Gurudev
Nisargadatta Maharaj Ki Jaya!
Read the whole book and more at