“Enlightenment” and “Nirvana”?
They are dead trees
to fasten a donkey to.
The scriptures?
They are bits of paper
to wipe mud from your face.
The four merits and the ten steps?
They are ghosts in their graves.
What can these things have to do with you
becoming free?
--Te-shan (780-865)
This verse from today's Daily Zen, resonates with me. As I renew a long dormant interest in Buddhism and certain aspects of Eastern thought, I dig and I investigate and I ask questions and I listen, as is my way of inquiry in whatever I set myself to inquire about. And as I do that, I find many of the very same religious dysfunctions that I found during all my years in Christianity. I find many similar superstitions. I find blind faith and suspension of reason. I find fakes and phonies, and attempts to control people.
And yes, I also find some "truth"....
It seems to me that truth, if sought in religious garb, will always be hopelessly adulterated with...crap.
Just one reason why I've come to sincerely doubt that I will ever formally or officially embrace a religious label again.
The "truth" doesn't need the labels anyway, as it stands outside them. If the truth doesn't need the labels, why should we need them?
See also:
Forget Everything
and Instructions
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"The "truth" doesn't need the labels anyway, as it stands outside them. If the truth doesn't need the labels, why should we need them?"
ReplyDeleteI think this - more than anything else - is what really bothers me about religion. Once you label something, you automatically make it exclusionary. Something or, more importantly, someone will be left out. And how could that possibly benefit the world in any way?
I hear you, Val. :)
ReplyDeleteMany who still live within a system of labels ignore them for the very reason there is a deeper truth that calls us all. I admire your bravery and the singleheartedness with which you pursue the truth.
ReplyDelete"It seems to me that truth, if sought in religious garb, will always be hopelessly adulterated with...crap."
ReplyDeleteI reread this and smiled.