No doubt and there is a lot of that between various schools and lineages. That's why I specifically say not to worry about the what of the practice; tea, meditation, yoga, martial arts, the what is not key. In the end the what is always yourself any way.
I totally agree with what youre saying here. Even though I've practiced simple Zazen concentration/meditation for 20 years and have been very Buddhist minded in general most of my adult life, I rarely talk about what I have accomplished through my practice, and of what I've understood by way of various Buddhist teachings in a Buddhist or Zen context. I use my own words, because no matter how I see it, I have learned what I've learned from the questions I have found to ask for my own reasons, and I have and always will go about my inner and outer learning process my own way.
This is the only way.
If we are to learn anything important about the historical Buddha and his life it will be that he arrived at his destination only after experiencing and abandoning any established forms of practice and then setting out on his own.
The first thing that seemed really important to me that the Buddha taught, in fact, is that we all must do it our own way, see it for ourselves, sort it out for ourselves. Grasping and understanding Buddhist teachings without actually arriving at and experiencing the sources of those teachings personally and first hand is nothing more than intellectual understanding, it is not realization, and it is not knowing. A true Buddhist has taken what they found useful in Buddhism along with EVERYTHING else they have experienced and has continued to go their OWN way. Forget the Buddha. Sitting like the Buddha was said to have sat, meditating like it's said he did, on the insights and conclusions he reached in his final lifetime is incredibly inappropriate and in my opinion ineffective for anyone else to try and do like him. How many Buddhas are any of you aware of that practicing Buddhism has created?
Notions of succeeding to keep with it and failing to keep with it is part of what you have to get past. There isn't a particular "job" that is getting "done."
That's so true. Buddhism can't decide what you need to do, nor do I think one can just study Buddhism hoping to find out what they need to do and learn, and hope to accomplish it through specific Buddhist means until perhaps, they have made deep breakthroughs and have become very skilled at working with their minds through introspection (meditation) and related processing. It's entertaining to read Buddhist philosophy thinking you understand this and that, but until you spend significant time sitting quietly, examining your thoughts, getting to know and have control of your mind to some extent, and learn how to process new experiences and to properly reflect on past experiences, its just passing the time. Sure some of what you read might fit into a good place at some point in the future, but when that time comes the puzzle piece that's intended to illuminate (enlighten) the subject would be there anyway, just without the Buddhist reference attached to it so...
Measure away. Pick a practice. Do it. See if I'm out of line.To find out the answer. Pick a practice. Do it. Come to a conclusion.
Agreed. My recommendation is sitting quietly and counting breaths, watching thoughts come and go. Getting to know yourself in the most simple and obvious way. This is basic Zen practice in other words. In my experience this is the most natural and honest and direct way to start to practice, as free of dogmas and conceptual necessity as any other kind of practice Im aware of. Just my opinion.
If not that, just continue to live your life, and think about what you're doing and what it means to you. Examine everything you can manage to .
I did. I have a conclusion I'm coming to. But so what? If I say yes or no, what's that mean to you any way? If you can't tell, you have to learn how to.
Same here. And my practice is constantly evolving. There are ever more conclusions to arrive at that will probably then be replaced by different conclusions down the road. Maybe I'll just walk around and talk to people. Maybe I'll decide to dedicate a few years to more formal Zen practice. Maybe Tibetan Buddhism. Maybe Jesus. Maybe I'll become a bartender in Thailand next to a temple. Maybe Ill go to Africa. Work on a farm.Whatever.
And you'll do whatever you'll do too.. and you'll know you're on your path (if you like calling it that) if you learn from it, when you find moments where you say, " AH HA! NOW I SEE SOMETHING! I GET IT!".
Enlightenment comes in little steps all the time. Probably everyone has at least of bit of enlightenment. You will definitely find all you can handle though, if you consciously decide that is what you intend to do with your motivation no matter WHAT you do with your life.