So many secrets over time have been lost since they were not written down. For example, the art of making the incredible steel for Samurai swords by folding the metal again and again and adding different amounts of coke to the fires. I made what I believe to be the scholars’ decision of sharing the years of teachings I loved and respected.
“You cannot live in the world like Jesus or the Buddha although you must be moral in the deepest sense.”
Satoru
www.samuraizen.com
Zen Buddhism, among many other things, is a secret collection of questions, stories, aphorisms, and teachings leading to an enlightened state. A novice can only learn the secret interpretations through years of exploration and passage with a master while embracing deep meditation (za-zen). So much of the Buddha’s wisdom was communicated orally and it took hundreds of years for the cumulative knowledge to be recorded. Learning from my master and believing that when you share your knowledge you gain immortality I have tried to record and present to you some of the essence of the teaching.
“Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.”
Satoru
www.samuraizen.com
A cornucopia of offshoots of Buddhism took place for hundreds of years. One of these adoptions was Zen- Buddhism adopted mainly by the Japanese, combined chanting, student-teacher dialogue and Zazen (sitting) meditation. Although just sitting and breathing might seem antithetical to the practical aims of this book, it is important to know some history in order to gain depth and perspective. It is also vital to stop and focus in order to make any significant changes in our perception, which is the first step toward improving our lives.
The student-teacher dialogues incorporated sacred texts, which were conundrums or koans that emphasized the underlying order and unity of all that is and over time became valued and guarded vehicles toward internal illumination and the path to enlightenment.
“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.”
Of course, you have to recognize the teacher.
Satoru
www.samuraizen.com
Buddhism in America has struck a responsive cord and has also become a product of pop culture and the politics of repressed Tibet that have produced a Tibet Chic. Buddhism is also the antithesis of our consumer-oriented society since it stresses simplicity, austerity and directness. Chanting and spiritual seeking are rampant in a modern age were we can no longer define ourselves by our occupations or our status. Indeed, we no longer have lions to kill so that we are initiated into manhood, and just cooking and having babies used to define our womanhood. Still, the monk who said just sixty years ago that, introducing Buddhism into America would be like holding a lotus against a rock and waiting for it to take root has proved incredibly wrong.
Satoru
Because Buddhism poses no creator or god and sees all other central religious figures as teachers, Buddhism can be practiced without leaving a person’s faith of birth and at the same time allow the individual the attractiveness of universal interconnectedness. Buddhism, the world’s fifth largest religion, unlike other religions, encourages you to question and challenge authority in your search for truth and the “right” way. Buddhism’s concerns are so removed from most organized religions that Buddhism to many is thought of as a philosophy of life since Buddha is regarded as a great sage but not a deity.
Satoru
www.samuraizen.com
A Way To Live – ZEN 