Re: Seymour's Suicide
Brian Gross (bgross@worldweb.net)
Wed, 16 Jul 1997 16:01:25 -0400
| From: Scott Sperry <SSperry@PINNCORP.COM>
| To: 'bananafish@lists.nyu.edu'
| Subject: Seymour's Suicide
| Date: Wednesday, July 16, 1997 10:07
|
| I also know nothing about Zen. What does this philosophy say about
| suicide?
Check out the Zen "faq" at http://sunsite.unc.edu/zen/faq.html
Two excerpts:
What is Zen? (the simple question)
Zen is short for Zen Buddhism. It is sometimes called a religion and
sometimes called a philosophy. Choose whichever term you prefer; it simply
doesn't matter.
Historically, Zen Buddhism originates in the teachings of Siddhartha
Gautama. Around 500 B.C. he was a prince in what is now India. At the age of
29, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his
privileged life to seek understanding. After 6 years of struggling as an
ascetic he finally achieved Enlightenment at age 35. After this he was known
as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake"). In a nutshell, he
realized that everything is subject to change and that suffering and
discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things
which, by their nature, are impermanent. By ridding oneself of these
attachments, including attachment to the false notion of self or "I", one
can be free of suffering.
The teachings of the Buddha have, to this day, been passed down from teacher
to student. Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled
from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In
China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this mingling was the
Ch'an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch'an Buddhism spread from China
to Japan where it is called (at least in translation) Zen Buddhism.
What is Zen? (the real question)
This question basically asks "What is the essence of Zen?". It appears in
various guises throughout Zen literature, from "What is the meaning of
Bodhidharma's coming from the West?" to "Have you eaten yet?". The question
cuts right to the heart of the matter and can only be answered by you.
Perhaps the best answer is "practice".
_____________________________________
Brian Gross ** Washington, D.C.
b g r o s s @ w o r l d w e b . n e t