Buddhist Sense of Organization

[mike chen]

bruce, in your consideration of ohsawa, you might find the following handy - the four "truths" that guide buddhism:

1) suffering exists
2) suffering is rooted in desire
3) the end of suffering is nirvana
4) the way to nirvana is by following the noble eight-fold path

[Bruce Paine]

mike,

I find the reference that you post to slightly obsure the topic we were discussing at the other thread.

You must have really enjoyed playing 'hide and go seek', as a child.

Try being more explicit and I'll try to be more obscure!

Didn't you, once, hang out at a coffeshop or a restaurant in Seattle?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[mike chen]

bruce, here in the west, it is widely held that buddhism is not a religion because (1) there is no deity and (2) there is no soul!
instead, there is the listing of "4 truths" and an exhortation from the buddha for each person to attend to his/her own salvation - quite an ambitious undertaking for . . . (shall we call it) a spiritual system.

even if deity-less, however, buddhism would clearly still have to conform to certain widely-held notions of "natural" spirituality. otherwise, there could hardly be a wide subscription to it throughout the past 2500 years. what might these notions be?

these considerations and others may all easily play a part in anyone's developing personal perspective on ohsawa, mb, and religious thought and structure in general.

[Bruce Paine]

mike,

Maybe I should be less obscure.

Being Japanese and since most Japanese have been a combination of Buddhist and Shinto, I would say that it is quite possible that Ohsawa had Shinto beliefs and practices as much as the Buddhist ones.

And it appears that both Buddhism and Shinto have some form of a deist belief and that of the soul:

( http://www.csuchico.edu/~georgew/tsa..._Glossary.html http://www.religioustolerance.org/shinto.htm ).

Do you play banjo?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[mike chen]

very much "non credo," bruce - you may find it worthwhile to investigate! robert aitken is good, too. i believe he has a zen center in hawaii.

anyway, you have the four "truths" and the exhortation of the buddha in hand now.

(do you know the chinese story about the blind banjo player whose practice was to include breaking 1000 strings?)