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From: kmccor@mindspring.com (karen)
Newsgroups: alt.zen,alt.philosophy.zen,alt.buddha.short.fat.guy,talk.religion.buddhism
Subject: Re: Non-academic Zen
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 16:43:38 GMT
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On Tue, 27 May 1997 00:30:45 GMT, brian@shapes.demon.co.uk 
(Brian Drummond) wrote:

>>>So is this class difference anything new? Nope! In China they called it
>>>Degenerate Zen, or Dilettante Zen, while we in the west can call the same
>>>thing as "Slacker Zen".
>>
>>I thought it was "pop" Zen.  (???)
>
>Naah, it's bonpu zen. 

Bonbon Zen?  (Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  Yes, have some.)

>Unless it's buji zen.

Budgie Zen?  (Tweety Bird Zen?)

Boogie-woogie Zen?  (Play that funky music, white boy!)

>Or maybe that small-vehicle thang, described by realtors as biju zen.

Bijou Zen?  (Sorry, read too much Anais Nin in high school.  ;)

Born-again Zen?  (You know, they keep trying to sneak atman 
and maybe Brahma himself in the back door...)

>>>Can Buddhism be a
>>>starting place where the Classes can meet and actually work together? 
>>
>>But Mark!  I thought you said that Buddhism was for an intellectual elite!  
>>(Or was that Ardent?  I get the two of you mixed up sometimes.)
>
>Difficult when they're both wearing dark zen glasses, isn't it.

And hiding behind Sanskrit dictionaries.

>though it was good to see Ardie come out from under the bridge to post
>some really good stuff about buddha nature while I was away. 

Well, you're back now.  :)

And he's back to his old, "If you don't completely agree with me, I hate
you hate you hate you, you non-Buddhist you!" shtick.  Plus, if we're
really good over in alt.zen, our chicken coop oughta be done soon. ;)


Let's see...  The following is cribbed from the Shambhala Dictionary of
Buddism and Zen...


buji-zen: an exaggerated, fivilous attitude towards the training and
discipline of Zen [whoo hoo!].  It comes about, for example, when
someone, based on the mere thought that he is already Buddha, comes to
the conclusion that he need not concern himself with practice, a
disciplined life, or enlightenment.


       Hey, works for me!  Yee-haw!
           Of course  <cough> I sit just about everyday...
              But IMO there's not NOT enough frivolity these days!



Bonpu means "everyman, the ordinary or average person"; the Zen
expression designating the ordinary, unenlightened person in contrast to
an enlightened person or saint.  One of the five types of Zen, according
to Tsung-mi:

1.  bonpu - zazen practice without religious motivation, as, for example,
    for the improvement of mental or bodily health

2.  gedo - religious in character but follows teachings that are outside
    the Buddhist teachings (such as yoga or Christian contemplation), or
    that are pursued purely for the sake of developing supernatural  
    powers

3.  shojo - (hinayana) - leads to a state of mushinjo (a kind of trance 
    state, a completely vacuous mind), an attainment of one's own inner
    peace for one's own sake

4.  daijo - (mahayana) kensho or satori and the actualization of the
    'great way' in everyday life; connectedness with all beings
    experienced; (the Rinzai emphasis on koans)

5.  saijojo - the way and the path are fused into one, a realization of
    the buddha-nature immanent in every being; (the Soto emphasis on
    shikantaza)



So there ya go.



karen, buji-zennist extraordinare and baker of brownies