a zen take on the steps
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: it's complicated
Posts: 99
a zen take on the steps
http://sfzc.org/sp_download/2010_buddhism_12steps.pdf
I've really enjoyed poking my way through this. Has many Zen-specific religious references, but offers some ways through the steps without theism.
I've really enjoyed poking my way through this. Has many Zen-specific religious references, but offers some ways through the steps without theism.
Sobriety is Traditional
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Orcas Island, Washington
Posts: 9,067
Hmmm, this sounds like AVRT
"Step One contains the entire program in a very concise form. By identifying
our suffering with our craving for alcohol, it shows us both the cause
(and by extension) the cure for it. The rest of the steps simply (but not necessarily easily) work this out to the logical end. In Buddhism, the symbol of
awakening is the lotus because it grows up from muddy water into the light
and the air. And so for us, our regeneration can only begin when we have
thoroughly known what lies at the bottom and most dark place in our lives.
This is the wisdom of the first step." sfzc | 2005
"Step One contains the entire program in a very concise form. By identifying
our suffering with our craving for alcohol, it shows us both the cause
(and by extension) the cure for it. The rest of the steps simply (but not necessarily easily) work this out to the logical end. In Buddhism, the symbol of
awakening is the lotus because it grows up from muddy water into the light
and the air. And so for us, our regeneration can only begin when we have
thoroughly known what lies at the bottom and most dark place in our lives.
This is the wisdom of the first step." sfzc | 2005
Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 69
videos anyone?
Originally Posted by Reedling 
http://sfzc.org/sp_download/2010_buddhism_12steps.pdf
I've really enjoyed poking my way through this. Has many Zen-specific religious references, but offers some ways through the steps without theism.
I've really enjoyed poking my way through this. Has many Zen-specific religious references, but offers some ways through the steps without theism.
Sobriety is Traditional
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Orcas Island, Washington
Posts: 9,067
I'm working step four now, this part ofwhat they have to say
There is an old Buddhist tale about a Zen master named Hyakujo. He
would give lectures to the monks in his monastery and for several days noticed an old man in the back of the lecture hall. One day, after the lecture,
the old man stayed and asked to speak with Hyakujo.
He said, “I am not really an old man. I am a fox. In the past
world system I was the abbot of this monastery and someone
asked me, ‘Is an enlightened person bound by cause and effect?’
I answered ‘No.’ And for that answer I was condemned to
the body of a fox for these past 500 lifetimes. Can you give me
a turning word to release me?”
Hyakujo said, “Ask your question again.”
The fox-man said, “Is an enlightened person bound by cause
and effect?”
Hyakujo replied, “An enlightened person does not ignore
cause and effect.”
On hearing this, the old man was released from his fox body.
This story serves to illustrate the nature of karma—that our past actions are neither negligible nor deterministic. We create the environment
of our present through our actions in the past, but we are free to choose
our response to the current situation. The Steps teach us this as well: we are
conditioned by our alcoholism and by the decisions we have made, but our
future is not condemned to endless repetition. We can interrupt the pattern
at any point by taking positive action: by admission of the nature of the
situation to ourselves and to another, by redressing our misdeeds to the best
of our ability, and by the decision (or in Buddhist language, the vow) to live
differently in the future with the help of good spiritual friends.
SFZC | 2005
There is an old Buddhist tale about a Zen master named Hyakujo. He
would give lectures to the monks in his monastery and for several days noticed an old man in the back of the lecture hall. One day, after the lecture,
the old man stayed and asked to speak with Hyakujo.
He said, “I am not really an old man. I am a fox. In the past
world system I was the abbot of this monastery and someone
asked me, ‘Is an enlightened person bound by cause and effect?’
I answered ‘No.’ And for that answer I was condemned to
the body of a fox for these past 500 lifetimes. Can you give me
a turning word to release me?”
Hyakujo said, “Ask your question again.”
The fox-man said, “Is an enlightened person bound by cause
and effect?”
Hyakujo replied, “An enlightened person does not ignore
cause and effect.”
On hearing this, the old man was released from his fox body.
This story serves to illustrate the nature of karma—that our past actions are neither negligible nor deterministic. We create the environment
of our present through our actions in the past, but we are free to choose
our response to the current situation. The Steps teach us this as well: we are
conditioned by our alcoholism and by the decisions we have made, but our
future is not condemned to endless repetition. We can interrupt the pattern
at any point by taking positive action: by admission of the nature of the
situation to ourselves and to another, by redressing our misdeeds to the best
of our ability, and by the decision (or in Buddhist language, the vow) to live
differently in the future with the help of good spiritual friends.
SFZC | 2005
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
