Insanity in Zen

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
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Glostik91
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:13 am
Location: Iowa

Insanity in Zen

Post by Glostik91 »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfR_ZkRQz3Q

Here is an interesting documentary where the filmmakers are allowed to shoot in a Zen monastery while the monks go through a period of intensive meditation called Rohatzu o-shessin.

The first insanity I'll talk about is the lack of sleep.

Scientific studies show that the mind is active during sleep. Simply the observation of rapid-eye movement is enough to prove this.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sle ... h-out-junk

The link above is a study that demonstrates the necessity of sleep in rodents. Sleeping literally cleans the brain of proteins that cause Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases among other things.
Studying fluid flow in the brain isn’t easy. Lulu Xie in Nedergaard’s lab trained mice to sit quietly on a microscope stage while researchers probed their brains. The mice were so relaxed that they sometimes fell asleep.

When that happened, Nedergaard says, “it was almost like you opened a faucet.” While the mice slept, cerebrospinal fluid rushed into the brain’s interstitial space and washed away debris. When the mice woke up, the faucet dried up and only a trickle of fluid left the brain.
Requiring men to stay awake for more or less 8 days straight is just idiotic, and it becomes insane if you expect them to think about difficult ideas during this time.
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Glostik91
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:13 am
Location: Iowa

Re: Insanity in Zen

Post by Glostik91 »

The next biggest insanity is the celibacy. I don't necessarily think that the idea of celibacy is a bad one. People are perfectly free to decide if they're ready or capable of cohabitating and having children with a partner. But Japan is a different story. Japan is literally going extinct.

In an estimated few years adult diapers are projected to outsell baby diapers. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101003141#.

It does Japan no good to find virtue or any spiritual benefit in celibacy while their population is going into decline. The wikipedia article below is a good starting ground to get you aquainted with the situation in Japan if you already are not familiarized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan

The youtube link below is an experiment by John Calhoun. It is a mouse utopia experiment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z760XNy4VM

Though these studies involve animals, careful examination must be taken. Our current situation can be compared to the 'equilibrium period' and any parrallel trends toward the 'die phase' must be stopped or else we might go extinct.

Japan is getting very close to falling into the 'die phase.' Recent social groups known as Parasite singles, Herbivore men, and the Hikikomori are inherently non-reproductive social groups and encourage the trend to the 'die phase.'

I won't go into detail just how insane the Japanese culture is, but as one of the main religious traditions, Zen has an impact on what the culture values. So long as celibacy is valued as a virtue or a spiritual benefit, any social group that discourages reproduction will not be condemned.
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Glostik91
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:13 am
Location: Iowa

Re: Insanity in Zen

Post by Glostik91 »

The last insanity in Zen I'll talk about is in some ways the worst. Its the elder worship.

In Japanese culture small bows are like handshakes, and slightly lower bows show a sign of respect. This is completely fine. It is good to show respect to people who are old simply based on the fact that they have had more experiences.

Compare this to Zen. When the student monk comes to the Zen master you can see all of the ridiculous bowing and gestures. http://youtu.be/CfR_ZkRQz3Q?t=26m40s

All these gestures do is inflate the ego of the Zen master. If the student thinks that the Zen master is enlightened then the student must know what enlightenment is and therefore the student must be enlightened. Why be a student if you know what it means to be enlightened? Why doesn't the master just tell the student this simple truth? Its because the Zen master gets off on students bowing and inflating his ego, and if he taught this to his students, he would obviously be out of business. All his students would leave.

Zen has rational qualities. Many koans are insightful and enourage deep thought and discussion. But like any religion, it also has its irrational qualities. Don't get caught in the Zen trap.
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RZoo
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Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 5:26 am

Re: Insanity in Zen

Post by RZoo »

Glostik91 wrote:Requiring men to stay awake for more or less 8 days straight is just idiotic, and it becomes insane if you expect them to think about difficult ideas during this time.
No more idiotic than requiring them to stay alive for up to 100 years straight.
Glostik91
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:13 am
Location: Iowa

Re: Insanity in Zen

Post by Glostik91 »

RZoo wrote: No more idiotic than requiring them to stay alive for up to 100 years straight.
Where did you find this requirement?
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