As a prefix to my children, this is in response to an enjoyable article by Von. Having never met Von, my knowledge of him comes from his writing and profile description, and while we agree on many things (specifically the importance of family, the virtue and happiness of living a good life, and that children are wonderful) we also disagree on quite a bit. His belief in theonomy is at the top of that list. As I doubt you know what theonomy is, here is my brief, shallow understanding. Theonomy is the belief that society should be governed according to God’s divine law, as understood by Christianity, with a heavy emphasis on the Old Testament. (Von, please feel free to correct that. As I state, I have not been a student of this topic.) I tend to believe in pluralism, with a heavy emphasis on liberal values. Liberal meaning old school liberal (individual rights, property rights, freedom of speech), not leftist values.
One thing that jumped out at me was your mention of Buddhism as being overly focused on inner enlightenment rather than the well being of society at large.
My experience as a practitioner (in the Zen tradition) has been reflective of quite the opposite attitude. I always silently recite The 4 Great Vows before I sit down to meditate. Take note of the first one.
1. Sentient beings are numberless, we vow to save them all.
2. Delusions are endless, we vow to cut through them all.
3. The teachings are infinite, we vow to learn them all.
4. The Buddha way is inconceivable, we vow to attain it.
I received an email from one of my teachers just this morning. It reads:
"The Korean Zen master Won Hyo taught that helping oneself and helping others are two wings of one bird. One cannot exist without the other. Wake up yourself, keep practicing. Then direct your compassion and wisdom towards others. If you don’t wake up though, we may want to help but we are not always skillful. Each moment, we can still do our best. If someone is thirsty, give them water; if someone is hungry, give them food; if someone is sad, cheer them up. Just do it. According to your capacity. Then you are using each moment for all beings."
I will have to educate myself more on Buddhism, clearly. I have been very impressed by those I have known who practice it. Thanks for pointing this out. Any good, succinct writings you recommend? I say succinct, due to three kids, a full time job, and working towards a masters. My time available for personal reading is not as plentiful as it used to be.
I am glad you enjoyed it, I am now trying to work through my next response.
Honestly, if you're pressed for time I would just recommend jumping down the Alan Watts rabbit hole on YouTube! He's the one that got me into all this mess (type Alan Watts Buddhism or Alan Watts Zen).
My interest is in the specific branch of Buddhism called Zen. Some books I recommend from that tradition are "The Three Pillars of Zen", "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind", and "There is No God, and He is Always With You"
Huh. Well I guess it is Substacks problem them. It didn't alert me that someone had linked to me, so I thought you hadn't. Maybe that doesn't exist?? I guess I just thought that was a thing.
This was fun to read :)
One thing that jumped out at me was your mention of Buddhism as being overly focused on inner enlightenment rather than the well being of society at large.
My experience as a practitioner (in the Zen tradition) has been reflective of quite the opposite attitude. I always silently recite The 4 Great Vows before I sit down to meditate. Take note of the first one.
1. Sentient beings are numberless, we vow to save them all.
2. Delusions are endless, we vow to cut through them all.
3. The teachings are infinite, we vow to learn them all.
4. The Buddha way is inconceivable, we vow to attain it.
I received an email from one of my teachers just this morning. It reads:
"The Korean Zen master Won Hyo taught that helping oneself and helping others are two wings of one bird. One cannot exist without the other. Wake up yourself, keep practicing. Then direct your compassion and wisdom towards others. If you don’t wake up though, we may want to help but we are not always skillful. Each moment, we can still do our best. If someone is thirsty, give them water; if someone is hungry, give them food; if someone is sad, cheer them up. Just do it. According to your capacity. Then you are using each moment for all beings."
Your writing is so clear! Really enjoyed it!
I will have to educate myself more on Buddhism, clearly. I have been very impressed by those I have known who practice it. Thanks for pointing this out. Any good, succinct writings you recommend? I say succinct, due to three kids, a full time job, and working towards a masters. My time available for personal reading is not as plentiful as it used to be.
I am glad you enjoyed it, I am now trying to work through my next response.
Honestly, if you're pressed for time I would just recommend jumping down the Alan Watts rabbit hole on YouTube! He's the one that got me into all this mess (type Alan Watts Buddhism or Alan Watts Zen).
My interest is in the specific branch of Buddhism called Zen. Some books I recommend from that tradition are "The Three Pillars of Zen", "Zen Mind, Beginners Mind", and "There is No God, and He is Always With You"
https://open.substack.com/pub/vonwriting/p/pizza-sushi-and-the-definition-of?r=6csnm&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
It might be easier for your readers if you put a link to my actual post, instead of merely my profile.
Great response, and my fingers are already buzzing with my reply :)
It is linked as I begin my response to you. I will move it up to make it easier to find!
Cause I have the 'notify me if someone mentions me in a post' on, but SS didn't. Hmmm.
Huh. Well I guess it is Substacks problem them. It didn't alert me that someone had linked to me, so I thought you hadn't. Maybe that doesn't exist?? I guess I just thought that was a thing.
I think Substack is having some glitches with notifications. I received some emails, with notifications, but nothing in Substack.