>>Then, gradually, I read up on Castaneda and various Buddhistic sutras,
>>Vajraccedika (Diamond Sutra), especially, and wounded up with a new
>>philosophy of life, where the world wasn't dualistic with powers all
>>around me anymore, but one and the same. I started sitting with the
>>Northern Lights Sangha in the northern part of Sweden and started to
>>call myself a Zen Buddhist some seven years ago. I have been sitting
>>since then, leaving behind the magick and trying to kill the monkey
>>mind instead.
>>
>>Anyone else with a similar story?
>
Similar ? Dissimilar ? who could say ? I've read Castaneda myself, as
innumerable others. I guess it didn't hurt. Liked those champs and old Don
Juan.
And I've done many other things in 39 years. Smiling, crying, smiling, being
bad, being good... THIS should be pretty similar to what happened to all
of us ;-) And one day, I came to sit in front of this same old wall you
must be facing in your swedish dojo. Again, all of us, zen buddhists ou
plain unzen unbuddhists, must know something about this wall. It's here.
Don't you feel
it, always waiting for you, at the end of whatever road you might have chosen
to take ? There's a lot of magic tricks in zazen. YOU SEE THINGS ! We call
them makkyo. Illusions. Flowers of emptiness. Then; we learn to let them
pass, and not be much impressed by them. Why should we ? Just like
thoughts, good or bad, makkyo (magic) are just projections of our ego. And
inconsciously, automatically, they tend to disappear. Have you noticed this
during your experience of zazen ? LA MAGIE ! Just like wisdom, my friends,
leave it alone and get on your own.
Peace! It was my way of saying hello to all of you. Since I'm new to this list.
Take care.