has constructed a very intelligent book with several beginning practice themes served up first (i.e., the middle way, oneness, and no words) and a movement to issues for more advanced students in the middle and end of the book (i.e., objectification, non-creating, and the teacher-student relationship).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThe sections that I found most compelling are on \u201cblindism and doubtism\u201d (the extremes of believing everything or doubting everything) and \u201cthe hook and ring\u201d referring to the teacher and the student respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nMy one quibble is the author\u2019s use of the word \u201ckoan\u201d to refer to a practice theme or topic of inquiry rather than as an expression of the harmony of the fundamental and relative as it\u2019s used more specifically in Zen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nLook below for an excerpt.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nBlindism has a whole lot of \u201cshoulds\u201d: \u201cThe tradition says I should, the teacher says I should, a practitioner should, my practice should, I should\u2026\u201d Where do all these shoulds come from? Blindism comes with a big assumption \u2013 mainly that we can\u2019t trust our own discernment, even though we have already chosen blindly to trust all those shoulds that seem to keep coming our way. Blindism makes us forget that we entered the spiritual path in the first place through relying upon our own discernment. We saw an opportunity and moved toward it. Now, having found the teachings, do we just lay our discriminating wisdom aside and passively await liberation? Do we just let shoulds navigate our ship? Or do we actively particpate?<\/span><\/span><\/i>
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It\u2019s amazing what human beings can put up with, but we can only go along blindly for so long. Eventually, we fall into doubism: \u201cHow does this practice relate to my life? Why isn\u2019t it working? Maybe I\u2019m not cut out for this. Do thoughts ever settle down? Maybe I\u2019m just a bad student. Could it be that the teachigns just don\u2019t apply to my life? And as for my teahcer, he seems ordinary to me. Enlightenment is obviously a myth\u2026\u201d Doubtism has its own assumptioins. It assumes that it has already figured out, at least to some extent, how things are, so self-reflection and curiousity come to a standstill. Meanwhile doubt revels in its own cleverness. But it\u2019s not nearly as clever as it thinks, because it gives us nowhere to go, which means it prevents us from learning anything new.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
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