Question

Explain how Zen calls us to live in the present moment. How does this relate to the ancient Buddhist idea of anatman? What are the principles of Not-Two and Not-One, especially in the context of the I vs Other distinction?

Answer 1

• Buddhism is not an intellectual endeavor. It is almost anti-intellectual. Here and now is appropriate in that it is not appropriate to live in the future or the past. Mindfulness is a type of meditation. In Buddhism nothing is something. Anatman is emptiness. Personality is fluff. You have to be empty in order to be filled with truth or peace or joy.
• The aim of Zen is to give you access to peace-of-mind – conventionally called happiness .It does this by exploiting the knowledge that all planning etc. and all conscious mental activities are the tools, awareness uses to satisfy our appetites and achieve our goals. Conscious mental activity is the tool we must use to live our lives. The problems life consistently presents us with,we don’t solve themselves.
• Being in the moment dosen't mean you stop thinking about the past or the future,it means that you are fully aware with attention of what you are doing,even if you are thinking about the past or the future you have to be aware that you are doing it in the present moment. This at least gives you a chance to not panic because you know that thoughts are just thoughts and they can't affect the future,but if you are not aware of them you will mostly mistaken them for reality thus you might get angry,sad,happy for only something that your mind made up.What zen does is makes you understand that your thoughts and ideas about the world has nothing to do with the world as it is.
• It tries to have you understand, without arguing the point, that there is no purpose in getting anywhere if, when you get there, all you do is think about getting to some other future moment. Life exists in the present, or nowhere at all, and if you cannot grasp that you are simply living a fantasy.
• Due to time constraints only some questions have been answered,the remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou