MORALS HAVE NO ZEN

This is kind of a response with my random thoughts , not a rebuttal, to Mumon's post over at Notes in Samsara (link on the right somewhere). And his post is a kind of response to some posts written by some folks who are intellectually advanced and can write academic circles around most mortals. Which are responses written to somebody else's article posted over on thezensite.com and of course, this post is loaded with half humor and the way I see things through my own twisted view, so enjoy the poorly formatted ride.

So, Morals have no Zen…

Let us make sure we all know what morals are. From the root Moral: adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.
2. expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work; moralizing: a moral novel.
3. founded on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom: moral obligations.
4. capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct: a moral being.
5. conforming to the rules of right conduct ( opposed to immoral): a moral man.
6. virtuous in sexual matters; chaste.
7. of, pertaining to, or acting on the mind, feelings, will, or character: moral support.
8. resting upon convincing grounds of probability; virtual: a moral certainty.
noun
9. the moral teaching or practical lesson contained in a fable, tale, experience, etc.
10. the embodiment or type of something.
11. morals, principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct.


Zen, an abbreviated term for Zazen: Sitting upright with legs crossed.
Zen is the practice of all the Buddha ancestors. You might even say zen is a yoga posture. You might call it Cha'an, or Sitting Dhyāna.

Everything else is not zen.
Zen is not an agenda.
Zen is not a doctrine
Zen is not some idea of the true way.
Zen is not a religion despite dictionary entries and many views to the contrary.
Zen is not writing a long intellectual blog post.
You may do some moralizing while you are sitting up right. You may have all kinds of ideas. You may think that the precepts are zen or you may have any number of other thoughts. But that is not it and as soon as it starts going that way the essence of zen is lost.
Fixing to an idea instead of dropping all views off is also not zen…

No this doesn't mean I am a Shmano apologist. Quite the contrary. That guy's behavior is deplorable. Maybe someone should have just beaten the tar out of him decades ago. Unfortunately people get all zennie and think that isn't appropriate behavior. Nope. Sometimes people just need a good thrashing. What would Rinzai do? Nansen? Obaku? Thirty blows! That'll learn em.



Semper Fi
Jordan

American Psychological Association (APA):
moral. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved July 09, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
moral. Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral (accessed: July 09, 2012).
Modern Language Association (MLA):
"moral." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 09 Jul. 2012. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral>.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE):
Dictionary.com, "moral," in Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Source location: HarperCollins Publishers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: July 09, 2012.
BibTeX Bibliography Style (BibTeX)
@article {Dictionary.com2012,
title = {Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition},
month = {Jul},
day = {09},
year = {2012},
url = {http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moral},