maybe you should approach the zen & godzilla project from the opposite angle: a fictional work whereby godzilla is introduced to zen and eventually discovers that rebuilding tokyo is just as satisfying as destroying it.
Brad, my spiritual journey has been solely guided by Buddhism the last10 years or so. This past month I have been reading the Bible, watching online services, and I'm thinking about going to my local Presbyterian church one of these Sundays... One of the big changes is that I am now opening up to the possibility of the existence of a soul. In your opinion/experience does the concept of Anatta truly deny the existence of a soul or does it just say that the 5 skhandas are not the soul? I feel like claiming these 5 things are not your soul is different than saying you do not have a soul at all. I love your consistency on this channel and all the work you do. Thank you!
I'd say that the concept of anatta denies the existence of an "atman" as it was generally conceived of in Buddha's time. At that time, the atman was thought to be the true spiritual essence of the person which is non-physical and inhabits the physical body. It was also thought to be eternal and individual. You're always the same atman. The Buddha denied this idea. Later Buddhists developed an idea of "self" or "Buddha Nature." This gets very tricky. The "self" in this sense is at once the personal self and the self of the whole universe. Dogen very strongly denies the existence of a spiritual entity that inhabits the material body. But he is quite positive about the "self." Dogen also uses an expression sometimes that translates as "playing with the soul" to describe zazen. My impression is that Christians have many different concepts of the soul, depending on the sect of Christianity in question. I also feel like a lot of Christians don't really like to define the soul. But most of them seem to believe that the soul is a permanent thing, and an individual thing. One person - one soul. They seem to believe that the individual soul is not God and can never be God. But Dogen's (an other Buddhists') idea of "self" is, in some ways, like God. So, those Buddhists might say we do have a soul, but that soul is also God's soul. It's not *my* soul. That soul is not restricted to me. It is the soul of the universe.
@@HardcoreZen "My" soul being the same as the soul of God/the universe is pretty much how I've been thinking of it lately... I'm going to research the differences between atman and other Buddhist concepts relating to self as well as dig deeper through the Bible to see if my current understanding of soul is compatible with the Scripture. Your answer really helps. Thank you!
If you don't mind me offering some input, I think you shouldn't worry so much about the definitions and frameworks of a "soul". Ultimately all these words about souls and atman and body and mind and death are just that - words. It feels like trying to describe how a cake tastes without actually ever eating it. You're trying to describe a feeling but are trapping yourself in this labyrinth of words and concepts that we don't even know the origin of anymore. I think people like to use these words to tell them to other people and then get validation and then feel good that they now have answers and know how the universe works now, but those people probably are just as confused as you, if not more. I think this is the reason Buddhism likes to focus on "thusness", not a mind, body, soul, or lack thereof, but just "this" - a feeling. Sorry if you find any of this offensive, I just like to ramble.
@@Meoooweww I personally would prefer to phrase it so: Presbyterianism is very rationalistic (I speak as a former Presbyterian), which will probably not appeal to his Buddhist background. Orthodox hesychasm, on the other hand, shares many similarities to Zen, which is why Fr. Seraphim Rose eventually made the transition from Alan Watts to Orthodoxy.
@@burkhardschmorell3973 Fr. Seraphim Rose was a good monk and author...I met him a few times long ago. He might say that Zen's goal back to emptiness and the impersonal root of being, is that same nothingness- exnhilo that God actually created us out of....now we have soul and personality and these attributes can never be extinguished like they were some sort of material candle flame. THEOSIS through grace+ hesychasm actually increases the flame of the soul to be in union with the energies of God....TWO complete ethos and directions....choose wisely grasshopper!
On the shaved head thing, I had shaved my head for about a decade of my life because that's what you do to remove attachments as a Buddhist. Some 3 or so years ago, I came to the conclusion while meditating that I was shaving my head because I was attached to what I was supposed to be doing. I laughed, and let my hair grow naturally ever since, and it's now quite a ways down my back in length. It could all fall out tomorrow and I wouldn't care, I learned what I needed to with that and with Buddhist "shoulds" - It's just another trap created by some homies, but a useful one in my case and the lesson learned by it. Anyway. That's not what you were talking about but it's what I thought about!
"Imagine if Captain America was crucified." In the 70's a kid replaces Captain America in the comics after the takes off the uniform. The Red Skull crucifies the kid on a chimney. Also in the 70's, around the same time another hero, Valkyrie, is crucified upside down by white supremacists. Pretty the OG Cap is crucified in the 90s, too.
I don't think most American Christians would find the crucifixion scene offensive at all, because the show obviously isn't ridiculing it. Maybe *some* very conservative Christians would choose to interpret it in the worst possible light. But the average American Catholic? No way. The culture of Catholicism is very different from that of evangelicalism and mainline Protestantism. Catholicism in Asia and Africa is very vibrant and, in the eyes of some Catholics, more true to the Church than what we've got here.
This adds a lot of helpful context about "real Buddhism" that you discussed before. I think you could make a compelling chapter about "real Buddhism" by contrasting it with "Japanese Christianity" in a more concise manner. That was the main message I got out of this video, anyway, not sure if it was your primary point or not. Also that flesh-colored shirt is pretty freaky, I'd look away from the screen for a moment and look back and think you weren't wearing one at all and had two lacerations on your neck!
One of the better religious books I've read is probably "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, a Japanese Catholic, about the persecution faced by Catholic missionaries in Japan in the 1600s. It was also adapted into a really good movie by Martin Scorsese starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson (if you've ever wondered what Kylo Ren would be like as a Jesuit Priest...) I highly recommend both the book and the movie if you're interested in the history and culture of Christianity in Japan, but be warned that it's pretty dark. Edit: Apparently the movie is now free with ads on RUclips :) ruclips.net/video/hDzI1dJNoiI/видео.html
As a not religious person in the States I really don’t give a shit if people talk about their religion or not, however what I really don’t want to hear about is whatever new weirdo diet or CrossFit thing that you’re doing. I’m all for people eating or not eating whatever they want, I just don’t want to hear about your new carnivore diet that Joe Rogan claims to cure C19 or erectile dysfunction or whatever.
maybe you should approach the zen & godzilla project from the opposite angle: a fictional work whereby godzilla is introduced to zen and eventually discovers that rebuilding tokyo is just as satisfying as destroying it.
Brad, my spiritual journey has been solely guided by Buddhism the last10 years or so. This past month I have been reading the Bible, watching online services, and I'm thinking about going to my local Presbyterian church one of these Sundays... One of the big changes is that I am now opening up to the possibility of the existence of a soul. In your opinion/experience does the concept of Anatta truly deny the existence of a soul or does it just say that the 5 skhandas are not the soul? I feel like claiming these 5 things are not your soul is different than saying you do not have a soul at all. I love your consistency on this channel and all the work you do. Thank you!
I'd say that the concept of anatta denies the existence of an "atman" as it was generally conceived of in Buddha's time. At that time, the atman was thought to be the true spiritual essence of the person which is non-physical and inhabits the physical body. It was also thought to be eternal and individual. You're always the same atman. The Buddha denied this idea.
Later Buddhists developed an idea of "self" or "Buddha Nature." This gets very tricky. The "self" in this sense is at once the personal self and the self of the whole universe.
Dogen very strongly denies the existence of a spiritual entity that inhabits the material body. But he is quite positive about the "self."
Dogen also uses an expression sometimes that translates as "playing with the soul" to describe zazen.
My impression is that Christians have many different concepts of the soul, depending on the sect of Christianity in question. I also feel like a lot of Christians don't really like to define the soul. But most of them seem to believe that the soul is a permanent thing, and an individual thing. One person - one soul. They seem to believe that the individual soul is not God and can never be God. But Dogen's (an other Buddhists') idea of "self" is, in some ways, like God.
So, those Buddhists might say we do have a soul, but that soul is also God's soul. It's not *my* soul. That soul is not restricted to me. It is the soul of the universe.
@@HardcoreZen "My" soul being the same as the soul of God/the universe is pretty much how I've been thinking of it lately... I'm going to research the differences between atman and other Buddhist concepts relating to self as well as dig deeper through the Bible to see if my current understanding of soul is compatible with the Scripture. Your answer really helps. Thank you!
If you don't mind me offering some input, I think you shouldn't worry so much about the definitions and frameworks of a "soul". Ultimately all these words about souls and atman and body and mind and death are just that - words. It feels like trying to describe how a cake tastes without actually ever eating it. You're trying to describe a feeling but are trapping yourself in this labyrinth of words and concepts that we don't even know the origin of anymore. I think people like to use these words to tell them to other people and then get validation and then feel good that they now have answers and know how the universe works now, but those people probably are just as confused as you, if not more. I think this is the reason Buddhism likes to focus on "thusness", not a mind, body, soul, or lack thereof, but just "this" - a feeling. Sorry if you find any of this offensive, I just like to ramble.
@@Meoooweww I personally would prefer to phrase it so: Presbyterianism is very rationalistic (I speak as a former Presbyterian), which will probably not appeal to his Buddhist background. Orthodox hesychasm, on the other hand, shares many similarities to Zen, which is why Fr. Seraphim Rose eventually made the transition from Alan Watts to Orthodoxy.
@@burkhardschmorell3973 Fr. Seraphim Rose was a good monk and author...I met him a few times long ago. He might say that Zen's goal back to emptiness and the impersonal root of being, is that same nothingness- exnhilo that God actually created us out of....now we have soul and personality and these attributes can never be extinguished like they were some sort of material candle flame. THEOSIS through grace+ hesychasm actually increases the flame of the soul to be in union with the energies of God....TWO complete ethos and directions....choose wisely grasshopper!
The way that tiny insect just hung out on a strand of your hair with equanimity listening while you talked was a nice addition to the story.
On the shaved head thing, I had shaved my head for about a decade of my life because that's what you do to remove attachments as a Buddhist. Some 3 or so years ago, I came to the conclusion while meditating that I was shaving my head because I was attached to what I was supposed to be doing. I laughed, and let my hair grow naturally ever since, and it's now quite a ways down my back in length. It could all fall out tomorrow and I wouldn't care, I learned what I needed to with that and with Buddhist "shoulds" - It's just another trap created by some homies, but a useful one in my case and the lesson learned by it. Anyway. That's not what you were talking about but it's what I thought about!
"Imagine if Captain America was crucified."
In the 70's a kid replaces Captain America in the comics after the takes off the uniform. The Red Skull crucifies the kid on a chimney.
Also in the 70's, around the same time another hero, Valkyrie, is crucified upside down by white supremacists.
Pretty the OG Cap is crucified in the 90s, too.
Oh my gosh!
Very interesting!
I don't think most American Christians would find the crucifixion scene offensive at all, because the show obviously isn't ridiculing it. Maybe *some* very conservative Christians would choose to interpret it in the worst possible light. But the average American Catholic? No way. The culture of Catholicism is very different from that of evangelicalism and mainline Protestantism. Catholicism in Asia and Africa is very vibrant and, in the eyes of some Catholics, more true to the Church than what we've got here.
This adds a lot of helpful context about "real Buddhism" that you discussed before. I think you could make a compelling chapter about "real Buddhism" by contrasting it with "Japanese Christianity" in a more concise manner. That was the main message I got out of this video, anyway, not sure if it was your primary point or not.
Also that flesh-colored shirt is pretty freaky, I'd look away from the screen for a moment and look back and think you weren't wearing one at all and had two lacerations on your neck!
Monkey jacket, bomber, varsity jacket…
One of the better religious books I've read is probably "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, a Japanese Catholic, about the persecution faced by Catholic missionaries in Japan in the 1600s. It was also adapted into a really good movie by Martin Scorsese starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson (if you've ever wondered what Kylo Ren would be like as a Jesuit Priest...) I highly recommend both the book and the movie if you're interested in the history and culture of Christianity in Japan, but be warned that it's pretty dark.
Edit: Apparently the movie is now free with ads on RUclips :) ruclips.net/video/hDzI1dJNoiI/видео.html
After a lifetime of watching anime , Shonen anime still raises my eyebrows.
Suddenly understand why neon genesis evangelion is like that.
As a not religious person in the States I really don’t give a shit if people talk about their religion or not, however what I really don’t want to hear about is whatever new weirdo diet or CrossFit thing that you’re doing. I’m all for people eating or not eating whatever they want, I just don’t want to hear about your new carnivore diet that Joe Rogan claims to cure C19 or erectile dysfunction or whatever.
Looks like a "Letterman" jacket. Similar style
Oh yeah!
Souvenir jacket ? (sukajan)
🤔...interesting.
More Ziggy! lol