Why can't humans comprehend without training?

I would like to ask you a question. My name is Harusora.

I am impressed by the idea of Zen, and I live my daily life with zazen training in mind.

While understanding in theory from many books and stories, “I see, enlightenment is like this,” monks, as you know, are not something that can be managed by understanding the brain, but they struggle every day.

Then I suddenly thought about it. Why can't humans comprehend without this much practice? ... and.

A long time ago, I used to keep monkeys, and I thought they were aware.
Every action is “just the way it is, without action.”
For example, if you poke them with your finger, they get angry, but when you hold out your palm the next moment, you completely forget that you were angry and get on the palm of your hand and are in a good mood,
In my later years, my feather strength declined and I couldn't fly at all, but I didn't seem to worry about that or get depressed, and I ran fast and was in a good mood as usual.

Animals, plants, etc. live “just as they are” (my guess I think...), but why are humans troublesome beings, so to speak, when they do a lot of ascetic practice for a long period of time before they finally become aware, or even so to speak?

I'm really sorry that the monks are busy, but thank you for your support.

5 Zen Responses

One shot, the first hundred million shots of Bodhi Heart

I see, is Buncho enlightened or not? If you read only the question part, you might wonder if you're enlightened, but on the other hand, living according to desire isn't enlightenment. Do you have a bodhi heart (a heart that tries to get close to the Buddha's teachings)? I think it's there. It can be said that ascetic practices are nothing but form without bodhicitta.
See also the questions and answers here. “Why do we practice ascetic practices?”
https://hasunoha.jp/questions/43162

I wrote a poem that is probably related

This is a poem I recently published in the April issue of a poetry magazine called Poets Conference. Enlightenment is not something you can get by sitting alone in a forest and meditating. I think it's something you can get by going out into the city and struggling to be surrounded by others.

Falling

Ban Tenren, who was forced to do footprints
Abandoning is also downright
I can stay away from falling
There are no humans in this world
Shakyamuni fell too
Rahul My Child
Name it an obstacle to my life
Escaped into the forest
For six years
I kept wandering
not six years of meditation
I wandered through a maze I couldn't get out of
and I will interpret
I can't stop being a beast
Wandering
I finally reached the state of the beast
Buddhism at the end of six years of wandering
I'm at the Suidobashi crossing
I danced in the air and fell
Born and raised in a sea of suffering
Since it is as it is now
More than this and below
I don't think I'll be able to go to another world
I was so amazed at my own sense of emptiness
I think I might fall again
Don't be careful
I just crossed the Suidobashi crossing

It's a mistake to live as it is

“As it is” is “seeing as it is” in Buddhism.
I “watch the changes as they are” without being sad or obsessed with the changes in life and death. If you can see as it is, you are close to enlightenment. I'm calm. Anger and greed are decreasing.

When living, “living as it is,” most people simply become a depraved way of life. Just looking for food. Just look for the opposite sex. I just get angry.

Living is a Buddhist way of life that leads to growth and enlightenment by “living while being careful so that the mind does not get dirty every moment and so that it returns to normal as soon as possible when it gets dirty.”

There are about 200 books by Elder Sumanasara. All of them are helpful.

There are other paths.

The goal of Buddhism is to attain Buddhism
There are two paths.
・Impose strict ascetic practices and attain Buddhism on your own.
・Since I can't do ascetic training
I will attain Buddha by Amida Nyorai.

I am the Jodo Shinshu
We are sinful ordinary people
Through repentance that worries don't go away even after ascetic practice
It is a path where people notice the salvation of Amida Nyorai.
You can attain Buddhism even if you don't realize it.

“The Proding Boy Comes to Seek Fire”

It's a famous Zen story, so I'll leave out the details.

In Noriko's “How Will This Become a Scholar's Self”...
What you get from Aomine Zenji's “Heicho Doji Raiku Fire” is a “nod”
What you get from Hogen Zenji's “Heicho Doji Raiku Fire” is “Kizuki”

“Nodding” is not a waste; it is one of the essential parts leading up to “Kizuki.”

The exchange with Aomine Zenji and Hoken Zenji, and Noriko's own ascetic practices up until then, are all essential in order to reach “Kizuki” in “Bingcho Doji Raiku Fire.”

First “?” Embrace it and start working on it... various experiences, knowledge, and theories are accumulated... the time is ripe, leading to “Kizuki.”
This is the moment when a number of “dots” are connected and become “lines.”
That process is essential for “Kizuki.”

What you can be convinced by someone else's explanation is “nodding,” but “kizuki” cannot be taught by others.
That's why it's “Kyogai Betsuden” and “Irritsuji.”

The number of parts in “Kizuki” by Buddha wasn't bad, so it quickly came to “truth.”
However, we can also experience “Kizuki” with few parts. That small “lesson” in the Buddha's teachings invites us to devotion.

“Don't do what you shouldn't do,” “learn what you should do,” and “learn what you should do.”
Precepts, precepts, wisdom... let's learn together in a well-balanced manner.

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