http://quotationstreasury.wordpress.com a personal treasury of quotations - wish I'd done this before I started my PhD - week by week, month by month it will get more and more useful! Sat, 19 May 2012 05:35:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/1881a312d2a62693c5cbaa987f56ca26?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png http://quotationstreasury.wordpress.com http://quotationstreasury.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/%e2%80%9d-according-to-buddhism-knowledge-is-the-greatest/ http://quotationstreasury.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/%e2%80%9d-according-to-buddhism-knowledge-is-the-greatest/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 20:46:50 +0000 Roger - Dr Roger Prentice http://quotationstreasury.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/%e2%80%9d-according-to-buddhism-knowledge-is-the-greatest/ ]]> ” According to Buddhism, knowledge is the greatest obstacle to awakening. If we are trapped by our knowledge we will not have the possibility of going beyond it and realizing awakening. When we believe something to be the absolute truth and cling to it, we cannot be open to new ideas. Even if truth itself is knocking at our door, we will not let it in. The Zen student must strive to be free of attachments to knowledge and be open so that truth may enter. The teacher must also help in these efforts. Zen master Lin Chi once said: “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet the Patriarch, kill the Patriarch”. For one who only has devotion, this declaration is terribly confusing. But its effect depends on the mentality and capacity of the one who hears. If the student is strong, she will have the capacity to liberate herself from all authority and realize ultimate reality in herself. Truth is not a concept. If we cling to our concepts, we lose reality. That is why it is necessary to “kill” our concepts so that reality can reveal itself. To kill the Buddha is the only way to see the Buddha. Any concept we have of the Buddha can impede us from seeing the Buddha in person”

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