Hello this is my first post here and I don’t mean to seem impertinent but I have a question that has been stressing me for a long time. Do Zen and its practices contradict or disallow reason, if not, what is its place? Is the goal of a Zen practitioner not to use their mind but just to know? Again I don’t want to be rude but I am very confused and am willing to try any practice to get the answer. Or just gain some knowledge on the subject.

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Hello there,

ChonTri does not know anything about the Zen you mentioned here. What he knows is when he practices he practices, when he reasons he reasons. He would not put his practice against his reason or vice versa, because he can see that if he make them a problem then the problem will go nowhere. Furthermore, when a meteor comes to the earth or the water on the earth dries up, who'd want to sit and die, just sit and die, who'd want to think and find a solution for the problem, just think and find it out. Let alone they may get together and help.

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Diver15: "is what chontri telling me that you can't reason your way to enlightenment but you can reason your way through things of reason? That becoming enlightend does not meen giving up your mind, only seting it aside when trying to become enlightend? If so than I understan. Reason is reason and enlightenment is enlightenment, you can't cross contaminate the two. "

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Mr. Diver15,
ChonTri does not know what "englightenment" is, so he would not talk about it.

In the previous post, he just mentioned some daily activities. That's all.

Diver15 03/10/2009

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