Field-Being Interpretation of Buddhist Philosophy: Nine Essays on Its Relational Activity

By Albert Shansky

Buddhism is a religion despite the negative attitude of some in the West, who espouse that since it has no god, it is atheistic and, therefore, cannot be a religion. A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices that unite into one single moral community. A. N. Whitehead fortified this definition by saying, Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness. Buddhism satisfies these definitions by guiding the individual in self-reliance and introspection rather than entreaty to an unseen god or spirit.

It is hoped that the nine essays in this book depict situations where a set of symbolic forms and acts relate man to the ultimate condition of his existence.

The essays in this book have been written between the years of 1998 and 2000 while Albert Shansky, the author, was executive vice president of the International Institute of Field-Being at Fairfield University.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514412077

Albert Shansky

Albert Shansky studied philosophy and religion at Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut. He received Shambhala training at the Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and studied Islam at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. He has trained as a lay monk at the Hosshinji Monastery in Obama, Japan, and at Eiheiji Monastery in Fukui, Japan. He is a member of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Association, and the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Also by Albert Shansky

Extinction of Illusion

Shinran and Eshinni

An American’s Journey into Buddhism

Two Trips in Search of the Buddha

A Trio of Zen Buddhist Stories

The Inn of Dreams

The Dream of Zenran

The Woman on the Beach (a play with Maurice Siegel)

FIELD-BEING INTERPRETATION OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY

Nine Essays on Its Relational Activity

Albert Shansky

Copyright © 2015 by Albert Shansky.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015915952

ISBN:    Hardcover    978-1-5144-1209-1

Softcover    978-1-5144-1208-4

eBook    978-1-5144-1207-7

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Rev. date: 09/28/2015

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. The People of the Mind

3. What is Field-Being?

4. Russell on Religion with Buddhist Commentaries.

5. Buddhist Motives in the Prose of Samuel Beckett

6. The Kabbalah and Shunyata: A Comparison of Jewish Mysticism and Buddhist Emptiness

7. Marxism, Existentialism and Buddhism: A Field-Being Journey of Ideas

8. Buddhist Shunyata, Process Theology, and Quantum Theory as Modes of Field-Being Thought

9. Nothingness: A Field-Being Notion of Empty Space and a Buddhist Notion of Ultimate Reality

10. Mu, Shunyata, and Buddha-nature: The Three Aspects of Soto Zen

11. Conclusion

12. Professional Biography

In Memoriam

Dr. Kenneth K. Inada

1924 – 2011

Dr. Kwang Sae Lee

1934 – 2012

Dr. Lik Kuen Tong

1934 - 2012

Dr. Morris Grossman

1922 - 2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is a result of my six-year association with Professor Lik Kuen Tong at Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT. It was through him that the whole effort of Field-Being philosophy was formulated. These essays were a result of that effort delivered at various diverse venues internationally.

In addition, many friends and professional associates contributed their time and suggestions in improving the worthiness of the essays. For this they have my thanks and unbridled gratitude. First and foremost is my dear friend, Dr. Maurice Siegel, who read and discussed these papers with me in a critical and friendly manner; some of his valuable suggestions were incorporated into these essays. Second, are the members of the International Institute for Field-Being who discussed with me many concepts of Field-Being philosophy particularly Dr. Morris Grossman, Dr. Robert Magliola, and Dr. Shohei Ichimura. Lastly, are my Buddhist friends who have been a constant conversant on the field of Buddhism; Rev. Daigaku David Rumme, William Francis Paar, and Mu Soeng Sunim.

1

Introduction

Buddhism is a religion despite the negative attitude of some in the West who espouse that since it has no God it is atheistic and therefore cannot be a religion.

A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices, which unite into one single moral community. A. N. Whitehead fortified this definition by saying, Religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness. Buddhism satisfies these definitions by guiding the individual in self-reliance and introspection rather than entreaty to an unseen God or spirit.

It is hoped that the following essays depict situations where a set of symbolic forms and acts relate man to the ultimate condition of his existence.

The essays in this book have been written between the years of 1998 and 2003 while Albert Shansky, the author, was Executive Vice President of the International Institute of Field-Being (IIFB) at Fairfield University.

For those who wish a terse explanation of Field-Being philosophy a paper written by the founder and director of IIFB, Lik Kuen Tong, has been included in third place.

The essay, People of the Mind, was published in Contemporary Philosophy, vol. XVII, No. 4, July/Aug., 1995, p.10. The essay, Bertrand Russell on Religion with Buddhist Commentaries, was published in Philosophy Now, April/May, 2000, p.34.

The remaining papers have been presented at conferences at various venues of the American Philosophical Association and the American Academy of Religion.

2

The People of the Mind

Western religions have many paradigmatic values in common,¹ this is particularly true of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; perhaps because they were all hatched from the same egg. Among the more notable features are three which stand out more than the others. These three are God, the soul, and the hereafter. To members of western religions, God is a supreme being, a deity, a creator of the universe. To the Jews, his name is the unpronounceable JHWH, to the Christians, it is the Triune, to Muslims, it is simply Allah. But to all, it is believed, God is reachable through prayer and entreaty. The soul is believed to be a spirit or a force occupying the body of an individual which is somehow connected to God. This spirit or force of the individual is said to revert back to God upon death. The final abode of the individual soul is called the hereafter or heaven or paradise, a place where the soul reposes in immutable bliss.

This simplistic view of Western religions will serve as a basic frame of reference for a comparative explication of the nature of people who practice Buddhism generally, and Zen Buddhism in particular.

In Buddhism, there is no God, there is no soul, and there is no hereafter, ² this is certainly true of Zen Buddhism, but it must be stated that certain other sects of Buddhism have what might be called a God, and without doubt, large groups of the Buddhist laity consider Buddha to be a deity, and treat him so. In addition, there are Buddhists who believe that a spirit exists within individuals, and some Buddhists believe in the existence of a paradise.³, notwithstanding this, there is nothing in Buddhism like the Western notion of God, the soul, or the hereafter. This then begs the question, Is Buddhism a real religion? After all, it seems to be void of the three most important components of Western religions. This question is fair, and can be answered. Buddhism seems to fit the definition of a religion ⁴, and more importantly, there is an existential mode; that is a consciousness of holiness, an awareness of divine power that comes surging up in the practitioner, the experience of something mysterious or mystical, which is interpreted as an encounter with ultimate reality.

Zen Buddhism is a completely self-reliant religion.⁵ Zen emphasizes the attainment of a sudden enlightenment or satori through meditation and the freeing of one’s own mind from the phenomenal world, and from preconceived notions of reality. In Japanese, this is called jiriki or self-power, as against the Western notion of tariki or other power. Jiriki brings about the irreducible uniqueness of an ethical or religious situation and the isolation and subjective experiences of an individual therein. This is not a perspicuous situation because of the ambiguities and obscurities which arise during practice. Nevertheless, the practice of Zen is a matter of mind exercise. To Zen Buddhists, as well as other Buddhists, the mind is an organ⁶ which produces the sensation of thought. It is the purpose of Zen to control this thought process through meditation, or what is more accurately called zazen. Zazen is a form of apophatic meditation which involves emptying the mind of all images and thoughts, whereas other sects of Buddhism may practice kataphatic meditation, which means concentrating on, or filling the mind with an image. There are three ways that the zennist can practice zazen. The first way is known as shikantaza or single minded sitting. This involves the deliberate attempt to prevent the thought process from occurring. In actuality, it is a sorting out of thoughts. Instead of a constant stream of overlapping thoughts in the foreground and background, it is a slowing down and one-at-a-time thinking process. It is much like a ticker tape wherein the message comes through in a steady stream, but is disregarded, and the mind concentration is on the space between the words of the message. This concentration is known as samadhi, and can be a powerful tool after some practice. The other two methods are substitution devices for ridding the mind of thoughts. Zuisokkan is a method of following the breath by counting exhales and/or inhales, and of course, there is koan kufu, which is the practice of solving a koan riddle which has been given to a practitioner by a Zen master. In Zen practice, the overwhelming emphasis is on zazen because it is believed that when the mind is empty and at a highly concentrated state, the potentiality for receiving enlightenment is greatest. Zazen is the closest thing to what Western religions call prayer, but instead of beseeching a supreme being, the practitioner looks inwardly for help, with an impulse to rise above self. This well-being registers deep in the unconscious. It is an accumulated attitude, a sustained background tone of equanimity behind the more intense contrasts of daily events, behind even periods of unhappiness.

Very often, the uninformed community thinks sutra chanting as the Buddhist way of praying. This is a mistake. Sutra chanting is more closely related to Bible reading through song, but sutra chanting takes secondary importance to zazen in the practice of Zen. It is the control of the mind which zennists look for.

The Buddha has spoken of the three characteristics of conditioned existence, or the three marks of an individual, ⁷ the first is dukkha or suffering or unsatisfactoriness. This comes about by desire, craving, clinging, and attachment. The Buddha gave a formula for this phenomenon called the Four Noble Truths⁸ which is accepted by all Buddhists. The second characteristic, accepted by all Buddhists, is called anicca, which means impermanence or transitoriness. All things of any substantial nature eventually change. Change always involves loss, and consequently some degree of anxiety and depression. The third characteristic is called anatta or no-self, egolessness, or non-substantiality. The empirical person is nothing more than a