{"id":350,"date":"2007-12-04T04:14:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-04T04:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html"},"modified":"2007-12-04T04:14:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-04T04:14:00","slug":"sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html","title":{"rendered":"SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div  style=\"text-align: left;font-family:arial;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">.<\/span><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Please see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.treeleaf.org\/forum\/viewtopic.php?t=330\">information<\/a> on our upcoming <span style=\"font-size:100%;\">&#8216;ZAZENATHON&#8217;<\/span>, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:85%;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">a special focused sitting this Friday to celebrate <span style=\"font-size:100%;\">&#8216;ROHATSU&#8217;<\/span> (Buddha&#8217;s Enlighenment Day)<br \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">.<\/span><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:85%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:100%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:100%;\" >.<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><\/span><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 153, 0);font-size:100%;\" ><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: right;\">The hyper-idealized, super-human images of the Buddha and Ancestors contained in the Sutras and other Buddhist storybooks have (in many ways) done Buddhism a great disservice. I think. People writing such religious legends dip the hero in gold, place him on a platform, and omit the humanity and rough edges (<span style=\"font-style: italic;font-size:85%;\" >give me the imperfect Greek or Norse Gods over that!<\/span>) .<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">Surely, if we were to travel back in time to meet the actual Buddha and others, we&#8217;d find people who were <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">people<\/span> &#8230;<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: right;\">&#8230; wondrous, spiritual, good, wise people perhaps, but <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">people<\/span> nonetheless. Not statues, not gods, not all-perfect saints. Assuming that even the best of human beings will have a few pimples, bad habits, fears, prejudices and all scattered imperfections, would they not too? Should we, thus, be disappointed at who we&#8217;d find?<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">No! <\/span>In fact, it gives me hope: For so many Buddhist Practitioners misunderstand the point as the attainment of unreal, extreme, otherworldly, emotionally removed, bizarre states. <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">No wonder<\/span> some folks talk of countless lives required to achieve such fantastic goals. Instead, our Buddhist practices and Buddhist philosophy have survived for millenia simply because real people find real benefits in <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">this world<\/span>, in ordinary life.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: right;\">Our Zen practice is for our living as truly <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">&#8220;human&#8221; human beings<\/span> &#8230; not unerring saints, not robots, not machines.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Beware of the BUDDHABOTS<\/span>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: right;\"><span><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><embed flashvars=\"shw_id=253&amp;epi_id=32211\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" base=\"http:\/\/operator11.com\/swf\/\" quality=\"high\" bgcolor=\"#fff\" src=\"http:\/\/operator11.com\/swf\/o11player.swf\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" height=\"362\" width=\"432\"><\/embed><span style=\"font-size:85%;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:85%;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(255, 0, 0);\"><\/span>Press on arrow for &#8216;play&#8217;<\/span><\/div>\n<p>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>. Please see information on our upcoming &#8216;ZAZENATHON&#8217;, a special focused sitting this Friday to celebrate &#8216;ROHATSU&#8217; (Buddha&#8217;s Enlighenment Day) . . The hyper-idealized, super-human images of the Buddha and Ancestors contained in the Sutras and other Buddhist storybooks have (in many ways) done Buddhism a great disservice. I think. People writing such religious legends&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guided-meditation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot - Treeleaf Zen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot - Treeleaf Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\". Please see information on our upcoming &#8216;ZAZENATHON&#8217;, a special focused sitting this Friday to celebrate &#8216;ROHATSU&#8217; (Buddha&#8217;s Enlighenment Day) . . The hyper-idealized, super-human images of the Buddha and Ancestors contained in the Sutras and other Buddhist storybooks have (in many ways) done Buddhism a great disservice. I think. People writing such religious legends&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Treeleaf Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-04T04:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jundo cohen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot - Treeleaf Zen","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot - Treeleaf Zen","og_description":". Please see information on our upcoming &#8216;ZAZENATHON&#8217;, a special focused sitting this Friday to celebrate &#8216;ROHATSU&#8217; (Buddha&#8217;s Enlighenment Day) . . The hyper-idealized, super-human images of the Buddha and Ancestors contained in the Sutras and other Buddhist storybooks have (in many ways) done Buddhism a great disservice. I think. People writing such religious legends&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html","og_site_name":"Treeleaf Zen","article_published_time":"2007-12-04T04:14:00+00:00","author":"jundo cohen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html","name":"SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot - Treeleaf Zen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-12-04T04:14:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-12-04T04:14:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#\/schema\/person\/02c505ea3114f9e1b456745d9da03217"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2007\/12\/sit-a-long-with-jundo-buddha-b.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Buddha-bot"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/","name":"Treeleaf Zen","description":"Guided meditation with Zen Buddhist teacher Jundo Cohen","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#\/schema\/person\/02c505ea3114f9e1b456745d9da03217","name":"jundo cohen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jundo cohen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/author\/jundo-cohen"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}