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V

DOG ZEN and THE DRAGON FLY SUTRA

The Soft Bark of Sanity

Where there is reverence, even a dog’s tooth shines.
– Tibetan proverb

“It’s worthless people who arise right here [within the Sangha] who make the true Dhamma disappear.”  – Saddhammapatirupa Sutta, a Pali text that anticipates the coming of the Maitreya. Paraphrase: “Proof of the decline of the Dharma in Kali Yuga can be seen in the character of those who embrace it.”

A quick search on the internet brings up a wealth of material on the Tibetan letter A (below on left). For instance: “The letter AH is the 30th and final letter of the Tibetan alphabet. It is counted as both a vowel and a consonant. Its sound is inherent in all of the letters and unless a syllable has a different vowel added to it, the vowel sound is ‘AH.’ Its energy is considered neutral, neither masculine nor feminine. The sound ‘AH’ has great esoteric significance. It is considered to be the sound and vibration of an enlightened state of being.” (Nine Ways – Ancient Wisdom from the Yungdrung Bon Tradition)

 

Lama Luv Mutt

Dog Zen is first and foremost about sanity, defined as the harmonious integration in human character of the best attributes and capacities, the moral, mental, and emotional talents of the human animal. As explained in the audio for this unit, I am not in competition with masters of Dzogchen. I am totally unqualified to spar with them on their own standards, but then again, I take the liberty to challenge their standards, premises, and assumptions about what they do. Their standards, not their first-hand experience in altered states. I have only an inkling of what they experience in altered states, and I do not claim comparable attainments, so I cannot critique them on that count. However, I do have my own experience in altered states, or non-ordinary awareness, and I would question if any Dzogchen or Buddhist master can come close to what I’ve realized through those sublime experiences.

Let it be perfectly clear, I don’t aim to refute Dzogchen. I have learned immensely from the study of that body of instruction. But I do intend to interrogate it, to challenge its goals, premises, methods, and its presumed results. Nevertheless, the mere act of questioning Buddhism in this manner may verge toward refutation, especially as some obvious objections may arise naturally regarding the issues in question. At moments, the interrogation may appear to be hostile. At others, contemptuous. My basic stance, however, is essentially comedic.

To make fun of Buddhism in all shades and schools, and ultimately to make enlightenment an occasion for fun, I use the larping identity of Lama Luv Mutt. Dog Zen regards enlightenment as an event in progress, not a state to be attained and retained in some sort of fabled “permanence.”

The Woke and the Woof

Note: There is a long introduction, DZ 1 My Encounters with Buddhists, in the block DOGGIE TREATS (scroll down)

In the longer introduction, I point out that the concepts of intelligence and beauty are to the best of my knowledge almost entirely lacking in Buddhist of all schools. Dog Zen instruction on the devotional gaze of the dog — self-love looking at you — insists on the permeation of beauty in the act of beholding the world and yourself in it.

In his brilliant deconstruction of the primary Buddhist concept of anatta or anatman, Ken Wheeler (Theoria Apophasis on YT) explains that non-self does not literally mean the lack of a self; rather, what is absent or extraneous to the self. He has also mentioned the expression “the beautiful self” in Pali Sutras. I am not familiar with this material or that specific reference.  If I am wrong on this omission, I welcome correction.

Whoever has thought most deeply, loves what is most alive;
Who has seen the world as it is, knows virtue.
And at last, those who turn wise will often
End up in the Beautiful.

“Socrates and Alcibiades” by Friedrich Holderlin (1770 – 1843)

Waiting Dog by Japanese artist Ogato Gekko, c 1900

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DOG ZEN and THE DRAGON FLY SUTRA: Course Curriculum

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