This last section of the manuscript for The Book of Chen Jen is broken down into several posts. To see all the posts in chronological order, go to the Book of Chen Jen Index Page (scroll down to Section 3). For the sake of these posts, the questions posed by the interviewer, Sue-tzu, will be in bold and the answers by the author will appear as regular text.
Not entirely! There is an element of fatalism in his teaching that also ‘disturbs’. For instance, you say he says ‘all things are as they must be.’
I suspect that Chen Jen found it difficult to find the words to express his meaning. Again, ultimately, all flows to the Source. There is one Unity. This does not mean that one cannot choose to do one thing or another. And whether that constitutes free-will or not does not matter. Death, I think, offers us the easiest example of what he means. Death is inevitable and unavoidable. How and when it is experienced might be determined by one’s actions or the actions of another. But from the point of view of death, that is of little or no import. Death will come. Death must be. Death is the great equalizer. All humans die, and in the context of death, where never-having-been is the existential equivalent to no-longer-being, all things are equal and cannot be other than they are.
When Chen Jen talks with the bandit leader, remember how he suggests that the bandit’s death in time—hung up and dried on the city’s walls—may differ from that of the ‘righteous’, but that in the end — in eternity — it is no different at all. The point is: nothing one does in life affects his gathering to Tao — whatever that might entail. There are no cosmic rewards and punishments—no heaven or hell, no karmic load. There is no state of being which, when achieved, changes one’s eternal destiny.
This means, of course, that any experience of ‘enlightenment’ — whatever that might be—is of only temporal effect and has no bearing on one’s fate beyond the grave. Perhaps we could say that what it does do is transform the human experience from what might be burdensome into a careless lark.
But wait. I am making declarative statements about which I know nothing. Chen Jen knows nothing about what death entails — only he would scoff at the burdensome myths of humanity that claim they do know and would thereby bind us in ignorance. What Chen Jen has experienced is harmony with what IS and this leaves him with no apprehension regarding the portal of death. He contentedly drifts with the flow of IS toward that necessary gate.
All this is spoken from the human point of view, of course. And that point of view is of such little import in the universe as a whole as to make the entire discussion ridiculous. The universe goes through its transformations as it must. Just as the deer gather together in the forest and the birds flock together in the trees. There is but one great quality to it all: givenness. Things are as they are. And this is what Chen Jen means when he says things are as they must be. Harmony with IS is the realization of this givenness. And the complete affirmation of and acceptance in surrender to givenness is the expression of this harmony.
Again, I feel compelled to say that all these words and the ideas they wish to convey are just dust in the wind. Chen Jen has passed through the gateless gate and only those who have done likewise can understand their meaning as meant to be understood.
Not entirely! There is an element of fatalism in his teaching that also ‘disturbs’. For instance, you say he says ‘all things are as they must be.’
I suspect that Chen Jen found it difficult to find the words to express his meaning. Again, ultimately, all flows to the Source. There is one Unity. This does not mean that one cannot choose to do one thing or another. And whether that constitutes free-will or not does not matter. Death, I think, offers us the easiest example of what he means. Death is inevitable and unavoidable. How and when it is experienced might be determined by one’s actions or the actions of another. But from the point of view of death, that is of little or no import. Death will come. Death must be. Death is the great equalizer. All humans die, and in the context of death, where never-having-been is the existential equivalent to no-longer-being, all things are equal and cannot be other than they are.
When Chen Jen talks with the bandit leader, remember how he suggests that the bandit’s death in time—hung up and dried on the city’s walls—may differ from that of the ‘righteous’, but that in the end — in eternity — it is no different at all. The point is: nothing one does in life affects his gathering to Tao — whatever that might entail. There are no cosmic rewards and punishments—no heaven or hell, no karmic load. There is no state of being which, when achieved, changes one’s eternal destiny.
This means, of course, that any experience of ‘enlightenment’ — whatever that might be—is of only temporal effect and has no bearing on one’s fate beyond the grave. Perhaps we could say that what it does do is transform the human experience from what might be burdensome into a careless lark.
But wait. I am making declarative statements about which I know nothing. Chen Jen knows nothing about what death entails — only he would scoff at the burdensome myths of humanity that claim they do know and would thereby bind us in ignorance. What Chen Jen has experienced is harmony with what IS and this leaves him with no apprehension regarding the portal of death. He contentedly drifts with the flow of IS toward that necessary gate.
All this is spoken from the human point of view, of course. And that point of view is of such little import in the universe as a whole as to make the entire discussion ridiculous. The universe goes through its transformations as it must. Just as the deer gather together in the forest and the birds flock together in the trees. There is but one great quality to it all: givenness. Things are as they are. And this is what Chen Jen means when he says things are as they must be. Harmony with IS is the realization of this givenness. And the complete affirmation of and acceptance in surrender to givenness is the expression of this harmony.
Again, I feel compelled to say that all these words and the ideas they wish to convey are just dust in the wind. Chen Jen has passed through the gateless gate and only those who have done likewise can understand their meaning as meant to be understood.
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