In the Middle Agony Sutra, the Buddha said, “My teaching is like a raft for crossing a river (a metaphor for reaching the world of peace and tranquility without being carried away by desire). And when you cross to the other bank, you can leave the raft behind,” he said. This sutra teaches the path of renunciation of desire to those who are in the long night or (darkness of) wandering, but ultimately, it also describes Buddhism as renunciation. In other words, the teaching to “renounce all attachments” means not to be attached to the teaching itself. Isn’t that an amazing story? You can think of it as a religious system that has self-denial set up within it. It is hard to find such a religious system. Buddhism has what might be called a “deconstruction device” (a device that shakes up the established system from within and reconstructs it) built into it. And it was none other than the Buddha himself who set this device in place. Why was ordination necessary for ascetic practice: “Korematsukyō” (3) read by Tetsuzo Shaku Mondays are Great Books Books | NHK Publishing Digital Magazine []


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