Expert: John Willemsens aka Advayavadananda - 5/30/2009

Question
"Zen is about actualizing the true self here and now and not about following a faith."  My question is what is the true self?  And would you not say you have faith in the process of Zen which has helped you realize the true self?

PS I'm just an inquisitive mind asking humbly... Sorry if I came of strong in my first question.

Answer
Hello Yadu Dasa,

The exhortation to know oneself in order to be oneself is of all times. There is no faith involved, just a matter of dropping, of shedding, what is not oneself. An effective way to do this is to follow the 8fold path as taught in Advayavada Buddhism: http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan

Kind regards,
Advayavadananda.