It is difficult to speak of these things without sounding pejorative though that is most certainly not the case. All life participates in the pressing of life to Self awareness. Animal existence has been very effective in the refinement of vehicles, and in humanity we have a sufficiently evolved vehicle to finally engage in the paradigm shift from the simple animal to awakened Pristine Awareness. I have described this as "the child of the Earth becomes the child of the Universe"
This paradigm shift was undergone by our precocious predecessors, and they sought to build a path to the transformation which they had experienced. Our Zen forefathers were not the only ones to undergo this transformation, and not the only ones to attempt to build an opening which could stand the erosive winds of time as the animal mind transforms technologies of being into belief systems.
It's not their fault. Of course it is so. The animal mind seeks to make sense of what is beyond its comprehension, and builds a box of rationalizations in which to keep it. It is not an exaggeration to refer to Enlightenment as a paradigm shift, and those who undergo this transformation have genuinely become a different kind of creature.
Looking around it seems to me that Zen has been more resistant to adulteration than most other systems because of the uncompromising insistence of our precocious predecessors on nothing less than the awakening and entering into the formal identity of Pristine Awareness.
When I consider their work and their yet living achievements I am filled with boundless gratitude.
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