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[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by dnlgfnk

Greetings, hcap.

I've mentioned the esteem that many within my circle of resources have for Zen. However, in my "study of self", my fundamental truth is that I have experienced the love for other individuals, specifically family, with a description that is best described as "agape". And that love is often manifested, in this world, through the context of suffering.

In my study of self, The Buddha may as well have posited agape love as a sub-category under desire, as one of the causes of suffering. But I don't want to part with that suffering at the cost of parting with the agape love of my family. And for me, the historical writings that best describe that love, and its requisite suffering, are Christo-centric, and therefore historical and not at all exhaustively allegorical.

Zen Buddhism does not advocate "parting" with the tender emotions that we feel for our loved ones. Nor is the "agape/love" what falls under the Buddha's category of "desire". It's the CLINGING that these emotions often arouse in us that the Buddha has spoken against as the cause of life's "suffering".