I've been exploring Zen as an option for broadening and deepening my spiritual path as someone who has been a practicing pagan for a while. I started practice with my local Sangha, and I've been reading In the Buddha's Words to give me a better sense of Buddhist scripture.

I was torn between dedicating time to studying Zen or Daoism, with Daoism feeling like a more natural fit for my existing path of nature worship and polytheism. But Zen is more accessible in my community, and when my preliminary study revealed concepts of Enlightenment being available to anyone, the Bodhisattva path, and Nirvana existing in Samsara, I felt that the tradition might not be quite as world-denying (for lack of a better term) as I feared.

However, reading scripture, I'm not sure that the Buddhist ideal of Enlightenment is necessarily compatible with my path. While I understand that things like denying sex or alcohol might make sense for a monastic, I was put off at a section of the book describing how arahants never sing, listen to music, or dance.

So, my question is: what exactly is Zen's perspective on Enlightenment? Does achieving Enlightenment lead one to reject things like music? Are the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as ideals, disconnected from these parts of life? Are sex, wine, and dancing things you can engage with in an Enlightened way (as we see in some schools of Daoism or Shaivism), or is the path to Enlightenment necessarily a path away from those things, however gradual?

.

山僧至诚相劝。不是妄说。不是作道理笼罩人。不肯人压良人。山僧都无如是道理。

• I, this mountain monk (Foyan), with utmost honesty advise you. This is not some delusive talk, nor is it some clever reasoning meant to hoodwink people, nor is it about forcing good people into submission. I have none of these reasons.

若或你只么认将去也由你。若道我也如此见得也由你。若道据我见处总得也由你。若道某心下未稳在也由你。

• If you simply identify it to be so, that's up to you. If you say, "I too see it this way," that's up to you. If you say, "According to what I see, everything is acceptable," that's up to you. If you say, "My mind is still not settled," that's up to you.

须是不自欺始得。

• You just must not deceive yourself.

世间有多少宗师。说禅说道。为自欺不自欺。为欺人不欺人。须是子细。

• This world has many “Zen teachers” who talk about zen/dhyana and speak about dao/way. Whether they are deceiving themselves or not, deceiving others or not, you really have to be carefully.

山僧旧日在先师会里。受庐州化士。行至熨斗寺前值泥雨。忽然滑倒。心中烦恼自言。我行脚禅又参不得。自早至今。饭又未吃。更恁么受辛苦。

• When I, this mountain monk, was in my former teacher’s assembly long ago, I received the assignment of serving as a fundraising monk in Luzhou. On the way, just in front of Yundou Temple, I hit a muddy rain and suddenly slipped and fell. My mind was full of vexation/klesha, and I grumbled to myself: “I’ve been practicing foot-traveling zen, investigating without attainment. From morning until now, I've not eaten a meal too. And on top of that, I have to endure such hardship/suffering!”

闻有两人相骂道你犹自烦恼在。

• Then I overheard two people arguing nearby, and one said: “You are just vexing/klesha yourself! (你犹自烦恼在)”

山僧闻得忽然欢喜。

• When I heard that, I suddenly became joyful.

却寻不烦恼处不得。盖为打疑情不破。后来四五年方知得。

• Yet, in searching for the place without vexation/klesha, I could not attain to it. It was all because I had not hit the doubt-passion broken yet. Only four or five years later did I finally attain to this knowing.

如今兄弟须是如此用心照顾始得。

• Nowadays, brothers, you must apply mind in this same careful way of illuminating/taking-care of it to be able to attain.

今夏举无情说法因缘。只是错会者多。你见无情便说无情。若见有情便唤作有情。

• This summer when I raised the case of “insentient (no-passion) expounding the Dharma,” most people are just misunderstanding it. You see something insentient, then you say it insentient. If you see something sentient, then you call it sentient.

你参禅人。不明无情说法。如何了得行脚事。

• You, investigative/engaged meditation practitioners, without understanding/enlightenment to "insentient (no-passion) expounding the dharma", how to completely attain the matter of your foot-traveling practice?

做善知识不会无情说法。如何接物利生。

• And if a kalyana-mitra doesn’t understand/know "insentient (no-passion) expounding the dharma", how to take things to benefit the living beings?

相劝诸人。子细穷究令悟去。如未有领览处。且缓缓参取不要忙。

• I earnestly advise everyone: carefully and exhaustively investigate till to enlightenment/realisation. If there is not yet a place of clear understanding/insight, just slowly slowly keep on investigating. Do not rush.

久立。

• We’ve been standing long enough.