I have observed pseudo-Zen teachers who claim that Zen practice and enlightenment is aimed only at realizing this condition, and learning to expand and sustain it… adherents of this practice are unable to advance and experience the true path of Zen.
Learned audience, many popular “Zen” books advocate the experience of the universal mirror prajna and the prajna of equality, but fail to acknowledge, much less encourage students to realize, the deeper levels of wisdom beyond these partial aspects of the enlightened mind… such books sometimes assert that progress on the path of Zen consists only in expanding the duration that the conditions of ‘oneness’ or ‘pure awareness’ can be sustained…
[but] failing to recognize the wisdom of differentiation, can effectively bar students from the true wisdom of the buddhas and Zen masters. The overall effect of practicing such teachings actually fosters a non-Buddhist disdain for the world of things and events. If such teachings were true, the highest realization of Zen would consist of nothing more than living in a detached state of pure awareness all the time. To become fixated on this aspect of the enlightened mind is to abstain from the zeal, the passion, the joy, and the heartache that gives life its flavor.
…there is much more to Zen Buddhism than experiences of oneness or pure awareness. The practice and enlightenment of Zen includes the wisdom of differentiation, infinite variety, and joyful participation in the world.
Becoming attached to or fixated on the blissful conditions of oneness, or pure awareness is a disease that causes practice and enlightenment to stagnate and become foul. The profound wisdom and skillful techniques of the buddhas and Zen ancestors are beyond the reach of practitioners that stop here. Failing to awaken to the wisdom beyond emptiness and equality, they remain powerless to help others in any truly meaningful way.