Advice From Zen Monks

"Can you embrace the past and let go of it?"

"Can you sit with whatever comes up in meditation?"

"There will always be natural thought. Don't add to it."

"There is a swamp inside. Drain the swamp."

Two interacting levels of consciousness:
external inputs;
inner thoughts.

The third level:
Serene Reflection Meditation.

As Within, So Without

Are mental chaos and social interactions related like quantum chaos and physical interactions?

An individual meditates, then experiences unenlightened mental states. A country has a revolution, then a reaction. If this is a yin-yang interaction, then it is a level of interaction that we need to transcend.

Outside Indian Philosophy

See recent posts.

Outside Indian philosophy, Buddhism interacts:

with Taoism as Ch'an;
with Shinto nature mysticism as Zen;
with Marxism if anyone practices both zazen and unorthodox Trotskyism.

Changing self and society has to be the ultimate Eurasian synthesis.

"The kingdom is at hand..." See Teachings.

Teachings And Indian Philosophy II

Within the framework of Indian philosophy, it is possible:

to practice in one tradition while understanding its relationships to every other tradition;

to meditate without believing in gods, souls or reincarnation;

to practice Zen without referring to rebirth.

There is something here for everyone.

Some Indian theists have introduced judgmentalism and intolerance I suspect under European influence.

Teachings And Indian Philosophy

See:

Indian Philosophy, Part III
Teachings II

Atman is Jainism and Samkhya-Yoga.
Atman-Brahman is Advaita Vedanta.
Anatta is Buddhism.

Thus, these three teachings correspond to five of the nine Indian philosophical systems.

Advaita is one interpretation of the Vedanta system. Dvaita Vedanta refers to Atman and to a personal deity: Isvara, Krishna, the Goddess etc.

Thus, the systems and their interpretations incorporate every theoretical possibility:

materialism
soul pluralism
polytheism
monotheism
pantheism
impersonalist idealism
syntheses
less definable positions

Two Syntheses
The Yoga system accepts the atheist soul pluralism of the Samkhya system but incorporates theist devotion as bhakti yoga by redefining the object of devotion as a discarnate soul.

Qualified Non-Dualism synthesizes theism with monism by regarding matter and selves as God's body.

One Less Definable Position
Buddhists:

reject souls and the creator but not gods but do not worship gods;
replace reincarnation of souls with rebirth of karmic consequences;
regard impermanence and interaction as more fundamental than mind or consciousness;
thus, agree with dialectical materialists except about gods and rebirth which, however, are not necessary for the practice of Zen.