What is Zen?

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



Yesterday was a day full of goodness. Zazenkai was very special to me as my partner, Kathryn Soku Shin, took the precepts with her teacher, Rev. Bobby Kankin Byrd. It was also a delight to witness Michael Inmo Dretcsh, an Army Neuropsychologist, do the same. We were very pleased that my Teacher, Rev. Hogaku Shozen McGuire-roshi and his partner, Rev. Shin Getsu McGuire-roshi were in attendance for the ceremonials, as well. The day was spent in Zazen, but was interspersed with experiencing the film, “Zen”, the story of Master Dogen.



So much of what we do today in Soto Zen are directly traceable to this authentic and courageous seeker of the Way. Dogen’s Zen was clear and direct. Sit. Practice. Let body and mind fall away. So simple, yet so challenging.



We, in the Order of Clear Mind Zen, seek to follow him, not imitate him. His Zen was his moment’s Zen, meeting directly the requirements of his time and place. He went to China, found his true Master, got his own realization, and then worked tirelessly to fashion a Zen practice for his Japanese students.



We do the Master no great service by practicing Zen in the same way and in the same detail as do the Japanese. This is not authentic. It is a copy.



Masters like Dogen, Homeless Kodo Sawaki, Uchiyama, Senzaki, and Matsuoka took their Zen out of the cathedral and theatre and made it living. To do this takes courage, but more, it takes a willingness to look deeply inside to discover our own true nature and find fresh and relevant ways to express it.



Such a search does not mean we have carte blanche to change everything. Zen is still Zazen. Practice is a disciplined activity, not a choice to do or not do. It is everything else that is at the heart of the matter. I read a comment on someone’s blog the other day, it smacked of the sort of attitude and understanding I abhor. The commentator was happy to see that another Zen teacher, a rebellious sort, finally “learned how to wear his kesa.”



This person does not know a thing about the practice. He knows what others do, he knows what others teach, but apparently he pays attention to the finger, losing the moon entirely.



We wrap ourselves in the Buddha’s teaching. A robe of patches, originally taken from corpses, washed and died, an offering from the dead to the living, and it really matters so awfully much that it is folded this way, or tied that way? I am grateful that he wears the robe and offers himself in service to others.



We must find our way. Forms are important, doing them properly is also important, but imitation, as they say, is the poorest form of flattery. Why? Because our heart is not in it. It is not our authentic presentation of ourselves. It is such a presentation that is Zen.



Be well.