Bob Price: > In all those years with Paul Reps in Kyoto and all > that "What is Mu" music I've never had such clarity. > Apparently we are on the same path, Bob!
After 'just sitting' with Suzuki for some time and alowing my mantra to come of it's own accord I began to realize that 'just sitting' without the mantra would really be 'dead sitting' and THAT is what prompted me to try the Rinzai Zen approach with Paul Reps. It may be that Dogen Kigen got caught in the infinte regress you mention for he is VERY wordy. Soto Zen style is the epitome of 'control techniques' as you may know, so I was somewhat surprised at the almost opposite approach of Rinzai Zen. So, I attended the Zendo of one Samuel L. Lewis on Precita Avenue in San Francisco for some time. Lewis was a desciple of the Zen Master Nyogen Sensaki, who opened the first official Rinzai Zendo in the U.S. and was the first Zen Master to live in the United States for any length of time. Apparently, Nyogen Sensaki had empowered both Lewis and Paul Reps to teach Rinzai Zen. Reps collaborated with Sensaki to produce the book 'Zen Flesh. Zen Bones'. Lewis was adamantly opposed to the Soto Zen approach of Shunryo Suzuki. I can remember countless hours at the Rinzai Zendo listening to Reps and Lewis reviewing the koans and listerning to the 101 Zen stories form the Blue Cliff Record and adding his purport. We often met on Alan Watt's houseboat 'The Vallejo' for 'sesshin.' Read more: 'Centering: The Supreme Awakening' http://www.rwilliams.us/archives/centering.htm Excerpt from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: 7. Devi, imagine the Sanskrit letters in these honey-filled foci of awareness, first as letters, then more subtly as sounds, then as most subtle feeling. Then, leaving them aside, be free. 14. Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall. Or, by putting fingers in ears, hear the sound of sounds. 19. Intone a sound audibly, then less and less audible as feeling deepens into this silent harmony. >From 'Centering' Translations of Bhairava Tantra by Swami Lakshmanjoo 'Zen Flesh, Zen Bones' by Nyogen Sensaki and Paul Reps
