good to hear..yes it is true the youngsters are taking part..after all how do we quieten the chattering mind?...how are we to improve the world?..sitting still and listening to the grasses growing is one answer....merle Joe,
When I used to sit in the Fremantle Zen Centre about 12 years ago, the average age seemed to be around late middle-age. In Japan, amongst the lay folk, it was a lot older. Since starting Vipassana at the Goenka retreats, the average age seems to range between the mid-20s to early 40s. I think there are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the Goenka retreats have no religious overtones at all - not even a picture of the Buddha - and is promoted as a meditative technique only (for insight into the Dharma) . Although it could be argued that Zen Buddhism is not a religion, the prostrations to an icon of the Buddha/Kwannon etc can easily be interpreted as such by the inquisitive seeker. Also, 'entry' into Goenka practice begins with a 10 day retreat. It'd be highly unusual to begin Zen practice with an 8 day sesshin (one usually sits once a week for a number of weeks or months before undertaking a sesshin). As you know, the mind settles much better on retreat and many fruitful insights are attained this way. Given that there are many Goenka Vipassana centres all over the world (conducted for free), many younger travellers/back-packers spread, by word of mouth, news of the efficacy of vipassana as a meditation technique. Zen seems a lot more 'crusty' in comparison. Mike ________________________________ From: Joe <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, 18 August 2012, 21:45 Subject: [Zen] "Greying of the Sangha..." Howdy, All, I don't know how many here sit regularly or occasionally with a Zen practice group -- a sangha -- and a teacher, but I have a general question which is a bit like a survey question for you, even if you don't sit with a group. In a group here in Tucson that is affiliated with the Diamond Sangha of Robert Aitken Roshi, late, of Hawai'i, the matter of "The greying of the sangha" came up. Mmost of the affiliated sanghas began to look at it, and to think about it. "The greying of the sangha" as perceived during that time was/is the advancing average age of sangha members. It seemed that younger people just were not joining and not practicing. The sanghas were looking more and more like groups of old people. Perhaps there was a "wave" of people in the 1960s and 1970s Stateside who were influenced to become interested in formal Zen practice, and the "greying" perceived of late is essentially the "Zen-baby-boom" of practitioners which is now naturally aging, moving through the sangha(s). Perhaps conditions are not as favorable now for young people entering practice. On the other hand, we all know that it takes a certain maturity to sit Zen, and to keep at it. But the perceived "greying" is the perception of a REAL phenomenon: the predominant hair color in the 20 or so affiliate sanghas has become grey or white. It was not so earlier! The age of the average sangha member is still steadily increasing. I'm not involved in the said sangha any longer, so I am not actively looking for ways to change the greying phenomenon. I wonder if this "greying" is noted in other sanghas, elsewhere. --Joe / Arizona
