Kate, Welcome to the Yahoo! Zen Forum!
We have a wide variety of people here and each may have their own opinions on zen and Buddhism. All are welcome to comment but take everything here just as you should take everywhere - Caveat Emptor! As for me, I'll just start our your membership by telling you that I have practiced zen for over 40 years and do not consider myself a Buddhist. In fact I don't consider zen a sect of, or subset of, Buddhism, nor dependent upon Buddhism in anyway. I do recognize the close connection between Buddhism and zen, but consider Buddhism a religion like many others you mentioned. It was founded on the teachings, stories about, myths, etc..., of one individual but has since been embellished and varnished over with many layers of precepts, dogma, vows, clerical hierarchies, etc..., which actually have nothing directly to do with the original teachings. When I post I use the term 'Zen' (upper-case 'Z') for Zen Buddhism which I see as the Buddhist expression of zen; and 'zen' (lower-case 'z') for just plain old, everyday zen. Enough for now, and again - welcome to the Zen Forum... ...Bill! (Not to be confused with Bill - no (!)...) --- In [email protected], Kate Harper <harper.kate@...> wrote: > > Hi there! > > Just thought I'd introduce myself. > > I'm a 27-year-old journalist and website programmer (I actually work for > Yahoo!, haha...) from Toronto who's new to the group and to Buddhism. > > I've long been a 'searcher' of sorts, and have been trying to find my > spiritual path for quite some time. I was raised in a Christian family, but > could never really get behind the idea of the trinity. While I was in > university, I flirted with both Judaism and Islam, and even took a course > on Buddhism, funny enough. > > Nothing seemed to click, really, and I considered myself an atheist (as I > still do, a Buddhist atheist) until this past year when I started doing > some serious self-reflection and recovering from some trauma I endured in > my childhood. I'd attempted to meditate several times in the past, and had > become highly frustrated and abandoned the practice, but started wondering > if I could perhaps learn something from it at this point in my life since I > was doing so much work. I've now been meditating daily (sometimes twice > daily) for about a month. I no longer look at it as a way of calming me > down or as something I can 'get something out of,' but have come to look at > it as part of my practice. > > I'm attracted to Zen, and have been reading works by Philip Kapleau, Thich > Naht Hanh and Shunriyu Suzuki, but am also interested in what Tibetan > Buddhists like Pema Chodron, the Dalai Lama, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche > have to say. I'm attending an introductory session at the Toronto Zen > Centre on Saturday, and am really excited about where this path will take > me. > > Very glad I found this list, and looking forward to learning from all of > you, and, hopefully, making friends. > > Cheers and be well, > > Kate > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
