Bill!, Edgar, and All,
Yeah, I don't fathom Edgar's money-fixation in this venue, but I'll note that
retreats and sesshin do cost money at the two different centers where I was
most associated. At one of them, I was on the Board for many years, and served
too as President for some time. We were responsible for setting rates for
sesshin and zazenkai. We extended a "scholarship" to all who could not pay any
or all of the retreat cost. The costs were extremely low, and covered food
costs and the stipend that we paid to our Roshi. This was an entirely
democratic sangha, in which the sangha ran things, not the teacher. A good
model, perhaps, for non-monastic Zen centers in the West. This was the zen
center in Tucson, an affiliate of Robert Aitken Roshi's "Diamond Sangha".
We'll roll with the times and see how it shakes down over time as the centuries
progress. I resigned from there after 25 years to form a Ch'an group, but
still have an ear out for their occasional news.
At Sheng Yen's place(s), he and his Monks and Nuns ran operations and set fees,
as is proper in a monastic place. There were extremely cheap costs for 7-day
and 3-day Ch'an Retreat, and even when I was an underpaid scientist who
American Express refused to issue a card to, 7-day Ch'an retreats cost very
little and I easily paid, gladly. Getting time off from work was more
difficult, but I sat many retreats with Sheng Yen during 35 years. Anyone who
could not pay was always welcome anyway. I always managed to pay, but I knew
some who could not. Many people practiced Dana in addition, to support the
daily operations of the Ch'an Center. Rent in NYC was expensive, and then so
was the mortgage when we bought the building, until it was all paid down. At
least there was no real estate tax to pay, because the outfit is a IRS 501-C-3
Religious Educational Organization. Yes, Zen (Ch'an) is a Religion.
I find, in general, that if we want to establish safe and encouraging practice
places in America (or, fill in your address...) where people can awaken, we
must build them, and must pay for them in order to build them, and maintain
them. That's what we're doing, and that's what we've done. The results have
been monotonically encouraging. I hope that's been everybody's experience who
has done this work. Free-riders like Edgar are welcome if they are serious
about practice. I've only seen one person sent home, but she was a newcomer
and a severe mental-case, off her meds. We handled it very smoothly, and, as
Roshi's Jisha it was mostly my responsibility to get her home safely and with
the least disruption to the sesshin. Mission accomplished. But of course much
more "remarkable" things happen on sesshin, daily, and I will not speak of
them. ;-)
--Joe
> "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote:
>
> Edgar and Joe,
>
> I don't know how it is now, but back in the 'good old days' (which in my case
> is the 1960's) zen centers operated on a pretty sparse budget. [snip]
------------------------------------
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/
