Edgar,
So, you WERE a free-rider. Nicely honest in our public forum.
Somebody paid for you. Pity you don't know how societies work, albeit Japan
may have been foreign to you at the time (tender young age?).
By all means, set up a practice place here in the States and charge nothing and
let no one contribute. Now, that *would* be a Bodhisattva service. And you
would respect it, because it is what you expect: Free, and supported by
invisible means (wouldn't that seem suspicious to folks sliding in?).
Except... BUT, ...as happened with you, if folks pay nothing, they won't value
services they receive, nor participate committedly. And they will always feel
like an outsider, owing a debt. They will then demean formal practice whenever
they can, because they slipped like an eel through it, and let others pay, and
for this they feel guilty. And, seeking a target to strike out at, to deflate
their guilt and the debt they owe in their eyes, they turn nasty and attack the
tradition that fed them, to show it had no value after all, and display that
they owe NOTHING. Wow. What a SIMPLE complex. But it can be dissolved.
And ...if you choose to think about it -- and I think YOU of all people do! --
you'll see that psychology offers evidence that folks value most what they
support financially and/or via sweat. Maybe you left a lot of sweat behind.
Real Japanese Zen is one thing, but what do you know about real Chinese Ch'an?
As little as about real American Zen and Ch'an, I see.
My reply was to Bill!, and I still don't grasp your fixation with money. I
sense that it is *THE* karmic obstruction of your life. It can be surmounted.
Devote yourself to practice and wash your hands of all attachments. It's not
too soon to BEGIN!
(you're not special; I offer this encouragement to everyone).
--Joe
> Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote:
> As for calling me a "free rider", it wasn't just me.
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