Mike,
That's Chinese incense: not Japanese! ;-)
And definitely not Indian!
I don't know much about Japanese Zen as it is taught and practiced
authentically , because I have only studied with the American successors of
Japanese teachers (and sat a bit with Maezumi Roshi, in USA).
But I can tell you there is a certain earthiness and egalitarianism in Chinese
Ch'an, in teaching situations. And a very ready and solid presence. The Ch'an
teacher does not stay locked-away, in some sort of formal fashion -- that's a
Japanese accretion, I think -- and is always well aware of what's what with
anyone. Some say at times, "TOO aware". ;-)
Not saying which is better, ...or who has the more congenial incense. Just
telling what I know by intimate, and grateful, experience. Ch'an teaching
seems to suit many Westerners better than Japanese Zen teaching ways.
Of course, everything's changing in the West. In a thousand years, there may
be a genuinely Western, or even Universal, Zen teaching tradition: "Universal",
if the school does not die out in the East.
--Joe
> uerusuboyo@... wrote:
>
> Would it be fair to say that Cha'n still retains more of its original Indian
> Mahayana flavour than Japanese Zen? At least in it's outward expression, if
> not in its stories. I can almost smell the incense from here! ( meant
> respectfully).
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