butting in..what about their attitude to war...they fight to the death and first correct me if i am mistaken...suicide bombers......merle
Joe, Oh yes, It's so easy to the Japanese mentality expressed in the zendo. But that's the Japanese way. They don't just make a cup of tea - it becomes an elaborate ceremony. They don't just have a punch up - it becomes a fighting system. They can't just put a flower in a vase - it becomes ikebana. . Even a garden displaying the 'wild' beauty of nature takes hundreds of years to perfect. And they can't just sit down and relax - it becomes zazen! Do you think "universal" Zen could just be another way of saying "Western" Zen? Mike Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad ________________________________ From: Joe <[email protected]>; To: <[email protected]>; Subject: [Zen] Re: What is Enlightenment? Sent: Mon, May 20, 2013 5:55:39 PM 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).
