What I wrote was indeed simplistic, but that's because it's a very simple distinction.
I know of course that many Christians are homophobic. Some are racist. There are probably many Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists that are also homophobic and/or racist. That's not the point. All zen sanghas are open to all people. If there are groups that call themselves sanghas but limit or focus their membership on a specific group and are not open to all people, then they are not a zen sangha. If you find such a sangha - like a gay/lesbian zen sangha or a White/Black/Asian zen sangha or women/men-only sangha you should run away, run away. It's as simple as that. .Bill! Curt Wrote: This is overly simplistic. In theory what is said here should also apply to Christians - and yet many Christian individuals and many Christian churches are extremely homophobic. - Curt Bill Smart wrote: All zen sanghas are for all people. I have never heard of any zen group that restricts or focuses its membership on any specific classification of people. To do so would be to reinforce the erroneous idea that Buddha nature or the way to realize it is not the same in all people. Like all communities, there are some that have a larger percentage of certain types of people. Maybe there are some sanghas that have a higher percentage of gays/lesbians than others. I don't know. Hopefully someone else on the Forum will have some more specific information. Wanghualia_5 wrote: I am Gay, and I practice zazen. Is there any sangha or Zen Temple for Gay/lesbians?
