--- On Sun, 27/3/11, Chris Austin-Lane <[email protected]> wrote:
Mel,
--------------------------
MEL: Hello Chris
------------------------------
I hope those are not your current reasons for sitting,
----------------------------------
MEL: Sorry mate, but they are. But do give me some moments here, as I'm not as
harsh as some others have judged me. A purist and fundamentalist of sorts, but
not necessarily harsh..
--------------------------------------
I have been on Zen committees and kept the minutes from meetings.
------------------------------------
MEL: Great! It's good that such things go well with you. The problem with me
concerning such matters is that I'd probably be more a distraction than being
of help to anyone, and it more than likely would boil down to differences in
actual personal beliefs....Zen, Christian, or otherwise
In my old Anglican church, I had been asked to take part in certain activities
either for the betterment of the church, or the community. I refused in most
cases. Way even before I left the congregation, much negative feeling had been
building up. I had nothing in common(and certainly none with both scriptural
reading and interpretation) with the crowd. How can one be in any one place of
high spirituality when one harbors much of such negative feelings? I left,
attempted to join the Quakers, and then I left that as well. The age
differences(at 47, I was one of the youngest) between myself and others also
didn't help very much
---------------------------------------------------------
And Zen does have old important and respected writings that do not meet current
standards of historicity.
---------------------------------------------------------
MEL: Exactly, which is why I rely more on what I find in the bookshelf of a
typical NewAge bookshop, eg. ZEN MIND BEGINNERS MIND. Just as with the bible in
my (attempted) Christian past, I have no way of knowing who wrote what exactly,
and where. I have voiced this before, but my own personal beliefs centre a lot
more on the modern interpretations of the likes of Deshimaru-sensei and
(Shunryu)Suzuki-sensei. Fact is, there is nobody alive today who actually lived
during the time of the old prince, and it's well accepted by many that his
words were put in print(of sorts) very long after he passed away(some people
say 200-300 years, others say more). So, it basically passes right over my head
when someone quotes the sutras to me, or other supposedly scriptural passage(s)
Nevertheless, I have a copy of the sutras used for regular services by the Zen
group Diamond Sangha, started by Robert Aitken(from Hawaii?). I have started
reading it, but not much at this stage. Also, at this stage, I may have to go
over the Bodhisattva part again. There may be things I may disagree with
In this day and age, the interpretation of the Zen teachings really boils down
to the individual by the end of the day
----------------------------------------------------------
And sermons are called dharma talks.
---------------------------------------------
I can barely count in one hand how many Zen sermons(of sorts) I've had to date,
but certainly a little bit more of the 'zen' sermons which I could have got for
nothing at NewAge festivals. Even the resident Soto Zen monk here didn't even
speak of things spoken of from ZEN MIND BEGINNERS MIND...which he himself
recommended to everyone in the sangha. It didn't take long for me to find out
that the real talks apparently cost time, and money in at least the few hundreds
-------------------------------------------------
I have even heard of some bullying in Zen centers in the US.
--------------------------------------------
MEL: Now, that I admit, I have not seen here DownUnder(Australia), although I'm
somewhat aware of some politics taking place at the Soto temple where I was
Buddha be praised
Mel
