In my Sangha in Maryland, I was one of the youngest. In California, about half are younger than I.
I am 44. If I may take a US centric perspective for a moment, I, and perhaps people my age and younger, find organizations dominated by baby boomers to be a bit insufferable. They have a way of talking that makes one think they are claiming credit for the civil rights movement, feminism, the spread of wisdom from Asia, environmentalism and so on, when we are seeing a legacy of giant SUVs, giant houses, bubbly markets, under funded schools and retirement programs, etc. A lot of sappy headed woo woo so called Buddhism has been promulgated by the people now in their sixties. Are we face to face with reality or our we trying to escape life via positive visualizations? Seems a lot of the baby boomers ditched their kids, made up comfortable religions that do not speak of any need to work hard, and then still sold out to the man, trashing the environment while being sanctimonius about tofu. Plus they were a big baby boom. There's not so many bodies in the later generations, outside of immigrants. But of course, we are grateful for feminism, environmentalism, and the wide variety of Zendos to be trained in. I sure as heck would not have wanted to raise my daughter in the fifties. The Dharma will endure. Face to face teaching will continue to be taught. On Aug 18, 2012 1:45 PM, "Joe" <desert_woodwor...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Howdy, All, > > I don't know how many here sit regularly or occasionally with a Zen > practice group -- a sangha -- and a teacher, but I have a general question > which is a bit like a survey question for you, even if you don't sit with a > group. > > In a group here in Tucson that is affiliated with the Diamond Sangha of > Robert Aitken Roshi, late, of Hawai'i, the matter of "The greying of the > sangha" came up. Mmost of the affiliated sanghas began to look at it, and > to think about it. > > "The greying of the sangha" as perceived during that time was/is the > advancing average age of sangha members. It seemed that younger people > just were not joining and not practicing. The sanghas were looking more > and more like groups of old people. > > Perhaps there was a "wave" of people in the 1960s and 1970s Stateside who > were influenced to become interested in formal Zen practice, and the > "greying" perceived of late is essentially the "Zen-baby-boom" of > practitioners which is now naturally aging, moving through the sangha(s). > > Perhaps conditions are not as favorable now for young people entering > practice. > > On the other hand, we all know that it takes a certain maturity to sit > Zen, and to keep at it. > > But the perceived "greying" is the perception of a REAL phenomenon: the > predominant hair color in the 20 or so affiliate sanghas has become grey or > white. It was not so earlier! The age of the average sangha member is > still steadily increasing. > > I'm not involved in the said sangha any longer, so I am not actively > looking for ways to change the greying phenomenon. > > I wonder if this "greying" is noted in other sanghas, elsewhere. > > --Joe / Arizona > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are > reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links > > > >
