Hello, Kate,
Lovely to meet your acquaintance! It sounds like there are some parallels in
our journey (I just introduced myself to this group). I, too, wonder whether I
am a Zen atheist--maybe agnostic. The idea of God/god is very nebulous and the
Christian teaching that God is a "person" doesn't click with me.
I like what you say about practicing Zazen without expectation. This was the
teaching of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who called expecting something from
meditation, "spiritual materialism".
Peace,
Glenn
--- In Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com, Kate Harper <harper.kate@...> wrote:
>
> Hi there!
>
> Just thought I'd introduce myself.
>
> I'm a 27-year-old journalist and website programmer (I actually work for
> Yahoo!, haha...) from Toronto who's new to the group and to Buddhism.
>
> I've long been a 'searcher' of sorts, and have been trying to find my
> spiritual path for quite some time. I was raised in a Christian family, but
> could never really get behind the idea of the trinity. While I was in
> university, I flirted with both Judaism and Islam, and even took a course
> on Buddhism, funny enough.
>
> Nothing seemed to click, really, and I considered myself an atheist (as I
> still do, a Buddhist atheist) until this past year when I started doing
> some serious self-reflection and recovering from some trauma I endured in
> my childhood. I'd attempted to meditate several times in the past, and had
> become highly frustrated and abandoned the practice, but started wondering
> if I could perhaps learn something from it at this point in my life since I
> was doing so much work. I've now been meditating daily (sometimes twice
> daily) for about a month. I no longer look at it as a way of calming me
> down or as something I can 'get something out of,' but have come to look at
> it as part of my practice.
>
> I'm attracted to Zen, and have been reading works by Philip Kapleau, Thich
> Naht Hanh and Shunriyu Suzuki, but am also interested in what Tibetan
> Buddhists like Pema Chodron, the Dalai Lama, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
> have to say. I'm attending an introductory session at the Toronto Zen
> Centre on Saturday, and am really excited about where this path will take
> me.
>
> Very glad I found this list, and looking forward to learning from all of
> you, and, hopefully, making friends.
>
> Cheers and be well,
>
> Kate
>
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