From: "David Newman" Wow, sounds like a Zen nightmare! What was your best experience I wonder.. A retarded, exploitative, charleton will certainly get no more pr from me, sorry if it brought up some bad vibes, yikes. Namaste,..>>
You have a way with words. You summed up perfectly how I remember it. No doubt Roshi Sasaki was trying to help people, and he probably helped those who were receptive to being helped. At that point in my life, going to a sesshin was probably an exercise in futility. I was watching Joel Osteen on his TV show recently, and he told some story about two guys that got on a train for an overnight trip. One guy came in with a positive attitude and thoroughly enjoyed his bunk bed, his food, etc. The other guy had a negative attitude and thought everything was pretty awful and could not get any sleep on the train. I was the second guy. However, I think that probably any religion or ritual philosophy that is being introduced to people for the first time has to deal with less than optimum conditions in order to spread the word. If half the folks that attended the sesshin got something out of it, that is more than had been exposed to Zen before. Unfortunately, since this was a one-shot deal, there was no place to practice with a group at that time or to get instruction from anyone else. I did enjoy the zazen and got a lot out of it. Did I mention the sponsors had two large German Shephards and the yard was full of giant turds and we had to do walking zazen in the dark in the early morning? Yes I stepped in the poop too. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Click here to rescue a little child from a life of poverty. http://us.click.yahoo.com/rAWabB/gYnLAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
