Hi Tom
Your post has quite a lot of concepts packed into seven lines, and I do not wish to try and respond to all the things you have stated, that would seem unnecessary and miss the point. I am, perhaps, wondering more why you have expressed these strong views in this way. Typically, we express our thoughts in a curious and open way in the forums, but you have used a more direct manner of communicating. I am interested in why you have made some of the comments and wonder if you would be able to offer context or rationale for the strength of your views. For example, why is it "extremely dangerous to do Zen," or why are "those old Japanese sexual abusers were more Zen than Jundo." What is it you are trying to say, or do you simply mean it as you have stated it?
You are correct in stating that Zen practice is not therapy and I don't think you would find a Zen teacher that would make such a claim. We are not necessarily attempting to 'fix' the same issues with zazen that we would with ACT or another form of psychotherapy. Most Zen teachers, Jundo included, would recommend a person seek appropriate counselling or guidance for a psychological, mental health, or grief/loss issue, they would not suggest zazen is a 'cure all' because they know that specialised care is both important and appropriate. However, on the level of absolute understanding of life, we see that engaging in therapy IS zen practice, because we do not need to draw lines between what is and is not zen.
I am not sure where you developed the idea that Treeleaf is anti-therapy or anti-science, or that "wearing a dress or bib" makes us feel special. How we practice here, the values and ideas we promote or discuss, are very much about being open and progressive while upholding some traditional aspects of Zen practice that we either hold dear or find beneficial to our life or life of practice, whichever way you choose to see it. But going back to the first lines of my response, I do come back to the 'why' of your post. I would encourage you to reach out to Jundo or a senior priest if there are particular concerns you wish to discuss. I'm a novice-priest, so you have to take what I say with no-less than a grain of salt, but I am also a nurse and believe we can find compassionate ways of communicating that are mutually helpful.
I wish you well Tom, we are all here to help each other on our respective paths, and I hope that we can support each other's growth in life and Zen practice, including through robust debate when the time is right for that approach.
In friendship, Tokan _/\_
satlah
Your post has quite a lot of concepts packed into seven lines, and I do not wish to try and respond to all the things you have stated, that would seem unnecessary and miss the point. I am, perhaps, wondering more why you have expressed these strong views in this way. Typically, we express our thoughts in a curious and open way in the forums, but you have used a more direct manner of communicating. I am interested in why you have made some of the comments and wonder if you would be able to offer context or rationale for the strength of your views. For example, why is it "extremely dangerous to do Zen," or why are "those old Japanese sexual abusers were more Zen than Jundo." What is it you are trying to say, or do you simply mean it as you have stated it?
You are correct in stating that Zen practice is not therapy and I don't think you would find a Zen teacher that would make such a claim. We are not necessarily attempting to 'fix' the same issues with zazen that we would with ACT or another form of psychotherapy. Most Zen teachers, Jundo included, would recommend a person seek appropriate counselling or guidance for a psychological, mental health, or grief/loss issue, they would not suggest zazen is a 'cure all' because they know that specialised care is both important and appropriate. However, on the level of absolute understanding of life, we see that engaging in therapy IS zen practice, because we do not need to draw lines between what is and is not zen.
I am not sure where you developed the idea that Treeleaf is anti-therapy or anti-science, or that "wearing a dress or bib" makes us feel special. How we practice here, the values and ideas we promote or discuss, are very much about being open and progressive while upholding some traditional aspects of Zen practice that we either hold dear or find beneficial to our life or life of practice, whichever way you choose to see it. But going back to the first lines of my response, I do come back to the 'why' of your post. I would encourage you to reach out to Jundo or a senior priest if there are particular concerns you wish to discuss. I'm a novice-priest, so you have to take what I say with no-less than a grain of salt, but I am also a nurse and believe we can find compassionate ways of communicating that are mutually helpful.
I wish you well Tom, we are all here to help each other on our respective paths, and I hope that we can support each other's growth in life and Zen practice, including through robust debate when the time is right for that approach.
In friendship, Tokan _/\_
satlah
Having a bad day? 
Well, there's not much to do about that, except maybe not read his work. I don't read books about bitcoin or the law of attraction, or cars, because it is not something that interests me. Is there any other side of buddhism that makes more sense to you? I'm curious if this is about buddhism in general or specifically Dogen Zenji. 
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