Thoughts on Disability and Access in Zen Practice

[Kokuu]

Dear all

I wanted this to have wider visability that just in the HealthDharma forum so am posting it here. It is a write-up of a Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA) workshop that I attended in January on the subject of access and support for disabled Zen students, written by Brendan Crowe, the Online Content Manager at San Francisco Zen Center. My autistic friend Anlor Davin (a priest in Norman Fischer's Everyday Zen sangha) was also present and shared some interesting perspectives.

I hope it is helpful to read, whether you are disabled or able-bodied. As Jundo likely will (correctly) point out, the SZBA still has some way to go with its own attitude towards disability, which currently is much stronger for lay folk than priests, but some of the members there are at least bringing their thinking forward.

https://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2024/04/16/thoughts-on-disability-and-access-in-zen-practice/

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Guest]

As someone who is probably more than a little bit on the spectrum (my brother is diagnosed ADHD and although not diagnosed I have similar traits, perhaps to a lesser extent), I can appreciate this.
Gassho
Myojin

[Shujin]

Thank you, Kokuu. I especially liked this quote:

“If our understanding of ritual is not based in the Dharma, then ritual becomes mechanical. It becomes a set of movements that is prescribed and it is taken up as a collection of rules. When that happens, then questions such as, ‘Is it okay for someone to sit in a chair in the zendo?’ and ‘Can someone perform a ceremony without doing all the bows?’ will be discussed endlessly without resolution. However, when ritual is understood as the embodiment of the Dharma, then it can take the shape and respond to the needs of these very bodies in which we live.”

Gassho,
Shujin

st/lah

[Koriki]

That's great that this is being addressed. I've probably used this example before, but if a temple is built on a mountain with only trails leading to it, it will be filled with probably younger, healthy people. Healthy people are great, but they may not be the best guides when it comes to dealing with aging, sickness, and death (or they might do just fine). I think it only benefits Soto Zen to be chock full of people that have been through every manner of difficulty. Certainly makes for an interesting crowd.

Gassho,

Koriki
s@lah

[Shujin]

That's great that this is being addressed. I've probably used this example before, but if a temple is built on a mountain with only trails leading to it, it will be filled with probably younger, healthy people. Healthy people are great, but they may not be the best guides when it comes to dealing with aging, sickness, and death (or they might do just fine). I think it only benefits Soto Zen to be chock full of people that have been through every manner of difficulty. Certainly makes for an interesting crowd.

Gassho,

Koriki
s@lah

[Brett]

Thank you for this post, it was an interesting read.

I think another aspect that needs to be thought about is the spread of Soto Zen Buddhism. There is no proselytizing in Buddhism, so the only way that it can grow is for the seed of curiosity to be planted in someone and then watered when they come searching for it. In rural America for instance, that is a hard thing to do right now, even harder the farther from a coastline you go. This is of course amplified by your economic and health situations. Let's be honest, most Western Zen Buddhists are affluent Caucasian people for a reason.

I think that having limitations and requirements such as the SZBA have could be removing the opportunity for those that don't have the means, or ability, to spend money and travel to places for weeks or even months at a time in order to advance their Zen training due to economic, family, or health related situations. How many good Buddhists have been lost to this we will never know, but I bet it is not insignificant.

Much like some of the restrictions in historical Buddhist practices there was at one time a reason for such restrictions. For instance preventing people from dumping older family members off at a Zen temple as if it was some sort of old age care solution, I get that. But that is not the case now where almost anything can be done with the aid of the Internet, and travel, while wonderful, is really becoming optional for many people to connect with people globally.

Anyone that has a genuine desire to immerse themselves in the dharma should be given the opportunity to do so and creative ways to allow that to happen need to be evaluated and embraced if found to be successful. To not do that is to close the dharma gate to so many that would benefit from it; this to me violates the precepts and our vow to save all sentient beings.

st/lah
Gassho,
Brett

[Onki]

Thank you so much for posting this, Kokuu!!

Gasshō,

On

Sat today/LAH

[Shonin Risa Bear]

The Incredible Story of a Baptism with Sand

https://classicalchristianity.com/2012/03/19/the-incredible-story-of-a-baptism-with-sand/

So, yes, dharma and not tradition is the determinant.

gassho
ds sat/lah