A New Zen is Appearing

[will]

History Lesson.

http://www.kwanumzen.org/1988/a-new-zen-is-appearing/

[Rimon]

Re: A New Zen is Appearing

Interesting text, Will. Thanks for sharing.
Not sure how new is this "new zen" really. The shift towards laicity of going beyond "just enlightment" sound like common concepts now in most Buddhist schools, not only Zen...
That makes me think about the expression "American Buddhism". Probably it was key that zen masters travel to the West during the 20th Century in order to change some core ideas of how to practice Buddhism, but I'd say that this flavor of "American Buddhism" is really global now, and most Buddhist schools, either in the East or the West don't make becoming monks as something mandatory for practice and defend a more socially engaged and compassionate Buddhism. I'm sure there are still hardcore zen centers that only accept people with the desire to become monks, but I'd also say that they are becoming less and less frequent.
So the future of Buddhism is here with us at Treeleaf! No school is more global than ours

Gassho

Rimon

[will]

Re: A New Zen is Appearing

Actually, I posted this while running out the door to Beijing yesterday. Personally, I found it quite informative, especially for some who might get the wrong idea about what the whole Zen thing is, and how it originated.

Gassho Thank you for your practice

Will

[murasaki]

Re: A New Zen is Appearing

This is interesting, thank you for posting it.

There is a Kwan Um teacher somewhere around me that I meant to visit sometime, but haven't gotten around to it. I can't wrap my mind around koan work -- I just don't get it, but would like to understand it and its importance to its practitioners sometime.

gassho
Julia

[Taylor]

Re: A New Zen is Appearing

This is interesting, thank you for posting it.

There is a Kwan Um teacher somewhere around me that I meant to visit sometime, but haven't gotten around to it. I can't wrap my mind around koan work -- I just don't get it, but would like to understand it and its importance to its practitioners sometime.

gassho
Julia

Love seung sahn. Really do. Can't speak for all of the teachers in Kwan Um / how such a large organization functions (hopefully slowly, mindfully, and independently) but from what I gather koan work is something like this in Kwan Um:

How does your wall look today? How are your legs feeling?

Something like our practice, with a bit more enigmatic answers and shouts, but really that's life anyway

Enjoy your my our Genjokoan,
Taylor