Hi all,
Last night I was having a discussion with a friend about zazen and my local zendo here in Madrid. He's interested in checking out the center, although of course there is some reticence there (remember your first time in a zendo? Awkward bows, unsteady feet, sideways glances to make sure you're doing everything right?).
He asked me if everyone wore robes. I said, "the priests do, naturally. For everyone else it's optional." And that lead to further discussion on the merits -- or lack thereof -- of robes.
I'm not a big fan of lay robes. I just don't see the point. First, they're expensive. I haven't seen robes sold for anything less than 200 dollars. They say you should get a kimono and wear that underneath, etc. I feel like this ties in a bit with the recent conversations about "White Trash Buddhists" and the economic divide. 200 bucks for some costume you wear for a few hours a day? In my book, that's a luxury.
I think it's also off-putting for a lot of people, especially when they are just starting to investigate Zen. They might write off zazen as weird, anachronistic.
I also feel that robes can be a bit like "playing house." In other words, I don't see it as rooted in any reality. It is vastly different from the clothes we wear out on the street -- something that was not the case for practitioners back in the day, when these traditions were forged. I think maybe a temptation might be to buy a robe and wear it, thinking that it will make you a "better", more "serious" Zen student. So you put on the robe, play house for a bit, then take it off and go out into the world, into a separate reality. Division.
I don't see lay robes as so integral or useful to practice as, say, the zafu.
I do believe that some Zen traditions are good, like the altar. I can appreciate the practice of offering a stick of incense, in prostrating myself before the Buddha on the altar and to the Buddha in me and in all things.
But I think my 18 euro pair of yoga pants is a lot more practical for sitting than a 200 euro robe.
I realize that there are many viewpoints on this, and I am sure that many Treeleafers wear robes when they do zazen. (I refer specifically to lay people, not to priests, who I think have other justifications for wearing robes.)
I wanted to open up a thread to see what others think about this matter, because I think it is one of the truly important processes in the Westernization of Zen: filtering the Japanese cultural trappings from the essence of the teachings, separating the wheat from the chaff.
So should lay robes make the cut?
--David
Last night I was having a discussion with a friend about zazen and my local zendo here in Madrid. He's interested in checking out the center, although of course there is some reticence there (remember your first time in a zendo? Awkward bows, unsteady feet, sideways glances to make sure you're doing everything right?).
He asked me if everyone wore robes. I said, "the priests do, naturally. For everyone else it's optional." And that lead to further discussion on the merits -- or lack thereof -- of robes.
I'm not a big fan of lay robes. I just don't see the point. First, they're expensive. I haven't seen robes sold for anything less than 200 dollars. They say you should get a kimono and wear that underneath, etc. I feel like this ties in a bit with the recent conversations about "White Trash Buddhists" and the economic divide. 200 bucks for some costume you wear for a few hours a day? In my book, that's a luxury.
I think it's also off-putting for a lot of people, especially when they are just starting to investigate Zen. They might write off zazen as weird, anachronistic.
I also feel that robes can be a bit like "playing house." In other words, I don't see it as rooted in any reality. It is vastly different from the clothes we wear out on the street -- something that was not the case for practitioners back in the day, when these traditions were forged. I think maybe a temptation might be to buy a robe and wear it, thinking that it will make you a "better", more "serious" Zen student. So you put on the robe, play house for a bit, then take it off and go out into the world, into a separate reality. Division.
I don't see lay robes as so integral or useful to practice as, say, the zafu.
I do believe that some Zen traditions are good, like the altar. I can appreciate the practice of offering a stick of incense, in prostrating myself before the Buddha on the altar and to the Buddha in me and in all things.
But I think my 18 euro pair of yoga pants is a lot more practical for sitting than a 200 euro robe.
I realize that there are many viewpoints on this, and I am sure that many Treeleafers wear robes when they do zazen. (I refer specifically to lay people, not to priests, who I think have other justifications for wearing robes.)
I wanted to open up a thread to see what others think about this matter, because I think it is one of the truly important processes in the Westernization of Zen: filtering the Japanese cultural trappings from the essence of the teachings, separating the wheat from the chaff.
So should lay robes make the cut?
--David
Some things I think are just dumb (except symbolically), like the Kyosaku stick. Incense is great, until it was recently shown to cause cancer. Many beliefs of Buddhism are rather superstitious things that were picked up here and there. I abandon many of those.
but while they think that they are rejecting tradition, they don't realize that they have created an attachment to that rejection. For me, I can go either way. But, the ritual involved in getting dressed provides a focus for my practice. The uniformity means that all of us on the floor are equal, without concern for what anyone else is wearing. Even after practice, this continues; the proper folding of the keiko-gi marks an end to the practice, again focuses the mind, and highlights the work we have done. Training in shorts and kicking a bag is an athletic endeavour; wearing the gi and performing a 'kata' (a formalized pattern of movements) can be almost 'ritsu Zen'... Both have their purpose; both are valid. I try to reject neither.
By this I mean a certain pride (I am prone to this like many long term practitioners) which is proud of our not being attached and prideful, kind of a "Look how wonderful I am folks, I don't care which way I dress!". (So many hidden sand traps on this Zen golf course!) 
ops:
Comment