Zennist not Buddhist
I've been perusing christian zennist sites trying to comprehend how the (seemingly to me) incompatible
teachings operate compatibly -- I had erred assuming christians studied and accepted buddhist dharma ... this was the rub as I saw it being that atman and anatman would come into play causing a contradiction of terms.
This site opened it up for me that christian zennists are not practicing/
accepting buddhist teaching but the practice of zazen and mindfulness only.
All the zen I've been exposed to is/was of the buddhist zen variety -- I thought that was the way of it --
I can be so dense sometimes.
http://www.willigis-jaeger.de/eng/zen.html
2. Zen is not a religion. Thus, there is no Christian Zen and no Buddhist Zen. And so, there are also no Buddhist Zen masters, but rather only Zen masters who are Buddhists, and likewise also Zen masters who are Christians or even ones who even do not belong to any confession. Unfortunately, in the East as well as in the West, there are Zen teachers who are still deeply implanted in a confession. The fundamental difference between the religions does not run vertically between the single denominations, but rather horizontally between the esoteric and exoteric levels of these religions.
-- snip --
Zen is indeed closely tied with the Buddhist religion, but it transcends it and every other religion. Zen and every esoteric path, be it Yoga, Vipassana, Contemplation, etc. lead us out of and above the confession of a religion; that means that they also lead us out of a superficial religious understanding as it is taught in religious textbooks.
3. And a third thing appears important to me: Zen should lose its monastical character when it is applied to the Western world. No one needs to shave their hair off or to don a Buddhistic monk’s raiment in order to practice Zazen. We must not adopt all the rituals which have developed in the course of time within the Zen monasteries. The inclination towards external forms is a beginner’s illness common to all converts. Zen will change its outer structure in the West just as it changed itself after contact with Taoistic China. Its essential nature cannot be adulterated, also not by Christians and Buddhists. The Dharma does not need a defender.
"I would like to quote an important contemporary Zen master: "We must approach Zen independently from the Zen-school of Buddhism. Zen does not belong either inclusively nor exclusively to the Buddhistic school of Zen. I consider Zen a universal truth which brings true knowledge and peace into the life of the people in the world. Each religion and culture should take the benefits out of the spiritual values which Zen is able to offer." (Shibayama, p 70) "
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crankenfurter) wrote,
