Although not necessarily. For instance I see that I\u2019ve given a lot of time to the precepts<\/a>, the moral codes of Zen Buddhism. I suspect that\u2019s a corrective one may find in most practicing Zen groups which all began with a rather fierce focus on meditation practice. Zen is always accused of having an antinomian inclination, and I suspect in the wake of people like Alan Watts<\/a> and Jack Kerouac<\/a> who were for most at least in my generation the first popularizers of Zen in the West, that\u2019s an easy assumption to make. But this concern with Zen antinomianism was exacerbated, I feel, by the first generation of actual Zen teachers who for very good reasons focused heavily on meditation practice pretty much to the exclusion of ethical concerns. Which would be okay if it were all that Zen is about. But it\u2019s not. Zen is very much concerned with how we act in the world.<\/p>\n So now we\u2019re all paying more attention to the place of Buddhist moral codes and particularly the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts of Japanese-derived Zen. What may be a mark of my possible inclination to \u201cliberal Zen,\u201d however is how much time I see I give in my class to the ways these precepts might move from personal behaviors and go on to call one to social engagement. While legitimately implicit in the theory of precepts, social justice concerns haven\u2019t really been historically a major part of the Zen enterprise, and are what I\u2019ve come to think of as a principal mark of liberal Buddhism.<\/p>\n Of course, looking at the syllabus in the light of my first actual class has brought up other things, as well.<\/p>\n A significant mistake I feel I\u2019ve made is that I didn\u2019t give enough time in the coursework to exactly what Zen \u201cwisdom\u201d might be. The nondual perspective is so fundamental, it is ultimately what Zen is about, I seem to have assumed it as I prepared the class. Oh well, I\u2019m strictly an amateur teacher, and I hope my students will forgive my having to adjust as I go along\u2026 Fortunately as only about half of the students \u2013 all graduate students I would like to underscore \u2013 seem to have done the expected reading going into our first class, so I suspect forgiveness will be a part of the experience for all of us.<\/p>\n Just like real life\u2026<\/p>\n This past Thursday I taught my first class, the price I\u2019m paying for being given an apartment in Hyde Park. I can\u2019t say if anyone else had fun, but I know I did. We had twenty-four students registered, which I gather is a relatively large enrollment here. Twenty-one showed up and one sent an apologetic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-115962814322357592?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\")