Soto Zen is Really Small but Love Isn’t

That’s a Hafiz poem about huge love on the wall of a convenience store in south Minneapolis.

The world may be changing after all.

As for changes, I’ve been reflecting on the changes that I’ve seen in my 35 years of Zen practice. Back in ’77 there were probably about 1,000 people who identified as Zen practitioners. Today the number is probably in the range of 10,000 (that’s a wild guess given the number of members in centers associated with the SZBA is about 4,000, add the Kwan Um, Rinzai, Diamond Sangha, etc. – ~10,000). Maybe more if you include all the folks that are internet Zen practitioners.

Meanwhile, I see estimates that there are about 1.3 million Buddhists in the US, about 2/3’s of whom are Asian Americans and about 1/3 who are Western converts. This is a big change since the last survey in 2007 that asked Asian Americans in either English or Spanish if they were Buddhists and they got only about 1/3 positive responses. Go figure. More about these surveys here. And here. And here too if you’re really into it.

Brings out the sociology major in me.

Anyway, Zen is still really really small – less than 1% of Buddhists who comprise 1% of the US population.

Reminds me a story James Ford told me which I see will be in his new book due out in September, If You’re Lucky, Your Heart Will Break: Field Notes From A Zen Life.

See a nice review here.

Way back in the late ’60’s he was given zazen instructions at San Francisco Zen Center and then brought into the zendo to sit. Then …

“…I was ushered into an interview with a senior priest. Dainin Katagiri Roshi, then called by the title sensei, was on duty. I made the bows as I was instructed and sat awkwardly before him.

He asked how long I’d been sitting.

I estimated three, maybe five minutes.

He said, “Good. Keep that mind.’”