click here<\/a> for the previous update) and as we\u2019ve gone along, the brave trail-blazing practitioners that jumped on board (the early adopters, as they say) have come up with great ideas for developing what is available and have helped me clarify the work.<\/p>\nThis post is another update in our meandering efforts.<\/p>\n
Zazen, study, and engagement continue, of course, to be the three focal points of Vine of Obstacles training. Study is particularly (and perhaps unusually) important in how I teach Zen, following Katagiri Roshi\u2019s style of being a scholar-monk.<\/p>\n
Study gives the heartmind something to chew on as we do our sitting and engagement, putting, pushing, prodding, and pulling the whole process more and more in line with the buddhadharma.<\/p>\n
Luckily, one of the virtues of the cyber world is the possibilities it offers for study. So we\u2019ve launched a Vine Moodle site that has become the living room of our practice place. It is the Vine Moodle that I\u2019ll be discussing in the rest of this post.<\/p>\n
In the Vine Moodle, we have several courses and a forum. I\u2019ll describe the forum first.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngaging the Way through the World\u201d is a place where practitioners can post practice-enlightenment success stories, engage with other practitioners about the Vine process, and also ask me dharma questions. For ethically navigating our relationships together, we have a \u201cWhat is said in the Moodle, stays in the Moodle\u201d guideline.<\/p>\n
\u201cZazen Workshop: Getting Started Where You Are\u201d is a resource for zazen and includes a range of materials from basic instructions to more advanced topics like translations of the classic zazen manuals, and some short essays on the more subtle considerations in shikantaza and koan work. We\u2019ve also started a \u201cZazen Workshop\u201d where practitioners can send in photos of their zazen and ask for an online posture adjustment.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuidelines for Studying the Way\u201d is a ten topic course based on the Dogen text of the same name that serves as the in-depth orientation. I encourage practitioners to work through the entire course at their own pace and<\/strong> to make one at least one Vine Moodle contribution each week. In this course, students have the opportunity to clarify their intention for practice, wrestle with Dogen\u2019s opinions about the teacher-student relationship, and develop a solid basis for either koan or shikantaza. And establish a working relationship with me.<\/p>\n\u201cGenjokoan: What is Realized in the Issue at Hand?\u201d is almost ready for roll-out. I\u2019m excited and even enthusiastic about the possibilities for this course. I\u2019ve integrated koan work with the text and used the best of my educational training for an outcome-based learning experience.<\/p>\n
In terms of dharma pedagogy, the online method of learning may well prove to be more effective than the one-way lecture style because it requires active engagement from students, allows for more detailed and precise feedback, and promotes more frequent multiple-way communication than is possible in the old model (going to a Zen Center once a week or so and listening to a dharma talk, enjoying some private feelings about it, then moving on).<\/p>\n
Next up is to develop a \u201cBuddha Nature\u201d course and to include more in-the-flesh students in the nonsegmentation of cyber and noncyber worlds. In my view, presenting dharma offerings that erase the gap between those two worlds, seamlessly integrating the possibilities of online learning and practice enlightenment, is an exciting and challenging new frontier for teaching and practicing Zen.<\/p>\n
Your thoughts welcome.<\/p>\n
Oh, also there are a few more student spaces available in the Vine of Obstacles, so if you\u2019re interested in getting more information, let me know at wildfoxzen@gmail.com.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online Zen training? What would the old guys say about that? I don\u2019t know. The \u201cZen Center\u201d model, though, is less than sixty years old, so I hope the innovators of that model \u2013 especially the guys in the front row (priests left to right, Katagiri, not sure who, Suzuki, Maezumi, and\u00a0 probably Chino) \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>Online Zen training? What would the old guys say about that?<\/p>\n