{"id":33,"date":"2011-07-06T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is\/"},"modified":"2011-07-06T15:03:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T15:03:00","slug":"is-this-all-there-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html","title":{"rendered":"Is This All There Is?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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Above is Zen teacher <\/span>Bomun (a.k.a., <\/span>George Bowman<\/a>, successor of Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim and long-time student of Sasaki Roshi).\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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My 14-year-old son just got up for breakfast (at 12:24pm), saw me working on this post and said, \u201cWow, that\u2019s one bad-ass looking dude.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Don\u2019t minimize this point. It is a comment from someone who spends a good part of his day in various cyber battles with horrific creatures. Let me emphasize \u2013 don\u2019t take his comment lightly!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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It should also be said that the person to his right is his one and only successor. Make what you will out of that.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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Seriously, I knew Bomun for a while in the 90\u2019s and now am delighted to have reconnected with him. He\u2019s really a great guy and, thank buddha, he also has a bad-ass side to him.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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That\u2019s a great virtue for a Zen practitioner.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Yet he pours out his heart in a seemingly uncensored flow of pain and truth both in his dharma<\/a> talks and in conversation. I find that both touching and admirable.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Recently, in the heart of an extended retreat, a student of Bomun\u2019s asked him in dokusan, \u201cIs this really all there is to it?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Bomun said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Great dharma presentation!\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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If there were an applause machine in the dokusan room, it would have kicked in here at 150 decibels. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Now every Zennie knows that \u201cYes,\u201d is also correct, of course. It is always just this. And yet \u201cYes\u201d can close down the mind, harden the concepts, calcify the heart.<\/span><\/div>\n
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In my view, American Soto Zen is almost choking to death on the efficaciousless idea of \u201cJust this.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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But I might be wrong. <\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In this case, <\/span>\u201cNo\u201d brought about a very pregnant pause, according to Bomun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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For me, \u201cNo\u201d is so much more interesting than \u201cYes.\u201d It sets a limit, vivifies a boundary, offers a shut-the-fuck up point and leads to inquiry.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d can also be nice, of course, so there\u2019s no need to be all doctrinaire about \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Above is Zen teacher Bomun (a.k.a., George Bowman, successor of Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim and long-time student of Sasaki Roshi).\u00a0 My 14-year-old son just got up for breakfast (at 12:24pm), saw me working on this post and said, \u201cWow, that\u2019s one bad-ass looking dude.\u201d Don\u2019t minimize this point. It is a comment from someone […]<\/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-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs This All There Is?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Above is Zen teacher Bomun (a.k.a., George Bowman, successor of Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim and long-time student of Sasaki Roshi). My 14-year-old son\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is This All There Is?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Above is Zen teacher Bomun (a.k.a., George Bowman, successor of Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim and long-time student of Sasaki Roshi). My 14-year-old son\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-06T15:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-aBc30G50Ffk\/ThSXmk0yaqI\/AAAAAAAABdo\/KlGXjxLDVUU\/s400\/-13.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html\",\"name\":\"Is This All There Is?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-06T15:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T15:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"Above is Zen teacher Bomun (a.k.a., George Bowman, successor of Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim and long-time student of Sasaki Roshi). My 14-year-old son\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/07\/is-this-all-there-is.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is This All There Is?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. 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