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<\/a>(Above a Tibetan monk debates, highlightinig his point and sending it to his debate companion with a big clap)<\/span><\/p>\n
James Ford, a friend and inspiration to me, in his Monkey Mind blog<\/a> has recently taken on my suggestion that there are a number of stances that characterize us as Zen teachers: authenticity vs. popularity, serving dharma<\/a> vs. sangha, explaining Zen vs. providing the antecedents for discovery.<\/p>\n I\u2019m delighted to see that James doesn\u2019t see it the way I do! I put these ideas out in the blog world hoping that they might get kicked around and now they have. Yippee!<\/p>\n Here are a few more thoughts:<\/p>\n \u201cThese issues should all present,\u201d he writes. Let\u2019s start with that general point \u2013 I agree.<\/p>\n And there are times when life presents more like a forced-choice test (see my examples below in \u201cAuthentic Zen, or \u2026 You Got a Lot of Nerve\u201d) than as a continuum to be negotiated. Compromising authenticity for popularity can erode one\u2019s ethical compass and open the way for steering our little boat more and more off-course. This was one of the major learnings from a period of my life when I repeatedly compromised authenticity for popularity in order to create a financially sound Zen-stitution (albeit for a number of good reasons).<\/p>\n In my present life I work in the public schools. This move has fostered much more open space for me to practice and teach, free of the niggling voices about income\/expense projections and a whole boat full of other considerations.<\/p>\n As for dharma vs sangha, of course, they come together in the Triple Treasures and not in a \u201cvs\u201d relationship. However, if as teachers we put serving the sangha before serving the truth (which is often the case in the present dharma world, in my limited view), we simply create a nice place for people to hang out \u2013 not a Dharma Center, a place where a sangha comes together by serving the truth, exploring and unfolding through it all.<\/p>\n Dogen-zenji challenges the notion that we should practice in order to free living beings, at least as the most honest practice. \u201cJust practice for the sake of the buddha-dharma,\u201d he says in Points to Watch in Zen Training<\/span>. From this perspective, practicing in order to free others is just another ego manipulation, and a co-dependent one at that.<\/p>\n I first heard the above passage in 1982 after a beautiful talk by Thich Nhat Hanh about enjoying the breath. He turned to Katagiri-roshi and asked him if he had anything to add. Roshi said, \u201cDogen say to practice buddha-dharma just for buddha-dharma.\u201d I was startled and clueless about what he meant. I\u2019ve been chewing on it for these 25 years.<\/p>\n And (James, I\u2019m talking to you here, buddy) do you really believe that freeing beings is about numbers? Is a sangha of 100 or 1000 somehow more Bodhisattvic than a group of 10 or 1? Compared to the infinity of beings, after all, 1, 10, 100, and 1000 are equally incomparable.<\/p>\n Finally, a word about explaining Zen vs. providing the antecedents for discovery. When I returned from a year in Japan way back in 1991, I was nauseated (not a figure of speech) by the amount of talking we do in American Zen! Of course, it is a different culture and we have different needs not having grown up, most of us, in a Buddhist<\/a> culture\u2026.<\/p>\n Fortunately and unfortunately, I got over the nausea and went on to talk, talk, talk (and here I am spending an hour blogging!).<\/p>\n