Modern Zen is so modern it doesn’t require any help from classical Zen, classical Zen being anything prior to 1900. For all you romantic Zennists who imagine Zen is about awakening to Huang-po’s “One Mind” forget it! Zen has a new goal, it is to be in the moment and thus to be the real you. Of course this could change in another year or two. But for now let’s put it this way, liberation is to see the highest reality is this moment. This moment isn’t born nor does it persist or perish it just moments!
To keep Buddhism current with 2009, perhaps we need to also change Buddhist history slightly. The official 2009 version, to be brief, should go something like this. The Buddha-to-be (the Bodhisattva) drank the maiden Sujata’s magical drink, Madhupayasam, then made his way to the Bodhi-tree and became the fully awakened Buddha by simply realizing this moment was it. (Forget all the crap in the Pali canon and the Mahayana canon, especially the Avatamsaka Sutra which deals with the Buddha’s awakening!)
I need to underscore this, 2009 Zen doesn’t require any validation from the past. So don’t expect any citations from the Pali canon or the Mahayana canon. It can do what it wants. And while it is true that neither the Buddha nor the great Zen masters of the past said liberation consisted of being the moment we should, according to 2009 Zen, just ignore this fact and the canon. Anyone is backwards who doesn’t believe that Zen’s great liberation is to see the reality of this moment.
For all of you Zen romantics who refuse to go along with this you have only one course of action to take, continue visiting this blog and other like blogs and Internet sites that teach about something other than the moment, for example, the Buddha Mind, the Unborn Mind, the One Mind, the Dharmadhatu, the Tathagatagarbha, or the foundational Buddha-nature.
In the meantime expect Zen, followed by Buddhism, to become something it never was when we compare what is taught today with the canon itself. By the way, the Buddha called this the counterfeit teaching. It marked the end of the true teaching.
I love this - have you been reading Brad Warner's blog?
Posted by: Mumon | July 26, 2009 at 12:33 PM
It is sad, but what you are saying here is true. I really don't know from where the "be in the moment" idea came from. As I see it, the mainstream professional dharma teachers need to appeal to broad public to earn a living. They therefore cannot afford to alien the vast majority of Western Buddhists who are mainly looking for a way to cope with their depression or anxiety. Best is then to teach “mindfulness of the present moment” as a substitute for Prozac and Xanax.
However, for a young conservative underground Buddhist like me, the present is a continuous flickering flow of perceptions, sensations and thoughts called mind-moments (cittakkhana). The path of mindfulness requires one to deeply investigate the nature of these mind-moments to see their genesis (uppada), development (thiti), and dissolution (bhanga) in order to gain insight into their three characteristics, to realize that they are impermanent (anicca), that they do not bring satisfaction (dukkha) and that they are not our true self (anatta). The fully realize these three characteristic of phenomena is Nirvana, to be simply mindful of the present moment is to float like a pumpkin on the river of Samsara.
But who really wants to reach Nirvana? Samsara is so pleasant, provided that we find a way to deal with our depression and anxiety! So let’s twist things a bit and assume that Nirvana is Samsara and that form is emptiness. Samsara is then perfect as it is in the present moment. Doesn’t sound very Zen? Yes, that’s 21st century neo-Zen!
Posted by: Huanshen | July 24, 2009 at 05:08 AM
I appreciate your post. I don't agree and I think you really overgeneralize what modern buddhism is but that is your prerogative.
preach on!
Posted by: jack | July 24, 2009 at 12:15 AM