Q: Why did you decided to start a blog?
A: Over the years I realized that that long articles and books about Buddhism I was reading, while useful to me, personally, were missing the entire thrust of Buddhism: it aims at the transcendent. Internet discussion groups weren’t cutting it either. They were often contentious and overly moderated. You had Buddhist moderators acting like the Soup Nazi in the sitcom Seinfeld. You could get kicked out for almost anything. The Zen character I created “Zenmar” was blacklisted along with other Buddhists from important discussion groups. When the blogs came on the Internet scene, it was love at first sight. I had a lot to say because there was a lot to correct. Zen Buddhism wasn’t Zen Buddhism. It was just people wearing robes who did a lot of rituals, including ritual sitting, with no real grasp of what Zen is really aiming at—which should be obvious if anyone has bothered to cover the literature.
Q: So what was Zen missing in your estimation?
A: It doesn't understand the importance of pure Mind. With the exception of a few Asian Zen masters, as far as I can tell, I am the only Westerner who understands that Zen koans, for example, are absolutely connected with pure Mind. A person can’t solve a single koan without understanding that koans are mysterious expressions of pure Mind. In my recent blog, Unlocking the mystery of Zen, as briefly as I can I try to get the blog reader to look at koans and meditation from the perspective of pure Mind. I really want the reader to think about what I said—at least have the faith that the answer to koans lies with pure Mind.
Q: I notice that your blog uses a lot of passages from the Pali canon. Why is this?
A: Much of it has to do with the attitude of Western Buddhists who believe that the Pali canon is a truer expression of the Buddha’s teaching and therefore more credible and trustworthy. I want to show them that the Pali canon is very profound and perfectly fits with Zen. Also, it is much easier to see where the Mahayana canon is coming from if one has a good understanding of what the Pali canon is really saying. Over the years I have made a good case that the Pali Sutras don’t deny the self and, in fact, they point to the transcendent which comes through purification of mind. The enlightened Mind is without perturbations (anâsava). On the other hand, mind steeped in ignorance is with perturbations. Nirvana is really the liberation of Mind from the pain of its perturbations. All this falls within Zen.
Q: You seem to repeat a lot of the same passages. Is there any reason for that?
A: The canon of Buddhism employes iteration in a huge way when it comes to various passages. So do I, but not as much. Often in the past, during my own voyages of self-discovery, I had to read passages over and over again before they clicked in my head. For example, in the Samyutta-Nikaya the Buddha is telling his monks that they “should abandon desire for whatever does not belong to self” (S. iii. 78). This is really a killer passage! The Buddha is not only implicitly affirming the self but he is telling his monks to abandon everything that doesn’t belong to the self. Think about that. This includes the psychophysical body and all things. I will probably repeat this passage a number of times.
Q: So what do you see for the future of The Zennist blog?
A: I have a hunch that Asians will find it very useful because the blog has essentially put the pieces of the Buddhist puzzle together which is through the realization of pure Mind. I don’t have much hope for many Western Buddhists. At this point in time, they are too arrogant. They don’t think their shit stinks yet. When I was with Gyatrul Rinpoche, Westerners had zero respect for the Buddhist canon and things the Buddha said. Gyatrul, I remember, one night pointed to the glass bookcase which had the Tibetan canon in it, he told me that this is the most sacred thing in a Buddhist temple. Okay back on track (sorry for the digression)—the future of The Zennist blog as I see it will be, as one reader put it, a reality check. Are you really learing Buddhism or just bullshit?
Q: It seems you are really down on Western Buddhists. Is there any reason for that?
A: I don’t think Westerners have given up their love affair with materialism. They are using Buddhism unknowingly as a way to cope with the negative side effects of materialism. I mean, you can’t devote your whole life to chasing money, owning a big home or two, a couple of cars, and so on, and not except some serious side effects like becoming depressed for no apparent reason. Materialism has to be balanced out with true forms of spirituality like Buddhism. But Western Buddhists psychologize Buddhism too much. You can’t do that. Psychology is not that effective for dealing with the forces of materialism which heavily depend upon desire and sensory gratification. One needs to transcend materialism—see thru it; see it as game of illusion chasing. Even beginner’s Buddhism has to teach this. Buddhism is trying to restore, as much as it can, our real humanness that seeks the ever present transcendent that is hidden from us but which we can uncover, with a lot of hard work.
Hmmm...an "urban hermit" was it? Yes, I read--extremely carefully, at the time you posted it--"Seeing True Mind in a Comic Book Sky" and also the account of your second, much deeper opening. Whether part of the Zen herd or not, yes, the Sutras need to make, as you say, sense like the pieces of a puzzle if the transmission is a true one and not just an intellectual or emotional "high" or (god forbid) a "spiritual experience" that does nothing but shipwreck us on the rocks of delusion.
Recently someone came into our Zen community, and as soon as I met him it was BAM! That's the one. He's a little guy, and his English isn't that great, but when you sit down and are dead honest with him, he pulls back the veil a bit and you see that he's being honest with you 100%. That's all I really crave--just that kind of honesty to counter all the b.s. we trip over every day.
Posted by: Susan | January 03, 2013 at 12:58 PM
Susan:
I did a blog about my first awakening to pure Mind. It's, One-pointedness of the comic book sky. As for people's experiences I have a problem with them if the experience can't unlock such profound Sutras as the Lankavatara. Oh, and by the way, my first encounter with pure Mind was followed a fews years later with a most extraordinary experience (I go over this in one of my Q&As). Sometimes you have to leave the Zen herd - become an urban hermit/rishi (P., ishi).
Posted by: The Zennist | December 31, 2012 at 10:27 AM
I'm catching up on some of your Dec. entries and I find myself tripping over the same question. Yes, I can recognize wrong paths, or fruitless paths, or attachments. That much I'm strong on. I can even recognize "spiritual temptations" and very subtle tricks of the ego and intellect. I can also (now) distinguish an authentic from and inauthentic voice, so I don't have to go down rabbit holes with the wrong teachers. The question is this: IF zazen isn't "the way" and IF the personal & private deep-psycho analytical approach isn't the way, and if faith isn't the way...then how does anyone see the Pure White Ox? I've run across so many people who have broken through in their first sesshin, or just spontaneously, with no religious background or conscious intention at all that I'm beginning to believe it's just ripening karma: you're born. It's time. It happens. That's all. Am I wrong about this? Or if I'm right, then why is everyone busting their asses trying to pass the first barrier?
It's very embarrassing to hear myself referred to over and over--by people in the Zen community--as a "puppet" "zombie" or "sleeper" because I haven't thrown my TV and literary novels out the window and still enjoy food instead of stoically bolting down my "medicine." Okay, I get it guys: I'm a stupid pile of crap. Oh, and every single direction I've gone is the wrong one. Now, how about one right direction? In plain English. In your own words. I don't want a quote from Krishnamurti or Nisargadatta or Rumi. That's just too frickin' easy. I could do that myself. I really don't care who answers this question--Zenmar or one of the commenters, because trust me: If you're just blowing it out your ear I WILL know.
Posted by: Susan | December 31, 2012 at 01:50 AM
Chet:
On an ironic note, modern Buddhists spend their time bashing substance in Buddhism when, precisely, this is what the realization of pure Mind is about.
Posted by: The Zennist | December 21, 2012 at 09:40 AM
We're the only ones who can attest to the veracity of our own internal integrity regarding the Dharma. Stream-entry is primary - without it, I don't know how you gauge the authenticity of a teacher. I stumbled backwards into a kensho before I even knew what Zen was and hence I feel quite lucky. Having a glimpse of Mind puts you on the path irreversibly. Karma and rebirth are verified firsthand (however fuzzily) and this makes it easier to resist the 'Zen as therapy' or 'meditation fetishism' of modern Zen. It also makes reductions to scientific materialism appear bizarrely off-track. Buddhism as scientific materialism or the 'systems view' of dependent origination that was popularized by TNH - that is the mistaken or at least very incomplete view that dependent origination refers somehow to the endless cascade of sensory objects - is directly contrary to a genuine awakening (in my opinion and experience).
Posted by: Chet | December 21, 2012 at 02:26 AM