I think sometimes that learning Zen or just about Zen, in general, is more like sitting down at a very well prepared Chinese dinner with lots of never-before-tried dishes. Nothing looks familiar except the noodles or maybe the rice. For the typical Westerner, who is a product of his culture, the tendency when selecting a dish to try for the first time is to be cautious. The Westerner wants to know what the food tastes like before he eats it. He's a bit picky, too. If there are noodles on the table, he might go for the noodles. Noodles are familiar. Even at a restaurant in San Francisco like Mission Chinese Food which serves Americanized Oriental food, our voyager might pass over the tea-smoked eel when he heard the word "eel".
In various degrees, Westerners are hesitant to jump into the richness of what Zen has to offer (which is a lot of Mahayana Buddhism) preferring, instead, to stick with what is familiar. Zazen is like the noodles at our Chinese restaurant. Or you could say that zazen is more like Americanized Chinese food, for example, chop suey, egg rolls or fried prawns. For the Westerner zazen is physical and straightforward. Just sit. That's it.
As is often the case, Westernized Zen has been made to adapt to its new culture. If some respects it is not quite Zen yet it is still Zen, but not much. Maybe we should call it chop suey Zen! In previous blogs I have mentioned Zen master Tsung-mi's five Zens which are: 1) deviant Zen (外道禅); 2) common/pṛthagjana Zen (凡夫禪); 3) Hinayana Zen; 4) Mahayana Zen; 5) Supreme Vehicle Zen. Most people interested in Zen are exposed to common Zen which can adapt to Western culture. Secular Zen would be deviant Zen which is not consistent with the Buddha's teachings. Both common and deviant Zen are about where most Westerners are although they believe they are practicing Supreme Vehicle Zen.
Zen only becomes Zen when we plumb the depths of our own being—not in the psychological sphere, but much deeper trying to answer the question, "What is my true nature?" Seeing who we really are is much more fundamental than our psychological world which is tied up with the external human world which we live and work in. Short of this depth, Zen remains a curiosity. We never fully commit ourselves to its calling almost keeping Zen at arm's length.
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