What goes on in most internet chat rooms devoted to the subject of Zen Buddhism or just Zen minus Buddhism amounts to something like a peer-to-peer review of a particular book or maybe something like a peer-to-peer conversation about a subject.
The dirty little secret here is that the conversation is closer to a peer-to-peer conversation which can easily fall into what the military calls “incestuous amplification” in which a particular, closed group of people repeat the same things to each other which also implies being in lockstep agreement with the group’s preconceptions which, naturally, opens the door to misunderstanding.
The belief that one understands the problem by walking in lockstep with the group’s various preconceptions and opinions is following a dangerous path. This not only happens in the military but it happens in academe and science in spades. But it happens in Zen Buddhism, too, especially in discussion forums. The obvious danger in this is wrong opinions about Zen get spread around. Once such pernicious opinion is that Zen is about living in the moment. Actually, Zen is about seeing our true nature which is luminous. This has nothing to do with living in the moment or the here and the now.
Not only in chat rooms but also in Zen centers wrong opinions about Zen get spread around. I agree that the student of Zen should be open minded. But they should also do their own course of study and learn to be somewhat critical of others and of their own assumptions about Zen.
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