Caution! Zen Teachers who waste your time!
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008Hiya, hope all’s well. Recently a London Zen student of mine was in Japan and went to an international sesshin, a one-week Zen retreat with a well known and published American Zen master of the Soto school. Before the retreat, the Master asked my student whether he had ever experienced anything in his practice. Yes, he had, was the answer.
A little while later at the start of the sesshin, the Master announced, “For the benefit of all you Rinzai people here (my student was the only one) I hope you’re not expecting any sort of enlightenment on this retreat.” Everyone laughed. My student felt a bit uncomfortable. And then everyone sat in zazen meditation for the week.
How many enlightenment experiences came out of this process? Zero. All those tons of aviation fuel, all that money spent, all the pain in the knees – all for no result.
Shame, eh! I’m only mentioning this because it pays to be a little careful who you study with. People who practice Soto-style zazen meditation have kensho or enlightenment experiences all the time. Dogen Zenji, the Japanese founder of Soto Zen, was sitting in the meditation hall one night beside a monk who had fallen asleep in his sitting place. Tendo Nyojo, their teacher shouted, “When you study under a master, you must drop the body and mind; what is the use of singleminded intense sleeping.” At this moment, Dogen suddenly had an enlightenment experience which was confirmed by the master. This being the foundation of Soto Zen, how can it be that many contemporary Soto masters denigrate the experiencing of enlightenment?
Well, sad to say, many of them have not experienced it, and rather than humbly doing their best to guide others while at the same time seeking to gain the awakening they seek for, instead, they downplay the whole thing and claim it is not important. When a master makes comments like the above, only the very strongest of students will push ahead regardless and throw themselves into the world of enlightenment. Psychologically, they have to remove the master from the teaching seat and effectively walk on alone. What a shame!
Not all Soto Zen masters are like this, I’m happy to say. But sadly many are. In fact even the title “Roshi” or Zen Master has become degraded in Japanese Soto Zen where, a monk who has practiced only a couple of years in the Training Monastery, if he can find a master to give him Dharma Transmission, regardless of any understanding he may or may not have achieved, will then automatically have permission to teach and can use the title Roshi. This is not at all the practice of Dogen Zenji, who was extremely demanding in his selection of Dharma heirs, and not at all the practice in Rinzai Zen.
I hate having to write this, but there are many so-called Zen teachers running around wasting an awful lot of peoples’ time. Please take care.
With respect Daizan