I am frequently astonished at the variety of personalities among Zen priests. Youd think that a calling to serve in the Order would attract certain types of people, yet they are as diverse as humans in general .Some funny and some somber, some optimists and others cynics. Some have very firm social and political views, others dont seem to dive into such. This correlates with the different advice we get from different teachers, and even causes a variance in what aspects of practice they focus on. With so much variety, it seems they are only united in the Three Jewels and zazen. Other than that, each Zen order can almost be taken as a different school of Zen all together. Schools which reflect the personalities of the teachers. This means that if we choose to join a specific Sangha and become a student of a teacher, we should shop around. Many of the Zen masters we read about traveled from monastery to monastery before finally finding a paradigm that they felt comfortable with. This entry was inspired by an article from the Lions Roar. Its a Buddhist reaction to police brutality and the protests going on. Take a look at the wide variety of responses from the various Buddhist teachers. Was shocked when one Zen teacher said, “There’s no such thing as being neutral. You’re either playing along with how things are or you are disrupting them and turning them on their head. Those are the only options.” Wow! Thats not something you expect to hear form a Zen priest. Not saying I agree or disagree, its just surprising.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 07:09:39 +0000
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