Oh look. Iconoclastic Zen teacher Brad Warner reminisces in his blog, Hardcore Zen about meeting my Zen teacher at an April retreat in Nashville, saying, "Back to the retreat! At the end of it, Taiun Michael Elliston of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center came by to do a jukai (precept giving) ceremony for three members of the Nashville group. That was nice. I'm not big on such ceremonies. But this one was done in a sweet, low key way without too much pretension and bally-hoo. I even enjoyed it a little."
He also quotes an article translated for him from a Dutch magazine, "Eckhart Tolle is joining Oprah. Is that a good idea? Ken Wilber sells an Integral Life Practice Starter Kit for $199.20. Is that over the edge? Big Mind Inc asks a minimum donation for five days with [Dennis] Merzel of $25.000. . . I too ask myself on a regular basis where this will end."
This bothers me, not due to the expenses or the seeming desire for fame and fortune, but because people continue to equate philosophers and autodidacts like Tolle and Wilber with transmitted Zen teachers like Merzel Roshi, or for that manner, Brad Warner. I have even heard Zen practitioners confirm their fondness for Tolle and Wilber to outsiders while at the Zen Center, which only confuses the issue. When people talk to me about writers like Tolle and Wilbur, I usually just act like I've never heard of them, and ask "Interesting. Who did they study under?"
And before I sound too intolerant or bigoted, let me point out that I'm not saying that their writings are without merit, but that it is incorrect to confuse their teachings, whatever their merit, with that of Zen, even if it does have Zen-like qualities or similarities. Their teachings might be very beneficial to some, but their teachings are not Zen.
Simply put, Zen cannot be "taught" or "understood" at all - it can only be experienced. You can read and philosophize all you want about what an orange tastes like, but until you bite into one, you'll never really know.
As far as I can see, Eckhart Tolle never practiced under a Zen teacher. He studied literature, languages and philosophy at Cambridge University until the age of 29, when he experienced what he calls an "inner transformation." He said the first texts with which he came in contact after the awakening and in which he found deep understanding were the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and teachings of the Buddha. All fine and good, but the Buddha-dharma (in the subjective sense) was never transmitted to him by a teacher and his teaching is outside of the transmission of the Way.
Ken Wilber was a pre-med student at Duke University in 1967 when he became disillusioned with science. He became inspired by Eastern literature, particularly the Tao Te Ching, which catalyzed an interest in Buddhism. He completed a bachelor's degree with a double major in chemistry and biology, and in 1973, published his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, in which he sought to integrate knowledge from disparate fields. Like Tolle, he had an intellectual understanding born of academic study, but hadn't practiced under a Zen teacher, hadn't received transmission, and is outside of the Zen tradition.
In contrast, Dennis Merzel was ordained as a Zen monk in 1973 under the guidance of Taizan Maezumi. Before ordaining, he had spent a year alone in the mountains of California. He completed koan study in 1979, and in 1980 he became a Dharma Successor of Maezumi Roshi. I don't know about the alleged $25,000 minimum donations for five days of study, but if that's the dharma barrier he's set up, I recommend that you pay it if you want to study Zen with him.
The analogy here is to food - if you want to become a chef, one of the great gourmet chefs, under whom would you study? Teachers who've read a lot about the culinary traditions of other lands, but never actually tasted the food, or a true chef and gourmet, who enjoys eating what he cooks and has dined side by side with the master chefs of many lands?
And to answer the question you're probably thinking, I have the good fortune to be practicing Zen under the direction of a transmitted Zen teacher, Taiun Michael Elliston. Elliston Roshi received dharma transmission form his treacher, Rev. Soyu Matsuoka, who in 1949 became one of the first Zen teachers to move to America and was more than likely the first official representative of the Soto tradition in the U.S., and later from Rev. Shohaku Okumura. This living Zen is part of a long tradition stretching back to Shakyamuni Buddha, and not some clever, made-for-t.v. philosophy of a best-selling author.
He also quotes an article translated for him from a Dutch magazine, "Eckhart Tolle is joining Oprah. Is that a good idea? Ken Wilber sells an Integral Life Practice Starter Kit for $199.20. Is that over the edge? Big Mind Inc asks a minimum donation for five days with [Dennis] Merzel of $25.000. . . I too ask myself on a regular basis where this will end."
This bothers me, not due to the expenses or the seeming desire for fame and fortune, but because people continue to equate philosophers and autodidacts like Tolle and Wilber with transmitted Zen teachers like Merzel Roshi, or for that manner, Brad Warner. I have even heard Zen practitioners confirm their fondness for Tolle and Wilber to outsiders while at the Zen Center, which only confuses the issue. When people talk to me about writers like Tolle and Wilbur, I usually just act like I've never heard of them, and ask "Interesting. Who did they study under?"
And before I sound too intolerant or bigoted, let me point out that I'm not saying that their writings are without merit, but that it is incorrect to confuse their teachings, whatever their merit, with that of Zen, even if it does have Zen-like qualities or similarities. Their teachings might be very beneficial to some, but their teachings are not Zen.
Simply put, Zen cannot be "taught" or "understood" at all - it can only be experienced. You can read and philosophize all you want about what an orange tastes like, but until you bite into one, you'll never really know.
As far as I can see, Eckhart Tolle never practiced under a Zen teacher. He studied literature, languages and philosophy at Cambridge University until the age of 29, when he experienced what he calls an "inner transformation." He said the first texts with which he came in contact after the awakening and in which he found deep understanding were the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and teachings of the Buddha. All fine and good, but the Buddha-dharma (in the subjective sense) was never transmitted to him by a teacher and his teaching is outside of the transmission of the Way.
Ken Wilber was a pre-med student at Duke University in 1967 when he became disillusioned with science. He became inspired by Eastern literature, particularly the Tao Te Ching, which catalyzed an interest in Buddhism. He completed a bachelor's degree with a double major in chemistry and biology, and in 1973, published his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, in which he sought to integrate knowledge from disparate fields. Like Tolle, he had an intellectual understanding born of academic study, but hadn't practiced under a Zen teacher, hadn't received transmission, and is outside of the Zen tradition.
In contrast, Dennis Merzel was ordained as a Zen monk in 1973 under the guidance of Taizan Maezumi. Before ordaining, he had spent a year alone in the mountains of California. He completed koan study in 1979, and in 1980 he became a Dharma Successor of Maezumi Roshi. I don't know about the alleged $25,000 minimum donations for five days of study, but if that's the dharma barrier he's set up, I recommend that you pay it if you want to study Zen with him.
The analogy here is to food - if you want to become a chef, one of the great gourmet chefs, under whom would you study? Teachers who've read a lot about the culinary traditions of other lands, but never actually tasted the food, or a true chef and gourmet, who enjoys eating what he cooks and has dined side by side with the master chefs of many lands?
And to answer the question you're probably thinking, I have the good fortune to be practicing Zen under the direction of a transmitted Zen teacher, Taiun Michael Elliston. Elliston Roshi received dharma transmission form his treacher, Rev. Soyu Matsuoka, who in 1949 became one of the first Zen teachers to move to America and was more than likely the first official representative of the Soto tradition in the U.S., and later from Rev. Shohaku Okumura. This living Zen is part of a long tradition stretching back to Shakyamuni Buddha, and not some clever, made-for-t.v. philosophy of a best-selling author.
2 comments:
Shokai.
Yeah.
Sartre studied under Husserl.
Wilber?
And I'd add, sure their teachings aren't Zen.
But they're not academic, rigorous philosophy either, mostly.
As far as Merzel, I think there are better values elsewhere with all due respect, and I've seen the website.
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