"Since the war, Japanese people have started to wear Western suits, giving up their Buddhist robes, unless they are performing a funeral or memorial service. I don't feel so good about that, so I always wear my robes. When I was coming to America, almost all the priests who were going abroad wore good suits and shiny shoes. They thought that in order to propogate Buddhism they had to be like the American people. But their heads were not shiny. Their hair was pretty long and well combed, rather than shaved off. But even though they buy the best suits and the best shoes, Japanese are Japanese. They cannot be American people, and American people will find some fault in the way they wear their suits or shoes. That is one reason why I didn't come to America in a suit."

- Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So (pg 67)

Wise words from the late Suzuki Roshi. It is for those same reasons that I resist trying to imitate the Japanese. Even if I were to wear robes and practice calligraphy, Americans are still Americans and the Japanese will find some fault with the way I dress or my penmanship.

Ordinary mind is the Way, and our aim is to actualize our true self, not some exotic vision of what we could become. Yet, at the Zen Center, I see many people wearing all manners of variations on black robes, martial art gi's, or other Asian outfits. It's often insisted that we eat in the oryoki style, and lessons in calligraphy and sewing of robes are offered. Wearing robes, sewing robes, and licking my bowl clean after a meal are not in my nature, so why should I pretend to be something that I'm not?

I'm told that I'm missing the whole point. In oryoki, I'm told, we can bring our mindfulness to our eating, and it's a beautiful tradition practiced by our Buddhist ancestors. Yes, I think, and Zen Master Dogen wrote an entire fascicle in the Shobogenzo on how to clean the anus after defecating using two sticks and balls of mud, but I can't help but notice how Americans choose some practices to follow and others to ignore.

But I'm ignoring the mindfulness, I'm reminded. In sewing practice, we recite the names of the Buddha with every stitch, bringing our full consciousness to the effort. It's a tremendous way to concentrate one's attention and experience mindfulness.

They say all this as if they've never even heard of zazen.

I propose that they are looking for their mind somewhere outside of their self, in esoteric practices or exotic clothing. For westerners, the true self is not contained in some sort of eastern fascimile, but in being true to the self. The few people in our zendo who have been presented robes in recognition of their roles within the sangha generally don't wear them unless there's some sort of official function requiring their "uniform," and that should say something to the others.

As long as we look for the answers outside of our selves, we are moving away from our Buddha nature, not toward it.