THE FUTURE OF ZEN BUDDHISM IN THE WEST

http://www.theology101.org/bud/zen/aitken-o.txt

by

ROBERT AITKEN, Roshi

Copyrights (c) 1987 by Rober Aitken and Sydney Zen Centre

I have been commissioned to do a paper for the forthcoming (July,   '87) conference

on World Buddhism in North America that will be titled,　　 The Zen Buddhist Movement in

North America: Retrospect and Prospect".　　 I have the first draft finished, and here are

some excerpts.   (The conference will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is sponsored

by the Zen Lotus Society under the direction of the Korean teacher Samu Sunim.)

The Middle Way is the Sangha form that we choose, the nature of our organisation 

and the practice we follow as members.   Organisation and practice are imtimately interrelated matters, but they can be examined separately and in categories.

Regarding the organisation:   The Buddha's teaching is our guide.   You and I have no abiding self, but   rather we are temporary aggregates, individually and socially, depending on each other for our lives and our identities.   The Sangha that is grounded in this teaching will have a number of distinctive qualities.   

First, like all beings, the Sangha will have its own personality.　　 This will be partly a synthesis of the personalities of its members and its teacher, and partly a "je ne sais quoi" spirit that cannot be precisely identified.   This personality will have a virtuous power that will radiate the teaching so long as it is not turned back upon itself in self-congratulation.

Next, the Sangha will be grounded in certain rituals - a meditation meeting with ceremonies that make it a spiritual home, just as a secular home is grounded in the ceremonies of greetings, common meals, in-jokes,bedtime stories, and so on.   The spiritual home is a particular place, a temple perhaps, but it can carry over into the secular home if a corner is made sacred with an image, flowers, candlelight, incense, and meditation practice, and if gathas are included as grace before meals and at other occasions such as bedtime.   In this way, the secular home becomes spiritual, enhancing the virtues of both spirit and family.　　 The Buddha Sangha is then an aggregate of households.

Among the rituals of the Sangha there should, I am sure, be refuge in the Three Treasures and acceptance of the Three Pure Precepts and the Ten Grave Precepts.   As monks of ancient times came together to renew their vows every fourteen days, so the lay Western Sangha can work out periodic renewal ceremonies that confirm the way of right action.   The Tiep Hien ceremony of renewal is an instructive model.   We are in the world but not of it.   Like lotus flowers in the fire, we bloom in the world of desires including our own, conserving our energies for the Dharma wheel, and maintaining the Buddha's noble path as our own.

Other rituals should, I believe, be forms of communication for sharing, healing, and reconciliation.　　 Many of these can be adapted directly from Theravada ceremonies, some can be taken from contemporary Christian and humanistic movements.   The sharing and healing rituals of Rissho Koseikai that bring lay leaders into member families to help with problems of disaffection are very interesting models.   All such rituals confirm our interdependence, and offer intimate engagement as a way of realisation.   Depth psychology, the interpretation of dreams, and the study of folklore can be important supplements to sharing and healing rituals.

The Zen centre programme should, I believe, also include academic study of Buddhism.   Traditionally, Rinzai Zen in particular has offered little teaching of other   forms of Mahayana, and even less of classical Buddhism.   Yet Zen is a Buddhist stream, and the various formulations - the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Four Abodes, the Six Paramitas, the Three Bodies of the Buddha - and the many sutras are essential lights on our path.   There also should be a supplementary study of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the pantheon, for these archetypes can be personalised as inner guides toward compassion and understanding.