..续本文上一页t of the morning service is chanting the names of the buddhas and ancestors: at Tassajara, we chanted from Shakyamuni Buddha all the way down to Suzuki Roshi. It”s a male lineage. So a number of years ago we gathered the little we know of the Indian women who practiced in the order that Shakyamuni Buddha started, and named those names. That has become a standard part of the service. Now we”re adding more women”s names to the list.
Also, in the zendo at Green Gulch we have a Tara Buddha on one altar, and Shakyamuni Buddha on the other. So the room is balanced in terms of wisdom and compassion, with male and female forms of enlightenment.
Do you think that”s the biggest change
I don”t know what I”d call the biggest. There”s also the incorporation of family practice. At Tassajara, we”ve had families practicing in the monastery, supporting each other, living there with children.
Is that unusual
I think that”s unusual in the Buddhist world.
It”s interesting, the switch from the monastic to this lay world.
Suzuki Roshi said that he didn”t know if we were lay or priest. In Japan it was clear that in the lay tradition you donated to the temple, you had your memorial services, you had your family plot and you supported the priest. Lay people didn”t necessarily participate in zazen. But they do here. So that”s another change.
Why are you doing things differently
Well, in the 1960”s people got word that a real Zen master—Suzuki Roshi—was living in San Francisco, and so they came to see what it was all about. They asked what he did and he said, “I do zazen every morning—you”re welcome to join.” It was fifty-fifty men and women. No one was a priest yet; you just practiced. Already that was a different thing.
Is it possible that if you don”t keep these forms, you”ll lose Zen
I think the feeling is, Let”s sort this out like Psyche sorting her seeds. What is Japanese culture, and what are the core teachings
Norman Fischer, who used to be abbot here before me, has his own group called Everyday Zen, and he has changed the ecclesiastical garb. His group is not living in a monastic situation—they”re more in the world. So I can see that eventually we”re going to come up with something new in the West. We”re experimenting with that.
John Tarrant
is the director of the Pacific Zen Institute. He is the author of The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul and the Spiritual Life.
Maybe we need to be clearer about what Zen is . . .
John Tarrant: If someone asks you what music is, you play the piano. Zen has moves like that. Somebody could ask, “What is Zen
” and you could say, “The apple tree out front,” or, “The eyes of the homeless.” That”s a good way to touch the need behind the question, yet it”s hard to grasp straight away. So, there are methods: Zen is something you do that transforms the mind. Every day, sit down and be quiet and feel your life. Try to keep company with a koan. Check whether your heart is open when you”re practicing. That”s important. Try noticing things in the mind. Try not believing your thoughts—that might be liberating.
If there”s a “No Trespassers” area in your life where you think spiritual practice can”t go, go there anyway and Zen will be more visible to you. If you think you have to be Japanese, Tibetan, thin, married, a monk, whatever, find what in you isn”t those things and Zen will be there.
Go to the mall, and when you”re standing in line for the movies, or looking for a better shade of lipstick, I bet you can find Zen there. That might be modern Zen.
If I were shopping for lipstick, what would I be looking for if I were looking for Zen
Are you free
Is it funny
Can you see through the forms of things
Can you really enjoy the lipstick
Is it generous
What is free
Well, “I need…
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