My mother has been practising Zen for a couple of years in a Zen school in the Netherlands. What we both think or assume Zen to be is a way to experience the reality as it is in a non-dual way (liberation, enlightenment or whatever word you want to give it).
During her time there she felt like they were more focused on the personal aspect of growth, but that the essence was never talked about to one time she mentioned the subject to the teacher who just laughed at her. He replied: ‘I’ve been practising Zen for 15 years and I’m not enlightened so you also won’t become enlightened. Forget about it because it won’t happen.’
Ofcourse you can state that enlightenment is not personal so it won’t happen to you, but that didn’t seem the point he was making. I found it a bit shocking when she shared this with me and it makes me wonder what people are actually teaching in these Western Zen schools and what requirements they have for teachers.
I am very interested to hear your opinions on this subject!
Submitted February 27, 2023 at 04:54PM by Mystical_Mushroom https://ift.tt/FLYiOhz
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