Faith in the Age of Aquariums isn't Zen: A Primer

What is New Age religion?

Exhibit A: Hammer, Olav (2001). Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age.

The late 1950s saw the first stirrings within the cultic milieu of a belief in a coming new age. A variety of small movements arose, revolving around revealed messages from beings in space and presenting a synthesis of post-Theosophical and other esoteric doctrines. These movements might have remained marginal, had it not been for the explosion of the counterculture in the 1960s and early 1970s. Various historical threads ... began to converge: nineteenth century doctrinal elements such as Theosophy and post-Theosophical esotericism as well as harmonious or positive thinking were now eclectically combined with ... religious psychologies: transpersonal psychology, Jungianism and a variety of Eastern teachings. It became perfectly feasible for the same individuals to consult the I Ching, practice Jungian astrology, read Abraham Maslow's writings on peak experiences, etc. The reason for the ready incorporation of such disparate sources was a similar goal of exploring an individualized and largely non-Christian religiosity.

Exhibit B: Encyclopedia Brittanica

In the late 19th century Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, announced a coming New Age. She believed that theosophists (who embraced Buddhist and Brahmanic notions such as reincarnation) should assist the evolution of the human race and prepare to cooperate with one of the Ascended Masters of the Great White Brotherhood whose arrival was imminent.

While esotericism grew, its major representative, theosophy, suffered significant setbacks. In the 1880s Blavatsky was accused of faking miraculous events associated with her contact with the Ascended Masters. In the early 20th century the Theosophical Society was hurt again, this time by a series of sex scandals involving its leaders, and Besant was personally embarrassed by the defection of Krishnamurti in 1929.

Exhibit C: The 5th Dimension - Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In

Harmony and understanding | Sympathy and trust abounding | No more falsehoods or derisions | Golden living dreams of visions | (Mystic crystal revelation) | And the mind's true liberation, Aquarius

Let the sunshine, let the sun shine in (oh, let the sun shine on in) | The sun shine in (open up your heart and let it shine on you)

What do Zen Masters say about...

1. "Revealed messages...presenting...esoteric doctrines"

   Jinfeng said, ""When asked about the ordinary, I answered about the ordinary; when asked about the holy, I answered about the holy." The monk said, "How is it having no indulgent heart twenty years later?" He said, "When asked about the ordinary, I don't answer about the ordinary; when asked about the holy, I don't answer about the holy."

2. Messianic Religious Authority

   Deshan said, "Here I have no Buddha and no Dharma. Bodhidharma was a smelly old foreigner; the bodhisattvas of the tenth stage are dung haulers; the equally and subtly enlightened are immoral worldlings; bodhi and nirvana are donkey-tethering stakes; the twelve-part canonical teachings are ghost tablets, paper for wiping pus from sores; those who have attained the four fruitions, the three ranks of sages, and those from initial inspiration to the tenth stage, are ghosts haunting ancient tombs, unable to save even themselves; Buddha was an old foreigner, a piece of crap."

3. Harmony, Trust, Liberation of Mind

   Foyan said, I am exhorting you in utter seriousness; I am not lying, I am not making up rationalizations to trap people, I will not allow people to oppress the free. I have no such reasons. If you recognize this, that is up to you. If you say you also see this way, that is up to you. If you say that everything is all right according to your perception, that is up to you; If you say your mind is still uneasy, that is up to you. You can only attain realization if you don't deceive yourself.

What does all of this mean for /r/Zen?

New Age types that come here are identified by their shrinking in terror from having to publicly identify their religious authorities (lineage) in an AMA format, refraining from making perrenialist-racist claims about Zen, and engaging appropriately with the community (i.e., not vote-brigading, alt-account running, derailing)

Due to it's deeply intertwined history of misrepresentation, the eclectic, non-institutional, non-historical nature of "New Age" make it an umbrella for the (predominantly white, male, ex-Christian) self-identifying Buddhists, Daoists, Vedantists, Watts-ians, and Psychonauts that come here.

A Zen community, in contrast, deals with lineage claims publicly by putting them to the test.

Accept no imitations.

Submitted March 12, 2022 at 06:48AM by ThatKir https://ift.tt/IR3e0qQ