MD and GEB?

[David Casseres]

Rick Vosper sez
>I guess that's fair enough. But if "Western Zen" as opposed to, I guess
>"Americanized Japanese Zen" (now there's a mouthful!) isn't well defined,
>how can we define whether Watts was into it, deeply or otherwise? Could you
>give contemporary examples, perhaps? I wonder if Merce Cunningham of Philip
>Glass might fit...
>
>Or are you talkin' about the Keruoac/early Ginsberg version, often called
>"Beat Zen?" There was a lot of DT Suzuki in their stuff, I believe...

I guess I'm really just talking about whatever it is that I think of as 
Zen.  I began with Beat Zen, sure enough.  Then I read DT Suzuki, and 
then lots of other stuff.  In my own mind it still isn't well defined, 35 
years later.  But Watts made a deep impression on me as someone who *had* 
Zen in his life, and could speak of it in a way that connected with my 
own life.

I think we need to distinguish several different things.  There's the 
scholarly pursuit of knowledge about Zen; there's traditional Zen 
practice; there's the teaching of Zen itself; and there's Zen.  An 
"introduction to Western Zen" can take many different forms, depending on 
which of these it emphasizes.

My favorite bit of Suzuki, where he's really just summarizing a very old, 
still-running discussion:  How can you have Zen in a Zendo (Zen 
school/monastery)?  Suzuki sez of course you can't, there's nothing Zen 
at all about a Zendo.  Then he restates the question: so why do we have a 
Zendo?  Answer: because we have to do something.  (All from memory after 
years of other thoughts, no doubt I'm misquoting.)


Cheers,
David