{"id":2715,"date":"2020-06-03T15:09:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T15:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2020-06-03T15:09:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T15:09:46","slug":"a-religion-called-zen-buddhism-by-ming-zhen-shakya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=2715","title":{"rendered":"A Religion Called Zen Buddhism by Ming Zhen Shakya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to this wonderful, iconic essay of our late teacher Ming Zhen Shakya. Many may know this article was published on the Chinese Buddhist website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also, for those who do know of Hank Hill please go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This posting is an edited version of the original which is on the Chinese Buddhist website.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hank Hill, television\u2019s Man For All Seasons, is a man of honor and as such does not gossip; and this is why his wife Peggy \u2013 who frequently pushes \u201cclueless\u201d into negative numbers, fell victim to that species of Urban Legend we often call, \u201cAccrediting the false through familiarity\u201d or something like that.<\/p>\n

Everybody in Hank\u2019s neighborhood knows that Dale Gribble is being cuckolded \u2013 everybody but Peggy and, of course, Dale.\u00a0 Usually it is difficult to condone adultery but Dale manages to lend a certain facility to the task.\u00a0 Chain-smoking and paranoid, skinny and with the sexual allure of a tangled bunch of coat hangers, Dale helps onlookers to regard with sympathetic acceptance his wife Nancy\u2019s \u201cmedical needs\u201d \u2013 Nancy regularly is seized by migraine headaches that seem only to relax their grip when she receives the curing touch of a handsome Amerindian Faith Healer, John Redcorn.\u00a0 Dale, as generous as he is obtuse, is actually grateful to John for attending to Nancy\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

And Peggy?\u00a0 She sees nothing peculiar in the Indian\u2019s frequent house calls even when they are concluded by rapid window exits.\u00a0 Imagine her surprise, then, when she accidently discovers Nancy and John, en flagrante delicto<\/em>.\u00a0 Uh oh, trouble in Arlen, Texas.\u00a0 Peggy, stunned, hastens to another neighbor, Minh, and breathlessly announces, \u201cNancy is having an affair!\u201d\u00a0 Minh is incredulous.\u00a0 \u201cOh my God!\u201d she responds, \u201cNancy is cheating on John Redcorn?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thematically, this is one of the oldest urban legends in circulation:\u00a0 it arouse in the era before electronic identification of bank checks.\u00a0 Signatures used to be examined for authenticity by clerks, and the story was that an embezzling bookkeeper had so often forged the signature of the usually absent business owner that when the owner actually came back and presented a check for cashing, the teller deemed it a forgery \u2013 it bore so little resemblance to the signature he was used to seeing.<\/p>\n

And this is rather a long way around to get to the point of this complaint:\u00a0 Zen Buddhism and Meditation are a married couple; and the guest who comes to their house is Health Benefit.<\/p>\n

But in recent years Health Benefit and Meditation are so often found en flagrante delicto<\/em> that Zen Buddhism begins to look like a superfluous but otherwise enabling motel desk clerk, one that provides a setting for the assignation.<\/p>\n

Buddhist priests and other members of Eastern religions are rigorously prodded, poked, and tested as if they were abductees on an alien spaceship.\u00a0 The report that follows the examination, however, doesn\u2019t appear in UFO digests; it is published as a feature story in the health section of a news magazine or an in-depth analysis in Lancet.\u00a0 What about insomnia?\u00a0 High blood pressure?\u00a0 Curing cancer?\u00a0 How does Japanese Green tea, a Zen staple, affect the immune system?\u00a0 Psychologists view Zen meditation from a more social aspect.\u00a0 Anger management?\u00a0 A less judgmental personality?\u00a0 The merits of Zen Buddhist meditation are rated in a kind of Consumer Report\u2019s lab evaluation.\u00a0 How does it stack up against other mind control techniques?\u00a0 If the name \u201cBuddha\u201d were not found in the name of our religion, we\u2019d have no religious identification whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Buddhist congregations are photographed as if they were sitting at biofeedback or EEG machines \u2013 and sometimes they actually are.\u00a0 Those who study the pictures assume that the subjects have gathered to get control of bad habits or hypertension.\u00a0 The Zen Buddhists that we know \u2013 the faithful who work hard to gain salvation and weep with joy when they reach it or who bow daily in gratitude to the Merciful Guan Yen \u2013 may reverently whisper, \u201cBuddham saranam gacchami\u201d but to the outside world they\u2019re saying, \u201cLook Ma! No Prozac!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Buddhism is an ancient religion which has eight separate disciplinary steps that comprise a single Eightfold Path.\u00a0 The Eighth of these disciplines, Right Meditation, is a collection of introspective techniques used for achieving higher states of consciousness, which, together with the other seven disciplines<\/em>, leads to spiritual liberation.<\/p>\n

All religions offer introspective techniques for achieving spiritual ascendance.\u00a0 And if it should happen that these techniques provide additional benefits such as calmness, grater immunity to disease, or lower blood pressure, that\u2019s fine.\u00a0 But this is not why they are performed.<\/p>\n

And when Buddhists lead themselves to the study of meditation\u2019s benefits, that\u2019s ok, too.\u00a0 They are contributing to the common good and no conscientious Buddhist would refuse to share the benefit of his discipline.\u00a0 But when the medical uses of the discipline suddenly take precedence in the public\u2019s regard and Buddhism becomes not so much a religion as a therapeutic regimen \u2013 or worse, as merely the source<\/em> of a therapeutic regimen, we\u2019ve got a problem.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t demand respect.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even ask for it.\u00a0 But surely we have a right to object when our religion is stacked on the same supermarket shelves as non-religious health aids, and treated with glib, left-handed compliments and amused contempt as it is by Joel Stein in an article in Time Magazine. (Just Say OM<\/em>, August 4, 2003)<\/p>\n

First, the Sanskrit word for meditation is Dhyana which is roughly pronounced as Jana, a term which the Chinese reproduce as Jan or Chan and the Japanese as Zen.\u00a0 Chan (or Zen) is also the specific name of one kind of Buddhism that was founded in China in AD 520 and which, since its inception has emphasized the practice of meditation in any of its many forms.\u00a0 But for so long as the Buddha was Indian, our religion is an Indian, \u201ceastern\u201d religion.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust say Om<\/em>,\u201d leads off Mr. Stein, \u201cScientists study it.\u00a0 Doctors recommend it.\u00a0 Millions of Americans \u2013 many of whom don\u2019t even own crystals\u2026\u201d Excuse me?<\/p>\n

Om is a sacred syllable to those who follow Indian Paths to salvation.\u00a0 A very sacred syllable\u2026but one that Mr. Stein will later call \u201ccreepy\u201d because it is foreign.\u00a0 How does he feel about \u201cKyrie Eleison<\/em>\u201d?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at Time\u2019s presentation.\u00a0 Mr. Stein begins with a cute contradiction:\u00a0 He\u2019s sitting in a yoga studio with forty people, most of whom are pretty women, and he considers it an accomplishment that he is \u201cnot thinking about them.\u201d\u00a0 But in the next sentence he says that once he gets beyond thinking about the pain in his foot, he also lets his \u201cthoughts of the hot women go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga,\u201d means union and the specific union it means is with God.\u00a0 And, indeed in the midst of this sexual challenge, something fuzzy happens to Mr. Stein.\u00a0 He has, \u201cthis epiphany\u201d which is, \u201cI could be watching television.\u201d<\/p>\n

We may never understand why Time Magazine published an article that contained such mocking references to Buddhism and to other eastern religions that emphasize the practice of meditation.\u00a0 Much respect is accorded those businesses that offer classes in meditation or that study meditators as if they were creatures in a petri dish.\u00a0 Perhaps Mr. Stein is doing some extra public relations work for those authors who have written secular books on meditation he so nicely advertises.\u00a0 Time needs to investigate to determine if a conflict of interest has compromised its journalistic integrity.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t speak for the other religions, but Zen Buddhists are not clownish freaks or flakes whose activities warrant their being subjected to this kind of sleazy reporting.\u00a0 Zen Buddhists were the first American religious group to volunteer to care for AIDS patients \u2013 when other religious groups were sneering \u201cGay Plague.\u201d\u00a0 Every day Zen Buddhists work without pay in hospices and soup kitchens and prisons.\u00a0 Everyday people consult Zen websites and receive without any fee whatsoever Buddhist guidance and literature; and, in our Internet ministry at least, people receive Buddhist Precepts and sangha membership at absolutely no cost to anyone except the priests of our Order who personally bear all of the expenses associated with our ministry.<\/p>\n

Mr. Stein\u2019s comments are disturbing. \u201cAs meditation is demystified and mainstreamed, the methods have become more streamlined.\u00a0 There\u2019s less incense burning today, but there remains a nugget of Buddhist philosophy:\u00a0 the belief that sitting in silence for 10 minutes to 40 minutes a day and actively concentrating on a breath or word or an image, you can train yourself to focus on the present over the past and future, transcending reality by fully accepting it.\u00a0 In its most modern, Americanized forms, it has dropped the creepy mantra bit that has you memorize a sacred phrase or syllable; instead you focus on a sound or on your breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDemystified\u201d?\u00a0 Uh oh\u2026Meditation is divorcing Zen Buddhism.<\/p>\n

\u201cDropping the creepy mantra bit\u201d?\u00a0 This certainly simplifies Zen training.\u00a0 Who needs sacred words in the \u201cDo it yourself\u201d Health Benefit business?<\/p>\n

\u201cA nugget of Buddhist philosophy remains\u201d?\u00a0 And that philosophical nugget is not found in Buddhist ethics but in a scientific estimate of Buddhism\u2019s philosophy \u2013 to \u201ctranscend reality by fully accepting it?\u201d\u00a0 Gee.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t we think of that?\u00a0 And, since other religions practice similar forms of meditation, what nugget of Judaic philosophy remains after Mr. Stein dispenses with the dross? \u00a0What nugget of Christian philosophy remains?<\/p>\n

Perhaps the editors of Time Magazine would kindly reread those insulting, misleading, and inaccurate comments and explain to us \u201cAmerican\u201d Buddhists why they chose someone like Joel Stein to write about religion.\u00a0 Calling an article The Science of Meditation<\/em> and putting it in the Health<\/em> Section ought to have limited the references to religion.\u00a0 Instead, while the piece provided scientific information about meditation, its slant was clearly directed against traditional religious practices and in favor of secular, business-oriented groups and authors.<\/p>\n

So here we are, after having furnished the bodies, setting and lore for all that scientific data, advised by Mr. Stein and others of his ilk to dump our religious pretensions.\u00a0 We are just another health benefit group and we might as well accept our lowered status gracefully or risk further derision in Time Magazine.<\/p>\n

Hank Hill, a Man For All Seasons, would doubtless be fair in his appraisal of Time\u2019s article.\u00a0 And in judgment of Joel Stein\u2019s flippant comments, Hank Hill would undoubtedly conclude, \u201cHe needs his ass kicked.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so he does, Mr. Hill.\u00a0 And so he does.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"Humming<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
Author: Ming Zhen Shakya<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
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If for some reason you need elucidation on the teaching,<\/p>\n

please contact the editor at:\u00a0yao.xiang.editor@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to this wonderful, iconic essay of our late teacher Ming Zhen Shakya. Many may know this article was published on the Chinese Buddhist website here. Also, for those who do know of Hank Hill please go here. This posting is an edited version of the original which is on the Chinese Buddhist website.  … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays-by-ming-zhen-shakya","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phd6fo-HN","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/MingZhenWolf-e1534939392809.jpg","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2715"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2722,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions\/2722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}