• SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: The BEST Zen is SO DISAPPOINTING!

    THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ZEN TALK YOU WILL EVER HEAR. It will save Zen Students endless tail chasing and dead-ends, disappointments and wasted days. It will allow every Sitting to be Magnificent ... both the Sittings which are magnificent and those which are not. One will never be let down by one's Zen's Practice again ... nor by one's life, family and friends, nor this whole world ... both when fulfilling your every dream and when falling far short.

    In an old Koan from the Book of Serenity (Ganto's Bow and Shout) a Zen student of too little experience but too much self conceit (as is true of so many modern Zen Students) shows up at the doorway of a Sangha. He demands, full of opinions, "Is this place sacred or just common? Is it what I think I want from the Zen I picture? Is it 'real Zen' or just fake Zen, and are the Teachers enlightened as I want 'enlightened' to look and seem?"

    The Teacher in the Koan then demonstrates Dharma with a KATZU! Shout ... perhaps a GREAT Wordless Teaching or perhaps just a hackneyed cliche clunker. The student, moved, may decide to stay. Or, judgmental and dreaming, filled with golden expectations, the same Zen Student may feel disappointed with the Teachings offered (compared to how he thinks they "should" sound ... even if he is not quite sure how that is.). He leaves ... either right away or after some time ... thinking "there is no True Dharma here." He may judge based on having read too many Zen story books, where all the characters of the past have been cleaned up and dipped in gold (Although please read some of the old books such as the Vinaya, and you will find what a frustrating mess, with folks bumping noses, was Sangha even in the Buddha's day ). In either case, the foolish student fails to hear the TRUE SHOUT! ... the Great Wordless Teaching found both in the inspiring moment and the hack and cliche'd klunk.

    The student fails to realize that the Best Zen Sangha may be that which is sometimes inspiring and sometimes discouraging, and the Best Buddhist Teachers and Friends those who are frequently uplifting and sometimes frustrating and mostly in between ... the ones who sometimes meet your ideals, but sometimes don't.

    For what the Zen Student must find is Such which is Common-Holy, Specially Unspecial, fulfilling all desires ... both with what is wanted and what is not. The student most find freedom from the small human self ... filled with aversions and attractions, dreams and feelings of incompleteness and lack (the "I" in "I'm disappointed"). Can one know the Real that sweeps in and sweeps through 'real' or 'fake'? Can the Great Teaching be heard that shouts at the Unbreakable Heart of both the sparkling talks or thrilling moments and the dull or dumb, the Timeless both in the 'time well spent' and so-called 'waste of time'? Can one experience the Wholly Holy Whole, which fills all the high mountains climbed and barren holes one falls in. Can one find that True Way from which there is no way to "go away"? Even the frauds and fake Teachers, even the Teachers with weaknesses and failings, even the the greatest abusers and predators are Teaching to those with a Buddha's Eye to see.

    Is this a clarion call to complacency and mediocrity, acceptance of the ugly without attempt at repair? FAR FROM IT! Yet there are two kinds of Sangha or Teacher that, I feel, do a disservice to students. One is a place or person that is too lax, too careless, which fails to provide beneficial opportunities for Practice, or (in some fortunately very VERY few cases) where real abuse and other bad acts occur. But, counter-intuitive as it may seem, a Sangha or Teacher which meets all the student's expectations, golden dreams, ideals and desires too would be a disservice (not to mention unlikely to ever truly appear, at least for the long haul when the rose colored honeymoon is done. It would be as misleading as the world of 'Gods' in the Six Realms, where all is given that is desired). Why? Because as with all of this life, all this world, one must come to see through personal judgments of both "sacred" and "ordinary", good and bad, flashy or dull, entertaining or painful, satisfying and disatisfying, true vs. fake ... thus to find a Truth beyond selfish expectations, disappointments, dreams, ideals and failings to meet a mark, thus to find the Mark Always Met. The best Teacher or Community, as strange as it sounds, may be one that ... like the universe ... sometimes inspires and sometimes frustrates, sometimes energizes and sometimes bores, sometimes astounds and sometimes leaves cold ... all so that one might find Astounding Energetic Inspiration even right at the heart of the frustratingly dull or unbearably cold.

    This is not a call for complacency, resignation or merely "putting up with" ... but a call to PIERCE RIGHT THROUGH!

    Our Treeleaf Sangha is a wonderfully imperfect place, often beautiful and often filled with small frictions. Our Teachers here are well-meaning but mediocre clods and fools. Yet This Place, This Dharma, This Buddha, sits beyond all human weighing and rating.

    Here is a talk by me, the Best Zen Talk You Will Ever Hear, yet just middling and unspecial. Is it worth the time? Is it a waste of time?

    ........................... 'Tis Timeless whether worth or waste.

    This article was originally published in forum thread: SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: The BEST Zen is SO DISAPPOINTING! started by Jundo View original post
    Comments 52 Comments
    1. Kaiku's Avatar
      Kaiku -


      Gassho,
      Bobby
    1. Blaine's Avatar
      Blaine -
      Thank you Jundo. This is a great teaching.

      The best Teacher or Community, as strange as it sounds, may be one that ... like the universe ... sometimes inspires and sometimes frustrates, sometimes energizes and sometimes bores, sometimes astounds and sometimes leaves cold ... all so that one might find Astounding Energetic Inspiration even right at the heart of the frustratingly dull or unbearably cold.
      Gassho,
      Blaine
    1. Edward E's Avatar
      Edward E -
      Thank you Jundo. I need to reread this on a regular basis! This type of straightforward and honest teaching is one of the reasons I'm at Treeleaf.

      Gassho,
      Eddie
    1. Byokan's Avatar
      Byokan -
      So very disappointing, Jundo, thank you!

      Gassho
      Lisa
      sat today
    1. Jishin's Avatar
      Jishin -
      Jundo is so very disappointing. I thought he was going to fix me and everything would be hunky dory. Thanks a lot!

      Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_
    1. Doshin's Avatar
      Doshin -
      Well that's enlightening.

      Lisa, glad you keep bringing these talks to my attention, I think

      Jishin, I had no expectations Jundo could fix me. A zen teacher once told me my case could take a hundred years.....sigh

      Gassho

      Randy
      sattoday
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo -
      Quote Originally Posted by Calm Heart View Post
      Well that's enlightening.

      Lisa, glad you keep bringing these talks to my attention, I think

      Jishin, I had no expectations Jundo could fix me. A zen teacher once told me my case could take a hundred years.....sigh

      Gassho

      Randy
      sattoday
      Perhaps 100 lifetimes or 100 instants or 100 endless Kalpa.

      Gassho, J

      SatToday
    1. Jika's Avatar
      Jika -
    1. Onkai's Avatar
      Onkai -
      Thank you

      Gassho,
      Onkai
      SatToday
    1. Gokai's Avatar
      Gokai -
      Thank you for this wonderful teaching. Life as it is.
      Gassho
      David

      Sattoday
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo -
      I am glad you like this talk. Watching again, I was very let down. Big disappointment.

      Gassho, J

      SatToday
    1. Joyo's Avatar
      Joyo -
      I just watched this again too. It was equally disappointing and wonderful.

      Gassho,
      Joyo
      sat today