Zen in Popular Culture (what motivated you to practice?)
I have been reading Alan Watts and listening to his lectures since the early nineties. This led me to the Suzukis and to additional Buddhist literature, which I devoured over the course of the years. I found Zen philosophy very appealing, and I always called myself a Buddhist. But practice makes a Buddhist, not study. And yet, I did not practice for many years.
What got me to practice was the portrayal of Zen in popular culture. Although it may seem odd, I started sitting after seeing the movie "Fight Club," which has nothing to do with sitting but plenty to do with Zen (in an odd sort of way). My call to the cushion, so to speak, came the first time I heard Tyler Durden utter these words: "you are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
strange story, but true. Anyone else motivated by a popular culture reference?
gassho (and thank you for indulging me),
william
Zen in Popular Culture (what motivated you to practice?)
My mother had a friend from India that she was designing a patio for. After a bit of planning, each day she would tell me stories of where she came from, and I, a little tater tot at the time soaked it all up like a sponge.
Around the same time, I had seen Little Buddha with Keanu Reeves (a little cheesy whenever I rewatch it nowadays but when I was little, it got it's message across to my young mind). So I asked my mom's Indian friend and she showed me meditation and the mantra Om.
I researched various kinds of meditation during my early, soul-searching teens. Like dream meditation, candle-gazing, yogic, etc. During a little research in the high school library, I found a book called Waking Up to What You Do by Diane Eshin Rizzetto. She starts with a little introduction to the practice and then breaks down the precepts one by one connecting to how we can realize them in our daily life. It's a wonderful book and I just read more and more and now here I am. Glad to be here too.
Gassho
Javier
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