Hello all, I have not been posting often lately, but have been lurking around the Sangha nonetheless.

I thought I would break my silence to offer Jundo a deep Gassho of respect. I rather carelessly put myself into a situation recently in which I was asked:

“Ah, so what exactly is Zen?”

The question caught me off guard, and conjured only smart-ass answers like “three pounds flax” or “Mu”, none of which I feel I have the authority to actually say, not to mention how unhelpful and bizarre such responses would have been in that situation. It made me realise how challenging Jundo’s commitment must be, explaining Zen in a coherent manner.

So what was my response? As always, far too much. I feel that next time I would rather avoid such a situation altogether in order to avoid the risk of doing Zen a disservice with my bumbled attempts to explain it. But is avoidance of this topic really the best course of action? I think we may have touched on similar topics in the past here at Treeleaf, but my searches were fruitless. I would not mind hearing the opinions of others.

Gassho,
Kelly