From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!houxi!hou5d!hou5a!hou5e!mat
Newsgroups: net.religion
Title: Re: Zen Buddhism
Article-I.D.: hou5e.356
Posted: Sat Apr  9 23:44:20 1983
Received: Tue Apr 12 01:05:49 1983
References: rdin.273

Would a Zen Buddhist even consider discussion on the net?  I once was told
by the keeper of the First Zen Institute in Manhattan that ``Zen is not
a believing thing, it is a doing thing.''  Shortly afterwards, she and a
couple of the other folk there demonstrated -- or rather led us in -- some
of the rituals they practice.  I should point out that this was a field trip
for a comparative religion course, and that the prof. who ran it (a Quaker)
stopped chanting the Sutra just at the point where it calls for rejecting
the pleasures of the body (ie sex).
Anyhow, the question is this:  are the learning tools of Zen (koans and
un-sense) compatable with the semirational flaming on this newsgroup?  I would
be curious to find out.
As a side issue, the Prof who ran that comp-relig course said that he was
convinced that no one could be qualified to teach such a course.  If you
had no religion, he explained, you certainly were not qualified to talk about
is, since you ain't even there.  If you DO have a religion, well then, it
is A religion, and you are automatically prejudiced toward it.  I must
say that he was a lot more honest than many of the social--sciences or
philosophy prof.s that I had -- they refused to even concede that they migh
have biases when they had prejudices that were more obvious than a bad case
of acne.
						Duke of deNet and
						Keeper of the .!i||:FLAME.!i||:
						Mark Terribile
						-!hou5e!mat