beware of old farts

Beware of old farts, I think today in the wake of pesky, heart-felt emails.

Like aging lions whose languorous lust once kept the dusky maidens of thought under a keen eye, old farts can be more tired now, but that does not mean they cannot be roused, cannot roar and cannot put their teeth to savage use.

The emails concerned the sex scandals in Zen Buddhist realms. They reiterated in new words and with new vigor the concerns of those concerned with such things. "This is no damned joke!" they exploded between the lines. And my old-fart mind smiled from the shade of some timeless acacia tree.

I think my old-fart friends who have likewise fathered a hundred thoughts on the subject matter may feel much the same as I do: Yes, the battles fought and the effort expended was worth the effort and is worth continued, unflinching scrutiny. Friends like Kobutsu Malone who busted his tail compiling the Shimano Archive or the Sasaki Archive that few if any bother to read as they explode, "This is no damned joke!" Friends like Stuart Lachs, whose carefully wrought essays on various fairy-tale aspects of Zen Buddhism are a pleasure to any who may take Zen Buddhism with an honest seriousness. Yes, it was worth the effort, but, through experience and age, the outrage that once attended that effort seems to ... take too much energy.

I think perhaps my friends feel as I do (and if they don't, I will get some scathing email informing me that I can be an old fart if I want to, but don't include them in my appreciations!) No one is backing down, though our detractors might wish we'd hurry up and die ... but the sexy, perky, watchful energy, the outrage and wonder at the outrageousness, has dimmed.

Having said that, I can imagine the detractors of the past rising up with relief: Thank God! -- if these interlopers and nay-sayers and ne'er-do-wells will just shut up, perhaps there won't be any need to address the issues ... and hence the issues can be said to have disappeared. What a relief. Thank God! Zen Buddhism is clean as a hound's tooth, authentic and pure and ... well, all the good hagiographic stuff. Let us once more confer and wax wise ... and sidestep the issues.

The acacia tree of age or time or whatever it is is restful. What were once the rushing waters of outrage and procreation have slowed. The old farts are pleased with their outraged offspring, but are not about to rise up in what was once a bright fury of rushing water. The old lions leave it to others .....

Which does not mean they won't burn your house down if the assumptions and prevarications and bullshit once again spiral too high.

Now, they may growl occasionally and otherwise leave things alone, but ... well, beware of old farts.