tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post5869497352569466433..comments2024-03-14T04:06:54.124-04:00Comments on GENKAKU-AGAIN (adam fisher): location, location, locationgenkakuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12135705172119950326noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-56256275320599802292011-05-09T19:47:12.582-04:002011-05-09T19:47:12.582-04:00Just a guy -- Just for the record, I don't thi...Just a guy -- Just for the record, I don't think I would have lasted in Shangri-La at that time in my life. I had no special knowledge of the sexual shenanigans going on at DBZ and elsewhere...that came later. My "failure" was in not being honest enough about who I was ... but that failure gave me a great education. I am grateful for my time at DBZ. It's worth something to know what you can't or won't do ... or anyway I think so.genkakuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12135705172119950326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-24762767875995606102011-05-09T19:07:15.716-04:002011-05-09T19:07:15.716-04:00You write about your "failure" at a &quo...You write about your "failure" at a "Zen monastery" from time to time. Each time you write that you failed, it makes me cringe.<br /><br />I was wondering if you actually revisit that experience in detail and take into account what you learned about Shimano in the subsequent years.<br /><br />It seems to me that at the time you went to that particular monastery, Dai Bosatsu Zendo, at that particular time, there was little, real conscious support for your efforts either within or outside the organization.<br /><br />I would not say that you fell on your face, but rather, that the training at that center was not very good. Perhaps it was never very good. Perhaps there was something of the heart was missing. Could it be that your "failure" wasreally a healthy reaction to the circumstances?<br /><br />Know that you were not the only one not to stick it out.<br /><br />For example, one gentleman who later became one of Shimano's "dharma heirs" actually left the monastery for a while. The reaction of the Shimano's was not exactly supportive or even compassionate although in the end of course he was permitted to and did return.<br /><br />Let's not forget that it was Shimano's ethics that cause many other students, monks and layman, to leave that monastery. Some continued to train elsewhere and it seems that others stopped their Zen practice altogether. Those ethical issues, in my mind, go far beyond the string of sexual indiscretions and the financial wrangling and have bearing on how people are treated in general.<br /><br />Seems to me that while the procedural training at that monastery might have seemed very good, and with the nice buldings and grounds, the zazen seemed to go very well, but the emotional component, the humanity if you will, was lacking since the very beginning.<br /><br />So many things seemed to have been "off" that should have been apparent even to outsiders. Can you imagine? One guy with some ten years training and no experience in running a monastery, without much help from peers from Japan thought he was going to establish Zen training center in another culture not less. Even with the kindest heart and the best of intentions there were bound to be any number of problems that would have come up. What mechanisms were established to deal with any of the problems?<br /><br />So yes, "better one's own truth," etc. but truth is truth and no one owns it. It is important to consider that in many situations there is a real and reasonable limitation to personal responsibility.Just a guy without rank but with dirty socksnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-51267649513327245142011-05-09T09:39:36.584-04:002011-05-09T09:39:36.584-04:00Great post today -- have been thinking along these...Great post today -- have been thinking along these lines lately and am glad to have it so eloquently articulatedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com