Zen in the Virtual Age
Posted March 14th, 2009 by admin
Mary Jaksch, Roshi, has kindly offered us this post. I know Lost Coin is very receptive to her point of view, in fact we share it. I am grateful she has chosen to post on our site.
– Daniel Doen Silberberg
A guest post by Mary Jaksch, Roshi
Zen has had to adapt over the millennia. After all, medieval culture in Japan had little in common with ancient China, and modern times have very little in common with either. Yet Zen has survived to this day. Why? Well, I think it’s because Zen is about life. Actually, it is life!
But sheer survival isn’t enough. If Zen is to flourish in the West, it needs to truly embed itself into our culture. And for that to happen, it needs to embrace the the virtual dimension that has become a real part of life for many people.
The Net with its particular communication forms, such as blogging and social media, has become a major force to be. That’s something I’ve learned in the last year or so through blogging.
The art of Zen blogging
Eighteen months ago, my son Sebastian said to me,
“Mum, I’ll make you a website, but you have to write a blog.”
“A blog?” I said. “What’s that?”
As you can see, I was still an innocent Zen teacher at the time!
Blogging turned out to be a great adventures and a steep learning curve. Soon I was posting a weekly article on my blog. I told my colleagues in the Diamond Sangha about it.
By return of post I got the following email from one of my more conservative colleagues:
“What I read in your blog shocked and horrified me. It has nothing to do with Zen and leads people astray!”
Ouch!
I have a rather impish sense of humor, so I immediately made his comment the focus of my next blog post Zen and the Art of Blogging.
I got some interesting comments:
“I love your blog! It has re-kindled my former interest in Zen.”
“As a long-time Zen student, I applaud your zesty, contemporary approach to making The Great Way available on-line by blog. I find her insights and teachings well-considered, inviting and applicable. For me, the dry dusty classical texts and case studies are no longer meaningful. How do we enter each moment with a fresh gaze? Bring on the playful, the zippy, the juicy, I say!”
“I find the comment it ‘has nothing to do with zen’ very interesting, as I can find no such division in my life.”
Talking of comments – they are the key to blogging. When I first started blogging, I imagined a blog to be a series of weekly articles. Full stop. But then I realized that there was much more to blogging:
The beauty and power of blogging lies in the fact that it’s a co-creation of writer and readers.
What that means for us teachers is that we have to step down off our high seat. And we have to even admit that we’re human! A student of mine in Sao Paolo said to me recently: “I love reading your blog. I’ve got to know more of your human strengths and weaknesses.” Dang! Where has all my mystique gone?
Virtual Zen Retreats
A few weeks ago I tried out something new: a ten day Virtual Zen Retreat. The theme of the retreat was “Awareness: The Miracle of Now”. Each day, participants got an email outlining the particular focus of the day, as well as some exercises to do during their ordinary day. In addition, people could choose to receive Twitter messages with practice reminders. A private forum was available for participants to interact with me, as well as with each other. Overall, the focus was on bringing mindfulness into every moment of life at home, at work, or at play.
When I first had the idea of offering a virtual Zen retreat, I thought that maybe fifty people would join – not four hundred! I was amazed to see that people joined not just from places you would expect, such as, say, New York, San Francisco, or Sydney. They poured in from Islamabad and Calcutta, Arima in Trinidad, or Tire in Turkey. Not to mention Paris, Madrid, Bucharest and most other major European cities. Some people even participated from Shenzhen and Taipei. It was truly international!
But did it touch and change lives?
That’s the touchstone, isn’t it? I mean, if Zen doesn’t change the way we live our lives – why do it?
In a comment to my blogpost Is Virtual Zen Real? a participant from India wrote:
Just before entering your “Virtual Zen Retreat”, I was almost dead with my desperate bid to commit suicide. Your personal messages, and your Zen lessons have made me realize the true value of this human existence.
I felt humbled by that remark.
Another participant wrote:
“I am in a period of significant change which will effect how I am for the rest of my life. This retreat came at exactly the right time for me. I am continuing with meditation practice. And I find by doing it I am more at peace with myself and the world.”
In fact, most feedback was along the lines that the retreat was a catalyst of change. Our next Virtual Zen Retreat has the theme: “Finding Peace in the Chaos of Anger”. This retreat will address how to work with the mind of anger – both in zazen and in everyday life.
I think our collective responsibility – yours and mine – is to find new ways of integrating Zen practice and training into our Western culture. We need to find new ways of spreading the Dharma – without betraying or cheapening our tradition. It’s like climbing a mountain of swords with bare feet – as Wumen said.
How can we be innovative, without betraying the old Masters? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Mary Jaksch Roshi is a teacher in the Diamond Sangha lineage. Head over to Goodlife Zen for more of her articles. If you would like to find out more about Virtual Zen Retreats, please click here.
photo by William Hook
Tags: diamond sangha, guest post, internet, mary jaksch, mary jaksch roshi, now, virtual zen, zen
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12 Responses to “Zen in the Virtual Age”
March 14th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
“How can we be innovative, without betraying the old Masters?”
You, Jaksch Roshi, and Doen Sensei ARE the very embodiment of the old Masters for your students! How can students love Zen and incorporate the practice into our lives if we only have the guidance of old dead cultures that don’t exist even in China and Japan anymore? We need teachers who live in our time, in our place, in our State of Mind. You are the connection – what the old Masters teach is still here, still relevant, and applicable to our everyday lives.
Thank you and Doen Sensei for bringing Zen to us in the container of our lives, as they really are.
March 15th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Thinking about fifteen years ago I didn´t possess a computer and when I saw the need to use one for my job I was horrified of it. It took a long time to get at least used to it and sometimes I even appreciated it, because it connected me with my relatives and friends around the world, much easier then by writing a letter.
When Sensei started to do Skype- Daisan I was horrified again and I was irritated about all this activity with blogs and so on- but I really love it now, it is a wonderful way to stay connected and it brings some kind of “turbo” into the work and developement, if one is willing to use it. The resistance against it, to me, seems to be my lazyness and fear of change and I think I will have to struggle with it again and again. But I don´t want to miss these opportunities again!
March 15th, 2009 at 5:46 am
There is no way of getting around the internet. We use it daily – for business, for information and for keeping in touch. It is really nothing but a logical consequence to use modern information technology for all things spiritual as well. If we truly aim to spread the word of Zen these days we have to be online – it is amazing how easily one can contact fellow students on different continents. My teacher lives 5,000 miles away from me and I can talk to him in person once a week. I am most grateful for this opportunity.
This blog site elucidates Doen Sensei’s holistic approach and is a continuation of his teachings.
March 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Thank you all for your responses.I am very pleased to hear that you are embracing these new forms of communication. Being one with the world we live it, creating with it and growing with it is central to Lost Coin.
Collaboration is also, I believe, very important. I hope we continue to live in a growing collaborative environment. By posting your comments you support this idea and add to it personally. Please keep it up.
Mary Jaksch’s post also speaks to this. I love her idea of virtual retreats. What do you all think?
March 17th, 2009 at 1:21 am
I think during it’s migration from west to east buddhism had always shown it’s essence through the actual cultural, political, philosophical, etc. live at that time and place where it arrived. And now we have the great opportunity to let Zen into our lives, e-mails, PC’s, etc. This is wonderful. No separation between my Zen practice and my daily live! Feels great!
I am so grateful to be connected by PC and internet with so wonderful people in USA, GB and elsewhere in the world which is an deep inspiration for me. And I am so grateful to have met a teacher who gives me the opportunity to practice my live in the very centre of my live.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:02 am
My mentor once advised me to use every moment to help lead others to the truth. I will consider “the Upaya of Blog” more from now on. I think it is the space between the words and lines where the message truly speaks.
I love the chance to share and learn from others about common interests in belief, faith and life from around the world.
Thanks! Great website.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:41 am
@Mary Jaksch Roshi – Thank you for this post. The participants’ experiences in your virtual retreat was inspiring. I love the reminder that practicing Zen is about changing the way we live our lives.
@Annette – You were one of the first to participate on this blog, so I would never guess that you had a resistance to computers. It’s so wonderful to see you, Philip, & Volker here. Helps me feel connected to you all.
March 18th, 2009 at 5:39 am
Hi Daniel,
I found your blog via Sherri at Serene Journey. Love the title and layout, and I enjoyed this post.
Mary Jaksch,
This was an interesting post. Any tradition has to keep up with the times and I think Zen is robust enough to do so. Sounds like your retreats were amazing!
March 18th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
*Daphne
Thanks for your kind comments. Please come see us and contribute your perspective. Many of us are collaborating to develop this blog into something I hope is creative and useful. Join us.
Thank you
Daniel
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 am
At first, I was a little sceptic about it, but after reading Mary Jaksch Roshi’s post, the idea of a virtual retreat seems really attractive. It is amazing that she brought 400 people from all over the world together. When I sit, I find myself wondering very often if some of you might be sitting right in that moment on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The idea always makes me feels connected. In a virtual retreat, we could share more than sitting. I think it might help to integrate Zen practice directly into our daily lives. Doing this together, in all these different lives, and in all these different parts of the world, would be a great opportunity to act as one and as many at the same time.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
I’ve loved how the internet has helped cement the feeling that “the world is my sangha,” and now it’s made it possible for me to feel even closer to my friends in the Lost Coin group who are across the country or overseas. And it’s exciting to have Mary Jaksch Roshi, who I’ve been reading for about a year, post on our blog now too!
Just tonight I was reading Daido Loori Roshi’s new book, Bringing the Sacred to Life, and found a comment that reminded me of this post and the comments on it. Daido Loori writes about person-to-person transmission of the teachings, and that only this type of teaching is truly alive. “If the teaching does not take the shape of the vessel that contains it, it is dead teaching. . . . The truth has not changed, the basic questions have not changed, the basic problem has not changed. What has changed is the skillful means by which we come to realize ourselves.”
I am grateful that Doen Sensei and others are using the omnipresent internet and other technology as a skillful means of sharing the dharma, person-to-person, in a way that makes sense for our modern, technology-influenced lives.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:45 am
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