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Fake Zen
 Zen Buddhism is sliding downhill at a rather fast rate becoming
 “fake Zen” which is a distortion of Zen’s history
 By distortion I mean a narrative that essentially falsifies Zen by a variety of means such as omitting key facts
.  To aid those who are new to Zen I have decided to do a Q
(crazy monk) who will be the fake Zen master.  Is this also a satire on contemporary Zen
  Beginner:  I am new to Zen.  It seems to me that what I have learned
   so far is that Zen is not a religion like Buddhism.
 Yes, that is right.  Zen is not a religion like   Buddhism.  Buddhists make statues
 and pray to Buddha.  Zen is not a   religion—it is not faith based
This means that there are no rules to follow in Zen.   Yes, there is etiquette and a few rituals
of a joke.  In the old days Zen was not really practiced   so much in a monastery as
:  So having a good time is basically Zen, like drinking   beer or occasionally doing drugs and having
, yes.  You could say that Zen is the way of   emptiness which is the way of
  In a nutshell what is the history of Zen, I mean what   should beginners need to know?
   Luànsēng:  The Chinese invented Zen, then later the Buddhists   hijacked it claiming it was
 In so doing, Buddhism tried to   make Zen religious, that you are supposed to realize your   Buddha
nature or pure Mind.  Also Buddhists wanted Zen to be about   seated meditation learning to still your thoughts
calm   down.  But this is not what Zen meditation is really about.  Zen   meditation is just experiencing
is,   nothing more.  Zen masters just want you to be natural, doing   anything
  Beginner:  I read somewhere that Zen is really a form of Taoism.  Is   that true
  If Taoism is the Way, then Zen is the Way of having a   good time so you
long time.  Before   Buddhism took hold of Zen, the old masters just walked around the   woods or
 who was the world’s foremost expert on   Zen, lived a Zen life similar to that of Liu
   Beginner:  Why do the Zen masters speak of the Buddha so often?
 Sometimes if the students are too serious about   religion Zen masters might cut off their finger or kill a cat
:  I am just curious about sex and Zen.
   Luànsēng:  In the West Zen masters usually have sex with their nuns   or more advanced
the woods and enjoy each other.  Since Zen is not   connected with Buddhism sex is okay if you
like each other.  Just   remember that in Zen there are no judges.
years I have collected a lot of materials from fake Zennists.  But some of the material came from other
 people who spent time in an American Zen monastery.
this together in the form of a satire on contemporary Zen is meant to offend everyone connected with this kind of
 Zen except the person who enjoys reading this satire!
 Religion, Weblogs, yoga, Zen | Permalink
Zen stuff
's Zen paintings (great site!)