Contributed by Dave Eaton, Dallas, Texas
As a former Soto-Zen Buddhist Priest, I was a practicing Buddhist for 8yrs. and still consider myself heavily influenced by Zen Buddhist philosophy and practice. Zen is divided into 2 Schools and four quadrants: Rinzai – Soto , Active-Quietist/Sudden-Gradual. Rinzai is characterized by meditation upon koans [mind puzzles] that seek to bridge the dichotomy between rational and irrational experience. Soto is called mokusho zen and emphasizes quietism and simply sitting [shikantaza] as its core practice. Rinzai has two schools of thought regarding the progression from delusion to enlightenment: the gradual position of incremental development over time toward nirvana and the sudden position, emphasizing an immediate awakening to Truth. Sotoshu is grounded in the belief that such analysis betrays a dichotomy between mind and experience and argues that the practice of zazen is enlightenment itself. It is the Soto School of Zen Buddhism which I shall discuss in relation to socially engaging lived human experience.
Soto-Zen understands human/social suffering to arise from attachment to egoistic desire and action, leading to wrong thought and conduct. Right mindfulness is restored when we renounce the rational self and its irrational social behavior. Zazen or simply sitting and quietly following the breath, is the religious practice which causes us to confront egoistic desire and the need for lifestyle transformation. Right conduct naturally follows from right meditation. No individual is a solitary monad but a vibrant and living part of an inter-networked social organism. The casual co-interdependence of the world and individual human experience is termed karma and is the matrix in which sociopolitical action occurs. Karma is related to Dharma [RIght Action] by the influence exerted upon the individual by society and the consequent action the individual pursues politically. Social Injustice is an expression of deluded attachment to material possessions and private acquisition of capital [based upon greed]. Shikantaza is both a liturgical form of meditation and a manner of correctly acting on the world, from an enlightened position [called kensho] of self-transcendence.
Soto-practitioners tend toward anarcho-socialist political beliefs, stressing decision by affinity and Council Socialism. Buddhists are pacifists and base their position upon the insight that all life is sacred and inter-related [ahimsa teaching]. The LGBT community is openly welcomed into the Soto Community and priesthood, abortion on demand is opposed, women are equally allowed to ordination, warfare and military conscription is discouraged but allowed in circumstances of extreme injustice. Soto-Zen Buddhists are considered to be the Quakers of Buddhism and heterodox in their teaching. Their style of Zazen is often referred to as Dogen Zen, after the founder of the Soto School Dogen Zenzhi. The teaching that life is fundamentally impermanent and the ego an occasion of experience, rather than a static logical identity [fallacy of simple location], is common to all forms of Buddhism.
Cooperative and communal forms of living with common ownership of property [minimal private personal possessions are allowed] is the norm in American Soto-Zen Communities. Priests are monastics by definition but are allowed to marry and hold secular jobs [similar to the Episcopal worker-priest movement]. Career choice is motivated by a desire to serve society and is usually in the social service, educational or healthcare professions. Soto-Zen communities are generally within an urban setting but removed from the daily rat-race by a schedule of liturgical service and sitting. The laity is considered equal to the priesthood and many American leaders were originally lay-practitioners. Green socialism, ecological parity and animal rights are strong currents in contemporary American Soto-Zen Buddhism. The Soto School advocates political witness by lifestyle choice and down plays social activism of a more aggressive character. American Buddhists generally affirm a coalition of action between workers-farmers-students-professionals and feel it a moral duty to act in accord with the rights of the economically disenfranchised [Right Lifestyle]. Most Buddhists in the USA are members of the Democratic or Green party or various Left-Wing organizations. Soto-Zen is a form of socially engaged Buddhism stressing personal and social liberation.
Socially Engaged Buddhism
Contributed by Dave Eaton, Dallas, Texas
As a former Soto-Zen Buddhist Priest, I was a practicing Buddhist for 8yrs. and still consider myself heavily influenced by Zen Buddhist philosophy and practice. Zen is divided into 2 Schools and four quadrants: Rinzai – Soto , Active-Quietist/Sudden-Gradual. Rinzai is characterized by meditation upon koans [mind puzzles] that seek to bridge the dichotomy between rational and irrational experience. Soto is called mokusho zen and emphasizes quietism and simply sitting [shikantaza] as its core practice. Rinzai has two schools of thought regarding the progression from delusion to enlightenment: the gradual position of incremental development over time toward nirvana and the sudden position, emphasizing an immediate awakening to Truth. Sotoshu is grounded in the belief that such analysis betrays a dichotomy between mind and experience and argues that the practice of zazen is enlightenment itself. It is the Soto School of Zen Buddhism which I shall discuss in relation to socially engaging lived human experience.
Soto-Zen understands human/social suffering to arise from attachment to egoistic desire and action, leading to wrong thought and conduct. Right mindfulness is restored when we renounce the rational self and its irrational social behavior. Zazen or simply sitting and quietly following the breath, is the religious practice which causes us to confront egoistic desire and the need for lifestyle transformation. Right conduct naturally follows from right meditation. No individual is a solitary monad but a vibrant and living part of an inter-networked social organism. The casual co-interdependence of the world and individual human experience is termed karma and is the matrix in which sociopolitical action occurs. Karma is related to Dharma [RIght Action] by the influence exerted upon the individual by society and the consequent action the individual pursues politically. Social Injustice is an expression of deluded attachment to material possessions and private acquisition of capital [based upon greed]. Shikantaza is both a liturgical form of meditation and a manner of correctly acting on the world, from an enlightened position [called kensho] of self-transcendence.
Soto-practitioners tend toward anarcho-socialist political beliefs, stressing decision by affinity and Council Socialism. Buddhists are pacifists and base their position upon the insight that all life is sacred and inter-related [ahimsa teaching]. The LGBT community is openly welcomed into the Soto Community and priesthood, abortion on demand is opposed, women are equally allowed to ordination, warfare and military conscription is discouraged but allowed in circumstances of extreme injustice. Soto-Zen Buddhists are considered to be the Quakers of Buddhism and heterodox in their teaching. Their style of Zazen is often referred to as Dogen Zen, after the founder of the Soto School Dogen Zenzhi. The teaching that life is fundamentally impermanent and the ego an occasion of experience, rather than a static logical identity [fallacy of simple location], is common to all forms of Buddhism.
Cooperative and communal forms of living with common ownership of property [minimal private personal possessions are allowed] is the norm in American Soto-Zen Communities. Priests are monastics by definition but are allowed to marry and hold secular jobs [similar to the Episcopal worker-priest movement]. Career choice is motivated by a desire to serve society and is usually in the social service, educational or healthcare professions. Soto-Zen communities are generally within an urban setting but removed from the daily rat-race by a schedule of liturgical service and sitting. The laity is considered equal to the priesthood and many American leaders were originally lay-practitioners. Green socialism, ecological parity and animal rights are strong currents in contemporary American Soto-Zen Buddhism. The Soto School advocates political witness by lifestyle choice and down plays social activism of a more aggressive character. American Buddhists generally affirm a coalition of action between workers-farmers-students-professionals and feel it a moral duty to act in accord with the rights of the economically disenfranchised [Right Lifestyle]. Most Buddhists in the USA are members of the Democratic or Green party or various Left-Wing organizations. Soto-Zen is a form of socially engaged Buddhism stressing personal and social liberation.