[Buddha-l] Re: Teaching Zen Buddhist philosophy

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2005-10-10 at 13:37 -0400, curt wrote:

> What you say about pablum is also true of vomit (which you mentioned 
> earlier).

I said nothing at all about Pablum (which is a trademark and should be
written in upper case). I was writing about pabulum, which is an
entirely different matter.

> I would certainly consider David Loy, whom you did originally mention,
> as a serious author - but not those others. 

When you teach Zen Buddhist philosophy, I suggest you choose other books
then. The books I have been considering are all by serious
practitioners. I have met most of them personally and have come to
respect them highly for their intelligence and integrity. I have come to
respect them as serious people who have serious things to say to other
serious people. I apologize for not finding people who meet your high
literary standards.

> The other authors originally mentioned write primarily "self-help" books - 
> they don't even qualify as "serious non-fiction".

If the Buddha had known how to write, I suspect he would have written
self-help books.

> Unlike Loy, those other authors are not in the business of producing works that 
> are intended to be intellectually challenging, to put it politely.

The older I get, the less it matters to me whether someone is
intellectually challenging. In all my years of teaching, my goal has
never been to help students develop muscular intellects. I am more
interested in presenting material to students that they can use to
figure out what it means to be a human being in a badly damaged world.
Perhaps I should have been a high school teacher, but somehow things
didn't work out that way.

> You should definitely consider Miriam Levering's groundbreaking research 
> on the history of women Zen teachers in China as well.

Perhaps in some future year I will include her work. In the course I am
planning for next semester, I would prefer to stay with Western
practitioners who are grappling with what is involved in incorporating
an ancient Asian religion in a modern Western setting.

-- 
Richard Hayes