[Buddha-l] Re: Vipassana?

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Tue, 2005-10-18 at 18:23 -0700, Franz Metcalf wrote:

> > Is it possible that in America, Zen meditation has begun to adopt some 
> > aspects of Theravada Vipassana technique, as a way of making it easier 
> > for beginners to start meditating?
> 
> And I have to agree. There is considerable cross-pollination going on, 
> explicitly and tacitly, in American Buddhist meditation centers.

My own experience in a community run by a Korean Son teacher certainly
illustrates this. He invited Theravada monks to give weekend workshops
on mettaa-bhaavanaa and the four foundations of mindfulness, and he
encouraged all of us to go to as many Buddhist temples as we could find
in order to get exposed to the full range of Buddhism. He saw the
availability of a rich variety of styles and approaches as one of the
best aspects of Buddhism in the west. 

The cross-pollination of all these Buddhist cultures has worked in both
directions. Zen teachers learned about all the many exercises included
in the four foundations of mindfulness, and the Goenka outfit has
learned from Zen and Tibetan Buddhism the marketing value of claiming to
have an unbroken secret lineage of uniquely pure practice going all the
way back to the Buddha.

> I can't prove that, of course, but I believe it wholeheartedly. 

We'll make a Catholic of you yet. Or at least a Christian Scientist.

> Though I know less about it, one comment on vipassana. The particular 
> vipassana technique that has swept this country and much of the Western 
> world is only one technique (the Burmese method) among many rooted in 
> Buddhaghosa and the Pali Canon. It's just that essentially none of the 
> other techniques have hit it big here in the land of the free. 

It's just that it's so difficult to find a decently rotting corpse lying
on the streets, unless you happen to live in New Orleans.

-- 
Richard