[Buddha-l] Re: recommendations for books on Madhyamika

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

A couple of clarifications to Jim's recent post on Californian Zen, 
which I append.

1) The words Jim quoted are Benito's, not mine, in case this was 
unclear.
2) There were some typos in Jim's message. The teacher in question is 
Joshu Sasaki Roshi, and the temple is Rinzai-ji in Los Angeles. I'm 
pretty sure he only later bought the land on Mt. Baldy and in New 
Mexico where he founded retreat centers.
3) We need to be careful in using a term like "Japanese Zen." The 
overwhelmingly predominant form of Japanese Zen has nothing to do with 
zazen at all: it is funerary Zen.
4) Jim is right to remind the list of the variety of Zen forms in 
California. There were three Japanese Roshis in California teaching to 
eager and dedicated students by the early 1960s. To be sure, Alan Watts 
was also here and attracting much larger audiences, but serious 
practitioners had already surpassed him.
5) Regarding the fact that "New Mexico has continued to refuse to 
apologize for World War II," I expect action on this front from 
Richard.

Cheers,

Franz

On Oct 19, 2005, at 9:36 AM, Jim Peavler wrote:

>
> On Oct 18, 2005, at 8:08 PM, Benito Carral wrote:
>
>> On Tuesday, October 18, 2005, Franz Metcalf wrote:
>>
>
>>    The  question  is  that  Californian  Zen  was not a
>> faithful  to  of  Zen,  at  least  not  to Chinese Zen.
>> Californian  Zen  was what Westerners wanted then. They
>> were  entertained  trying  to  be dharma bums, laughing
>> with  Alan  Watt's  jokes. And they created (supported)
>> such kind of Zen.
>
> There is more than one kind of California Zen, and certainly more than 
> one kind of Zen that has influenced American Zen. Renazi-ji, founded 
> by Jashu Sasaki Roshi at Mount Baldy and Los Angeles (now having major 
> centers in many states, including New Mexico) is Japanese Zen in the 
> same sense most people are using the term "Japenese Zen" on this list, 
> including the fact that New Mexico has continued to refuse to 
> apologize for World War II.