Intimacy. It’s something many of us hanker for. I certainly do. Most people I know would imagine that intimacy involves some element of physical or mental closeness to a loved one. They would probably be surprised to hear that a far greater intimacy lies in getting to know oneself. On a spiritual path. Like Zen Buddhism?!
Author James Ishmael Ford (the ‘Ishmael’ denoting his multicultural preferences), an American-born Zen priest living in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, writes of the Buddhist belief that all life is interconnected: “A metaphor we like is how we’re all bound together in a web of intimacy. The point is, everything is connected. And out of that realization, we see how everything counts. Every action, every thought has consequences,” and he surmises, “Zen is a way of intimacy”.
Fellow practitioner of Zen, Rachel Mansfield Howlett writes: “I came to the practice out of a desire to find the intimacy within life, to hear the call and response of this moment, to feel the connection between myself and the world, to find my place in the great way of things.” In Zen, Ford says, we find the power of non-separation, the reality of our intimacy with ten thousand things. One might add that this intimacy is a feeling beyond words, a sensation as visceral as a hot bath on a snowy day.
James Ford says that, as a result of the various spiritual practices that arrived in the US, especially in California at the time, he has danced with the Sufis, studied with Christian mystics, lived in Buddhist monasteries, and eventually became ordained as a Zen priest.
Zen: Beyond Religion, Toward Reality
There’s something else. With regard to the question as to whether Zen is a religion, Ford writes: “Religion tends to be about escape. Most religions turn away from the world. They seek heavens or they seek hells. Zen offers a way of no escape. Instead, it turns our attention to what is actually here. Filled with wonders. It is about how we live in this world, nowhere else. It’s about the moment, this moment, not some other moment. And with that, it points to who we really are.” Although the author never mentions the word, one might add that the essence of Zen is being mindful of our everyday reality.
The Magical Realism of Zen Practice
And then. Zen is also about magical realism. It’s like having a series of variously colored lenses through which to view reality. Like meditation. Like the koan, which is a written verse or riddle that points to the ultimate truth in the dimension of awakening. Like Zen teachers, each of whom brings his/her interpretation of the teachings based on deep within their lives.
Zen also encourages a lifestyle and an outlook that puts you in rhythm with the laws of the universe, such as oryoki or mindful eating, precepts like not lying, not stealing, or harming others, cultivating humility, and staying with an attitude of uncertainty and not-knowing, regardless of how spiritually advanced you are. In other words, life for a new practitioner begins anew and wondrously as he/she begins to discover hidden truths about creation that they had no inkling about earlier. It’s almost as if the veil has fallen from their eyes.
Zen’s Arrival in the West: A Counterculture Connection
Interestingly, the author came of age during the 1960s at the height of the American counterculture. Alan Watts’ book, The Way of Zen, had been published a few years earlier, and Japanese Zen masters, such as D.T. Suzuki (and later Thich Nhat Hanh), were making a significant impact on the lives of young people of the time. It was the era of the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Dr Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Malcolm X. Amid such social turmoil, a common refrain of Eastern spirituality calling to youthful Americans who sought an alternate reality was: ‘From hippy to happy’.
James Ishmael Ford: A Life Woven with Wisdom
Ford says that, as a result of the various spiritual practices that arrived in the US, especially in California at the time, he has danced with Sufis, studied with Christian mystics, lived in Buddhist monasteries, and eventually became ordained as a Zen priest.
Now, at age 76, he claims to have a Buddhist brain, a Christian heart, and a rationalist stomach. Ford has also been a Unitarian Universalist minister for nearly 35 years. Unitarian Universalism (UU) embraces with empathy almost all the higher religions within its comprehensive umbrella organization, and Ford’s focus within UU has been on Zen Buddhism.
The one thing that has been constant for him over the last 50 years is the pursuit of nondual spirituality, which emphasizes direct experience as a path to spiritual understanding. Nondualism also informs a significant portion of the mystical spirituality of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Ford has written seven books prior to this one, many of them on Zen, such as In This Very Moment, Zen Master Who?, If You’re Lucky Your Heart Will Break and The Book of Mu.
Ford claims to have a Buddhist brain, a Christian heart, and a rationalist stomach. He has also been a Unitarian Universalist (UU) minister for 35 years. UU embraces with empathy almost all the higher religions within its umbrella; Ford’s focus within UU was on Zen.
Zen’s Evolution: From Monastic Strictures to Western Adaptations
Zen at the End of Religion traces macroscopically the spread of Zen Buddhism in the US since the 1960s and also details the practices that constitute Zen. With the migration of several Zen masters and their lineages to the US after the 1960s, a new world of nondual spirituality opened up to Americans, especially those on the West Coast, and America has never been the same since. Practices such as zazen (seated meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), and samadhi (deep states of meditation), as well as elements of Zen practice like koan and huatou (the latter meaning ‘essential point’), are all discussed in minute detail in the book for the benefit of beginners. It’s appropriate that an entire chapter is devoted to the fact that it’s perfectly OK to use a chair to sit on and meditate, if age or any other factors prevent you from sitting on the floor in the lotus or semi-lotus position.
The transmutation and Westernization of Zen Buddhism appear to be benefits when viewed against the forbidding strictures of the monastic lifestyle, which can hinder its widespread propagation worldwide. For example, Western Zen might consider it perfectly acceptable for its practice to be informed by a Jesus prayer or a Jewish prayer, given the fact that initiates were raised in those religions, and any erasure or blockage might prove unnatural. Similarly, Zen sanghas (spiritual communities) in the West would necessarily be more diverse, with a greater emphasis on gender equality and racial diversity, than in Japan.
What the West has remarkably managed to do is democratize Zen (and other forms of Eastern spirituality) and disseminate them on a global level. At the same time, cultural differences persist in the approach to spiritual traditions between the East and the West. One telling example is the role of the spiritual mentor in attaining the way. In the Western world, there is a greater resistance to the idea of a spiritual director or guru, whereas in Eastern spirituality, the relationship between spiritual mentor and disciple is a common practice. Still, on the whole, both East and West seem to have largely benefited from the globalization of Eastern religions.
A Personal Resonance: Zen’s Enduring Wisdom
All in all, ‘Zen at the End of Religion’ resonated with me as a Buddhist, albeit a Nichiren Buddhist, as it provided a multi-layered description of some of Zen’s profound concepts and practices, conveyed in a simple yet effective manner. While it’s probably not the sort of book one could read in one sitting (I took over a week), it can be a rewarding experience for a mind seeking a foray into human civilisation’s profoundest wisdom.
‘Zen at the End of Religion: An Introduction for the Curious, the Skeptical, and the Spiritual but Not Religious’ by James Ishmael Ford, Monkfish Book Publishing, price $19.95.
For more about James Ishmael Ford and his books go to: http://www.jamesishmaelford.com/
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