Could we have a Zen group, that is only an expression of THAT, the Radiant Self, the Self that needs nothing? What would it be like? Perhaps--
No membership.
No staff.
No money.
No property.
No titles.
Nothing to get in the way of THAT.
Nothing to distract us from THAT.
Around the time that my wife Joni and I were creating the sdzen group (which is just a Yahoo internet group!), I was reading the book "On Having No Head" by Douglas E. Harding. Douglas Harding seemed to capture the spirit of Radiant-Self-in-the-world like no other. Yes! How can you charge money for this? How can you claim titles? Yes! This is how I see it. And his stating it, his writing about it, helped give me the confidence to move forward and break away from the style of Zen organizations of my past.
I gained even more confidence when I found out about Robert Adams and Nisargadatta Maharaj, who simply met with people in their homes; and when I found the book "Perfect Brilliant Stillness" by David Carse.
And so, with this start, the sdzen group (which is just a Yahoo internet group!) has evolved.
We have a calendar on the group web site, and anyone can claim a day to host an event at their house. We usually meet on Saturdays. Joni and I also put on Sesshins (retreats) at our house, usually lasting three days.
In the beginning we only listened to tapes. Now I have also begun giving talks. Learning is just a natural thing that happens when people talk honestly from their experiences. We are all students.
Now, with all that said, please don’t take a narrow view, or a right-and-wrong view.
My wife and I recently took a 3-day vacation at Green Gulch, a rural Zen Center and organic farm north of San Francisco. Green Gulch was founded by Suzuki Roshi shortly before he died. On the last day of our vacation, we got up very early (3-something AM) in order to sit the dawn portion of a Zazenki before we left.
The sitting at Green Gulch was so wonderful, with so many people, the robes and shaved heads, and the smiles of the teachers/senior students. It ended with a beautiful service, including the Heart Sutra in Japanese. It brought me back to the austere and powerful sesshins that I attended at ZCLA back in the early 1980s.
I am so grateful that some have the capability and desire to keep these traditions alive.
Life is far more grand than just one little experiment, than our little experiment here.
Sam Gabriel, San Diego, CA
http://home.roadrunner.com/~clothespin
sam_gabriel@yahoo.com