- Misconception #1: Zen is only for Asians.
This is simply incorrect and wrong! Zen (the pre-modern, traditional form)
is for anyone and everyone on this planet. No discrimination with respect to
"race"/ethnicity, nationality/citizenship, etc. You create this misconception
if you think otherwise!
And in this website of mine, ZEN is specifically identified as a modern, Westernised form of
pre-modern, traditional Zen ... so that ZEN is truly for anyone and everyone,
since it is even easier to understand than the Zen couched in Sanskrit or Pali
... or Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai or Burmese/Myamese.
This does not mean that ZEN is for Westerners only ... which would become an
extension of the misconception that "Zen is for Asians".
So, get into either Zen or ZEN in the correct spirit!
Of the two forms, ZEN is easier than Zen -- even though ZEN is largely
based on pre-modern, traditional Zen as far as concepts, ideas, stories, etc.
are concerned. But you can find ZEN in the modern, especially-English writings
(some translations available) of modern authors, practitioners, teachers, etc.
Just be discerning, of course! Neither Zen or ZEN is cultist in any way or form. So, don't "worship" anyone, no matter who s/he claim to be in Zen and/or ZEN!
You can discover ZEN anywhere, anytime, in any activity ... ZEN is independent
of location, time or timing, activities, preoccupations, occupations,
what-have-you ... ZEN is independent of what you read (modern or otherwise),
what you do, what you think, what you eat, what you wear, what you drive, etc.,
etc., etc. -- in fact, when you move from the East to the West (whether
locationally/geographically or mentally/psychologically/spiritually), you
simply move from Zen to ZEN.
But both Zen and ZEN are useful. Use either ... or both.
- Misconception #2: Zen has its own gods and worships idols as well!
Those who misunderstand Zen and/or ZEN think or believe that practitioners of
Zen (let's call them "Zennists") or ZEN (let's call them "ZENNISTS") worship
the (Historical) Buddha and/or Bodhidharma and/or other "patriarchs" as God.
This is simply so untrue.
Zen or ZEN does not address the issue of God, Creation or the Afterlife. Like
the Buddha, Zen or ZEN simply has nothing to say about these matters, because
these matters are outside or beyond the purview or scope of Zen or ZEN. Leave those matters to "religions" ...
and/or, maybe, metaphysics.
Zennists/ZENNISTS respect various "patriarchs" (Buddha/Siddhatha Gautama;
Bodhidharma; Hui-neng/Eno, Lin-chi/Rinzai, etc.), and may even choose to show
their respect in the traditional ways, which many Westerners viewed as
"superstitious", such as lighting candles, burning incense sticks or paper,
washing with "special" water, chants/mantras, meditation, yoga, etc. -- as if
traditional Churches (in the West) of various denominations (including the
Catholics and Orthodox Churches) do not have their candles,
candlelabra/mennorah/hannukah, "holy relics", statues of "saints" and the
"Virgin Mary", Turin Shroud, chants and hymns and songs and liturgies,
"religious ecstacies", "holy sacraments", "holy communion",
"transubstantiation", and even "holy water".
Nope, let's move beyond all these man-made devices (candles, incense sticks, incense papers, special
water, etc.), which are merely convenient devices for calming the tripartite reality of spirit, soul (will; mind; intellect; emotions), and body that each of us is made of (or created with).
And, about idol worship ... please!. Wake up! And see beyond your misconceptions ... and illusions and delusions!
