Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Buddhist
Religion News
A Complicated Banquet: Notes from the American Zen Teachers Association gathering in 2023

A Complicated Banquet: Notes from the American Zen Teachers Association gathering in 2023

Last updated on: October 2, 2023 at 1:14 pm by James Ford

0 Comments

A Complicated Banquet: Notes from the American Zen Teachers Association gathering in 2023 2023-10-02T13:14:31-07:00 James Ford

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On Wednesday morning, the 27th of September, Jan drove me to the Burbank airport where I flew north to San Jose, changed planes, then continued on to Portland. There I was picked up by my friend, colleague in UU world, and in the Zen universe my senior student and an apprentice teacher, Janine Larsen. We paused for lunch in Portland, and then she took me the sixty seven or so miles to Great Vow Zen monastery in Clatskanie, about half way to the coast.

I was on my way there for the first in person gathering of the American Zen Teachers association since the Covid pandemic.

It’s been a good decade since I’ve been to the monastery. Although, I’ve visited a number of times over the many years and feel a particular closeness to them.

Once there I checked in and joined with the about thirty-five Zen teaching colleagues, most of whom had already arrived. We had dinner. The monastery pays attention to food. Vegetarian, not super fancy, but always as tasty as nourishing, and almost always featuring something from their gardens or orchard.

The AZTA, the American Zen Teachers Association, is one of the two long lasting gatherings of Zen teachers in North America. This one’s distinction is that it is a very, very loose organization and open beyond sectarian identity within the Zen family. It is meant to be a support group. And it is not a legal entity with bylaws and a board. For years I thought it should be more. But then when someone was seriously disruptive a few years back, I was impressed with how they dealt with him. Compassionately but decisively. They are serious about the integrity of the group. I stopped suggesting it need be something more. It is a respite, a time to pause, and for renewal in ways different than a sesshin, or some other kind of formal retreat.

As a bit of an aside, but for those who are curious, as a support group it needs for its members to be recognizable by each other as coming from some similar place. Basically, the qualifications that fulfill this need are two. A member needs to stand in a generally recognized historic Zen lineage. And there needs to have been a substantial formation within the disciplines of Zen meditation.

In seeking some kind of quasi objective criteria this has come down to a candidate for membership having about a year’s worth of daily retreat under their belt, with a minimum of about seven hours of meditation in each of those days, before being eligible for membership. Almost everyone has much more experience than that. As a minimum of experience this seems to cultivate Zen meditation teachers recognizable across traditions and lineages. And this has become the unifying factor. Otherwise, members are priests, monastics, and householders. Some do koans. Others focus on Just sitting. The lineages come from Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam.

That noted, back to the gathering. Our first since the pandemic. Daniel Terragno, a senior teacher with the Diamond Sangha, and a native Spanish speaker kept referring to that moment as the Pandemia. I think I’m going to officially embrace that as the term for those several hard years. This was our first in person gathering since the Pandemia.

After dinner we checked in. A majority of us this time around are women. The majority of us were older teachers and priests, there were no traditional monastics this time, clustered in our seventies. Given the necessities of formation and what leads to someone becoming a Zen teacher in our time and place, the new crop were clustered in their fifties. The youngest fifty-one.

We were overwhelmingly represented by Japanese derived lineages, the majority Soto, followed I believe by the Harada Yasutani lineages, of these mostly Diamond Sangha, some Rinzai people, one in the Korean lineage of Seung Sahn, and one in the Chinese lineage of Sheng Yen. I didn’t count, but I would guess a slight majority ordained, the balance householders. One was a person of color.

In addition to us, there were the residents. The vast majority of them I’m going to guess somewhere on the cusp between their twenties and thirties. They seemed slightly more ethnically diverse.

Good people. Serious about the Zen dharma. And all in different places on their life trajectories.

Every morning of the gathering began with optional Zen meditation. Then breakfast.

We had pretty chocablock programming. On the one hand I would say too much. On the other hand I was fully engrossed with the subjects until the last day, when my energy began to flag.

Thursday morning we addressed the shifts in leadership from mostly boomers to mostly gen X that we’re beginning to see. With some side conversations about how not all teachers are leaving organizations with successors. What I’ve called for years, the Great Die Off, is beginning. And while there will be something left when the boomers go, it will be smaller.

This session was facilitated by Chozen Bays, Hogen Bays, Bansho Green, and Mushin Terris. We discussed difficulties and opportunities. What I found particularly moving was how transparent pretty much everyone was. How supportive everyone was, no matter where people were on their own journey. And how gentle with each other they were. We started in a large group then broke into smaller groups for more intimate conversations.

After lunch and a bit of a break we addressed the core spiritual disciplines of our inheritance, Shikantaza and koan introspection. The Shikantaza section was facilitated by Daijaku Kinst, Nomon Tim Burnett, and Rebecca Li. The koan introspection section was facilitated by Chozen Bays, Michael Kieran, and Anita Feng.

I personally found these particularly moving. And here and there in the conversation among intimate practitioners of our ancient inheritance, moments of sparkling clarity.

That evening after dinner, we were graced with a dharma talk, the Seasons of Practice, by Koshin Cain.

The next day the program kicked off with a discussion of difficulties and opportunities working with students, especially those that might be considered “difficult.” Again, those moments of lightning striking, turning words, and deep pointing. Lots of experience, lots of clarity, lots of compassion in that group. The afternoon session, we followed our noses and discussed various matters that arose within the larger meeting.

The evening concluded with a performance from the monastery’s marimba band. It was a delight and a hoot.

Saturday morning, we had our annual business meeting. As a non-incorporated body with no bylaws and no budget, and with only two standing committees, a membership committee, and a committee charged with organizing the next meeting.

The afternoon continued to discuss aspects of encountering the world and especially how Zen is taking its tentative rooting into our North American culture.

That evening featured the “banquet,” which mainly meant the nice silver and table cloths. Well, also with their astonishing monastery vegetarian cooking, clicked up a couple of notches.

The next morning, Sunday the 1st of October, we had zazen, breakfast, and a closing ceremony. After which we began our trips home. Hogen Roshi invited me to give the Sunday dharma talk, so I lingered a bit…

So. My thoughts. No real takeaways. Well, other than how I see Great Vow and its leadership so seriously and consciously looking to how to continue their work serving the dharma and especially the new generation of seekers and practitioners. After the successful transition at Dharma Rain, they’re showing serious promise at how it can be done.

Most of all I noticed how there is a generational passing going on. The tide has come…

I see it in my own body. My spine is riddled with arthritis complicated by general disintegration of the structures of the darned thing, and how the consequences of that are multiple. I don’t sit on the floor. I am careful when I get up. I have an old man’s stoop. And I walk carefully.

My thoughts are generally about the ancient truths of the Buddha way. And what that means in my specific situation.

And with that letting go.

That stuff.

And. Being with people, some of whom I’ve known for thirty and more years, each committed to this path, and meeting new companions and colleagues. Comforted some when some of these newer teachers tell me I’ve been of some help to them on their way.

The sad. And the sweet.

A complicated banquet.

Religion News

Uncategorized

American Zen Teachers Association

Great Vow Zen Monastery

Zen

About James Ishmael Ford

James Ishmael Ford is a spiritual director and writer. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

October 1, 2023

Meetings With Remarkable Women: Annie Besant

Next Post

October 4, 2023 The Divine Madness of Francis of Assisi

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Allowing anger to contaminate one's hard disk can be detrimental to one's holistic well being. ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Hot Anger: Meeting Anger in Zen ..."

"I love this koan. every which way you turn it bites you, Thirty years on ..."

Mark Strathern

Nanquan Cuts the Cat: A Jesuit ..."

"As a substitute for religion, Zen is probably better than taking drugs. However, it can ..."

Theodore Brandley

The Selling of Zen at the ..."

"Craving and aversion are detrimental to one's peace and happiness. Easter is a wake up ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Easter: A Zen Buddhist Appreciation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Christmas Carol Abolitionist African-American Ahmadiyya Alan Watts Aldous Huxley Allen Ginsberg Amedkar Jayanti American politics American Zen Anaheim Zen Sangha Anglican Annie Besant April Fool Armageddon Art and Religion artificial intellegence Atheist Awakening B R Ambedkar Barlaam & Josaphat Beatnik Between Bhagavad Gita Bible biography birthday bodhisattva Bodhisattva Precepts Book burning Book of Common Prayer Book of Mormon Brahmo Samaj Buddha Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Lord's Prayer Butterflies Calendars cartoons cat ChatGPT Chicken Tortilla Soup choices Christian atheism Christian mysticism Christian origins Christian Science Christian Zen Christianity Christianity and Buddhism christmas Christmas Truce Christopher Isherwood Church of Later Day Saints Cinco de Mayo circus covenant critical thinking culture D. T. Suzuki Dalit Buddhism Daniel Defoe Desert Fathers and Mothers dharma talk Dogen Donald Trump Dongshan's Five Ranks Dorothy Day dream Duty Easter ecology Edwin Arnold emptiness Empty Moon Zen Network Episcopal Church Eternal Now Ethics evolution existentialism Faith fantasy Fathers Day film film review fire Five Ranks Folk music food Form and emptiness Four Seals Francis of Assisi Francis Xavier Free thinker friendship George MacDonald Gerald Heard Glenn Taylor Webb God Good Friday Gospel of Gospel of Mark Gospel of Thomas grace Graduate Theological Unioin Graduate Theological Union Guanyin H R Blyth Hakuin Ekaku Hanamatsuri Hanukkah Harada Yasutani Zen Heart Sutra Henry David Thoreau Hermann Hesse Hinduism History and Religion history of religion Holy Spirit home Hospitality Icon Ides of March Isaac Newton Islam Islamic mysticism Jack Kerouac James Luther Adams Jiddu Krishnamurti Joan of Arc Johannes Gutenberg John Donne joke Judaism justice karma kensho King James Bible koan Koun Yamada Kyoto School Lewis Carrol Liberal Christianity Liberal Religion Life Plan Community Liminal literature Literature and Religion Liturgy Lord's Prayer Love Mahatma Gandhi Mahayana Martin Luther King Jr Mary Baker Eddy Mary Magdelene Mary Oliver Mayflower Compact Meditation memories memory metaphor money money and religioin Mormons Mother's Day movie review mysticism mythic Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church New Thought Nichiren Buddhism Nonduality not knowing Omar Khayyam Pacific School of Religion pagan Palm Sunday Passover peace Pentecost perennialism Phantastes Philip Kapleau philosophy Pilgrimage poetry Poetry and Religion politics Prayer Precepts Printing Press prophecy prophetic spirituality psychology Pure Land Queer religion queering religion Quietism Ram Mohan Roy rebirth recipe Relationships and religion religion religion and history Religious syncretism Resistance Retirement Retreat review Rissho Kosei Kai Ritual Robert Aitken Roshi Robert Ingersoll Rohatsu Romani religion Rosie the Riveter saints samadhi SanboZen Sangha Satyagraha science science and reigion science and religion science fiction seminary sermon Sesshin Sex and Religion Shinran Sikh Sikh tradition silence Social Justice Socially Engaged Buddhism Society and religion Soto Zen soul spiritual community spiritual practice Spirituality Sufism Suicide superstition Taoism Television Teresa of Avila Thanksgiving theological schools Theosophy Thomas Merton Time Transcendentalism Transcendentalist Trinitarian Trinity Uncategorized unitarian Unitarian Christianity Unitarian Universalist Universalism Vajrayana Vedanta Walking war Willa Cather William Ellery Channing wisdom women and religion women in religion World Teacher Writing zazen Zen Zen Center Zen inspired retriement zen meditation Zen Precepts Zen women

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was a biblical talent's weight?

Select your answer to see how you score.

60 pounds 50 pounds 75 pounds 40 pounds