Quotes from Steven Heine

But do not ask me where I am going, As I travel in this limitless world, Where every step I take is my home. – Dogen Zenji

On matters of transgression in the social sphere, Zen's deficiencies cannot be blamed on an indifferent or unresponsive attitude, for in some cases it has been actively pursuing a reprehensible agenda. Perhaps part of the problem is Zen's apparent lack of a sense of good versus evil on a metaphysical level in stressing that all phenomena are interconnected and interpenetrating.

Zen is perhaps best known not so much for the negation of speech, which would represent an extreme view, but for inventing a creative new style of expression that uses language in unusual and ingenious fashions to surpass a reliance on everyday words and letters.

Once the tremendous literary productivity of Zen masters is acknowledged, the question remains whether their profusion of words and countless instances of contradictory and absurd utterances and gestures make any sense.

One of the legacies of the popularization campaign is that some of the most prominent S?t? temples are associated with shamanistic and esoteric practices. They are best known to their congregations of lay followers for espousing a syncretic approach to attaining worldly benefits, such as prosperity, fertility, or safety during travels, rather than for traditional Zen practices of meditation and monastic discipline.

The situation in which a native spirit becomes more highly venerated than Buddhist gods by a S?t? temple supposedly dedicated to the practice of zazen, and yet still is recognized as having a malevolent potential requiring exorcism, becomes a focal point for rethinking the function of syncretism in Zen.

Zen discourse ranges from rejection to veneration with exorcistic trends never disappearing, and the haughty disdain for supernaturalism in some records coexists with full-scale syncretism that includes purification rites. This range in the levels of discourse of Japanese amalgamations offers many striking contrasts with the nonassimilative, intolerant interactions between Christianity and medieval European paganism.

Can monks, even if they are free of desire, cultivate rituals designed to cater to laypersons' attachments and longings and still remain immune to corruption? Or, should questions raised about compromise in the name of a standard of incorruptible purity be set aside as the unrealistic expectations of an idealism that is not appropriate to observing Buddhism on the ground?

Zen's failure to resist and renounce intolerance and militarism is ironically derivative of traditional principles when misunderstood or when applied, sometimes purposefully, in an inappropriate way.

Because Zen overturns good versus evil on the ideal level, it loses sight of the significance of problems involving good versus evil in the real realm, which are not adequately addressed due to a shirking of responsibility and lack of remorse for transgressions.

Reformers can learn from monks, who spend countless hours cooking or cleaning the grounds or raking the garden, and can view each and every task, no matter how menial or seemingly trivial, not simply as a means to an end, which is frustrating if the final goal seems remote or unattainable. Rather, the tasks are seen as ends in themselves to be celebrated as eminently worthwhile, which paradoxically enhances their possible benefit for the future.

For those who care deeply about Zen and its place in Japan and the world, the challenge is to help define Zen's role creatively lest the tradition get buried under the avalanche of criticism.