Word: zen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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This small and admirable memoir records the experiences of a young Dutch student who spent a year and a half as a novice monk in a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery. As might be expected, the author shows a deep respect for the teachings of Zen. What makes his account extraordinary, how ever, is that the book contains none of the convert's irritating certitude, and no suggestion that the reader rush to follow the author's example...
...monastery that Van de Wetering found was in the holy city of Kyoto. He appeared there without introduction and was accepted without surprise. In a brief interview, the resident Zen master said that he was to stay at least eight months, a shorter period would be worthless. The strain of monastery routine was much more severe than he was prepared for. The monks were allowed only four hours of sleep. There was rough physical work to be done, and six to eight hours of meditation each day. Meditation suggests tranquillity not torture, but sitting motionless for even a few minutes...
...author visited the Zen master each day. During the first of these encounters he received his koan, or Zen riddle. A postulant's first koan usually is one of formidable difficulty, and solving it may take years. On each day of each of these years, the master asks in a sharp and businesslike manner for the answer. The learning monk may at tempt some reply or say nothing. When the master decides that no progress will be made on that day, he rings a small bell, and the interview is over...
These sessions proved humbling. "You are asleep," the Zen master would say, "you are snoring." Then later, "If ever you succeed in waking up a bit, be careful that it doesn't go to your head." The author does not reveal his koan - to do so would be extremely bad form - but it might have been one of those now familiar to Westerners: "Show me the face you had before your parents were born." He also does not say specifically that he solved his koan, although to have done so in a year and a half would have been...
With his life, Nagare's artistic style has changed. In his bachelor years between marriages, he conceived a stylized image of a kimonoed man in contemplation (Thoughts and Angles), derived from youthful memories of his apprenticeship in a Zen temple. Long contemplation also produced the series he calls Bachi, reflecting the shape of the pick with which Japanese geishas play the samisen. Actually, Nagare says, "Bachi tells the importance of being broadminded. The lines spread out as they climb higher...