Jack: Zen teaching can be misleading in its gross form.

My aging dad doesn’t cling to much of anything anymore. He is often quite indifferent about life and living. His greatly diminished alertness has made him indifferent to bills, gifts, wants, etc. — even conversation at times. He truly clings to less and less.

A friend of mine works for a boss who is an incredible jerk, who blows up one minute, forgets it the next, and denies any knowledge of it (perhaps truthfully) the next day. His “living in the moment” wreaks great misery on those around him while completely insulating him from any awareness of the train wrecks he’s caused as he steams full ahead in this days warring.

Jack: Part of the scripture recitation for the weekly meditation at the priory is Dogen’s Rules for Meditation. Dogen is pretty obscure for me in general, so I’m not very surprised when I find that I don’t understand something he writes. One of his statements has always seemed particularly incongruous, though. He states, “Training is enlightenment.” I train, but if what I do is enlightenment, then I’m not sure enlightenment has much to offer. If it doesn’t get any better than this, then I’m not sure why I’m making an effort.

Mentor B. I too found that bit from Dogen confusing. And frankly, I don’t read much of his material anymore. It may all be entirely correct, but it is so inscrutable it mostly doesn’t help me. Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Richard Bachs’ Jonathan Livingston Seagull are somewhat inscrutable too, but they both touch a space that lights a fire of inspiration. Dogen doesn’t.

Mentor B. is a good friend who has kindly agreed that I can include some of our informal conversations as part of this blog. Mentor’s path is Buddhist though other paths were traveled too as part of the search for truth. Mentor’s interests span everything from art to science to philosophy. Mentor’s wisdom is that of a lay traveler, not a monk, so the words recorded reflect insight of experience rather the authority of sutras or the doctrine of any particular lineage.

Mentor’s ephemeral presence here will mostly reflect Buddhist related material. In real life, the conversations cover a much wider range.

Welcome, Mentor B.