The majority of the Asian meditation teachers from Japan, Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, and other countries have been living here for roughly 60 years. Many of us have tried to put what they taught us into practice and assimilate it for the majority of our adult life. The “60 year lessons” that we have learned during this time have been on my mind recently.
Some of the teachings have been life-changing, while others have been discouraging. Many of the things we learned had to be relearned after making numerous mistakes (which is what my teacher Suzuki Roshi characterized as the basic quality of Buddhist practice, even for teachers). I wish to share my lessons from the past 60 years—or at least those that have come to mind—in this and the following post.
People’s ideas of enlightenment in the early 1960s and 1970s came from three sources: literature, psychedelics, and living teachers – probably in about that order. I’ve previously written on how D.T. Suzuki’s “Essays on Zen Buddhism” volumes popularized the term “enlightenment” to refer to an experience that was rather unique to his type of Buddhism, the Rinzai Zen of Japan. If his narrative hadn’t fit so well with peoples’ psychedelic drug experiences, it probably wouldn’t have been nearly as captivating. We nodded wisely when Asian lecturers sought to disabuse us of the idea that going on an acid trip would lead to enlightenment. But the strong traces left by those formative early events endure. I speak with numerous Buddhists who have been practicing for 40 years who still discuss their early trips on acid.
Western Buddhism: The 60 Year Lessons
Posted on February 20, 2023 | Views: 2,912
It’s been about 60 years since the bulk of the Asian meditation masters arrived here — Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Vietnamese and so on.Mandala-AWAKENMany of us have spent our whole adult lives trying to practice and absorb what they taught us. I’ve been thinking recently about the “60 year lessons” that we have gleaned during this time.
Some of the lessons have been transformative, others disappointing. Many of the lessons we learned the hard way — by making mistake after mistake (which is what my teacher Suzuki Roshi characterized as the basic quality of Buddhist practice, even for teachers). In this and the next post I want to present my 60 year lessons, at least those I have thought of so far.
Enlightenment Is Not What We Thought
In the early days, the ’60s and ’70s, peoples’ notions of enlightenment came from three sources: books, psychedelics and living teachers — probably in about that order. I have written before about the way that D.T. Suzuki‘s “Essays on Zen Buddhism” books promulgated the word “enlightenment” to describe an experience rather particular to his brand of Buddhist practice — the Rinzai Zen of Japan. His description probably wouldn’t have been nearly as compelling if it hadn’t dovetailed nicely with peoples’ psychedelic drug experiences. Asian teachers tried to disavail people of the notion that an acid trip was enlightenment, and we nodded sagely. But those early formative experiences persist as powerful imprints. I talk to many 40 year Buddhist practitioners who still reference their early acid trips — or even their recent ones — as an essential aspect of their spiritual understanding.
For the next generation of Buddhists, and even now, the ’60s counterculture and its fascination with altered states is ancient history. The younger Buddhists bring their own very different frames of reference to their spiritual quest. Maybe the lesson is simply that “enlightenment” is not something to be understood or experienced as much as to be lived. What I often say to people is that Buddhism is not about what you believe, but about how you live and what you do. Your spiritual experiences, deep though they might be, don’t really mean much until you’ve lived them out. Once, long ago, I wrote an essay called “Enlightenment is Behavior.” It was controversial then, and probably still would be today.
