How to Become a Zen Priest
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About this ebook
Read the book. Do what it tells you to do. Become a Zen priest. It's that simple.
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How to Become a Zen Priest - Michael Pockley
Key Terms
Different people use the same words in different ways. In this book...
Dharma is shorthand for the theory and practice of Buddhism.
Dharma transmission is an acknowledgment, perhaps expressed in a ceremony, that a student of Zen has reached the same understanding as the teacher.
Ordination means the same thing – but perhaps with the additional feeling that the former student will now serve as a priest, one who uses this understanding to guide others down the same path.
Chapter 1: What Makes a Good Zen Priest?
A good Zen priest is... a Zen Master.
Nah! Nobody is a Zen Master. At least, not for long. Everything changes. Sometimes air is a hurricane, sometimes a still, blue sky.
Same air.
However, striving to climb Everest gives one a better view than not climbing at all, so the recommended route is explained in Chapter 2.
A good Zen priest is...skilled in counselling.
Call yourself a mechanic, people will bring you broken cars. Call yourself a priest, people will bring you broken hearts, so counselling training is explained in Chapter 3.
A good Zen priest is... a dharma teacher.
If you want to silence a kindergarten class, ask them to raise their hands. (The mechanics of this task leave no brain cells free for talking.) Good teaching skills can be counter-intuitive, so there are some rather more relevant pedagogical tips in Chapter 4.
A good Zen priest is...a parish priest.
For this you first need to build a parish (or group or sangha.) Chapter 5 tells you how.
A good Zen priest is...officially ordained.
This does not make you more enlightened – but it is good for marketing, so this is explained in Chapter 6.
Some Zen priests wear black and shave their heads.
This is optional.
Traditional Zen clothes – the ones that make you look like a ninja – derive from everyday working dress in ancient China, so these days jeans and a T-shirt fit the original spirit of Zen. Just make sure the jeans are baggy enough for comfortable meditation. That said, the ninja suit is about as cool as religious clothing gets, so you might as well get one.
Some Zen priests chant sutras.
This is optional.
Chanting was an ancient way of preserving and passing on the Buddha’s teachings. Today we have paper and the internet. Right now I’m chanting at you. Om!
Some Zen priests perform rituals.
They do exotic things with incense and bells and bowing and some even put their clothing on their head.
This is optional.
If you perform rituals, you will attract people for whom rituals are an aid to practice; if you just meditate, you will attract people who find rituals an encumbrance. We need both types of priest to serve both types of Buddhist.
That said, as a priest it is polite to learn the basics for when you visit. There is no chapter on this because you will pick this up as you go along. And then forget. And re-learn when you visit. And then forget...
I still struggle even outside the Zendo door. I keep forgetting - left or right? Which foot goes in first?