The German edition of Hardcore Zen is out now. I think. Or at least it's very close to being available. And I have updated my European tour schedule. There are still a lot of dates where the specific location is pending. But at least the cities in which I'll be talking are mostly set. So you can plan your European vacations accordingly. Follow me around like a Deadhead or a Phish-phan.Down at the bottom of the page is the cover for the Polish edition of Hardcore Zen. It took me a while to figure out what the image was. Gross!
I have yet to see what the Greek version looks like. I'm not sure if that's out yet or not. I haven't heard from those guys for a while. But last I knew they were planning one for Spring 2010.
Meanwhile, the Finns have a version of Zen Wrapped in Karma our already. I don't have a scan of that one. But it's pretty much the same cover as the English version but with Finnish words on it.
So, I've been looking over some of the stuff people have been writing in the comments about how horribly dogmatic I am about zazen posture. Aw.
Lately when I give instructions in zazen I've taken to describing what I do as being like a yoga class in which there is only one asana and you hold it for-fucking-ever.
I think this explanation might help folks understand my so-called dogmatism. If you went to a yoga class and the teacher told you there was only one way to do downward-facing dog and then had the gall to correct you when you did it differently, you probably would not accuse her of dogmatism. In fact, you would expect any decent yoga teacher to be pretty dogmatic about downward-facing dog. I personally wouldn't trust any yoga teacher who wasn't.
Same with zen. Like a decent yoga teacher, a good zen teacher can help you find modifications to the posture if she determines that you really can't do it. But she'll also gently push you into doing it right if she thinks you're just being lazy and actually can do it. Or if she feels you just need a little bit of stretching before you can do it right.
The posture in zazen is not arbitrary. I think this might be the source of much of the confusion. I say this over & over & over, but zazen is not some random pose you take in order to work on your spiritual/mental stuff. It's a physical practice.
As to whether or not other stuff is just as good as zazen... Look. I gotta be honest with you. I really don't think it is. If I did think there was something better, I'd be doing that better thing. If I thought all other practices were equal, I'd be varying my own practice accordingly.
But that doesn't mean I want to run out and set fire to every Vipassana center I see or torture TM practitioners with thumb screws until they switch to Zen. I don't really care what other people do. And I know Zen isn't for everyone, so maybe those other practices do their adherents good. They certainly seem to. So yay meditation! Of all kinds! Yay! Hooray!
Except for damaging garbage like Big Mind®. Oh! You don't like that I said that? Aw. How sad. I'm weeping for you.But I'm not changing my tune. And, by the way, I'm delighted every time I see a Big Mind® ad on this blog. Yeah, Gempo! Send me your money to have me trash your shitty scam! I bet I've made like twelve and a half cents from you!
Today is Record Store Day, my favorite holiday of all. So I'm gonna go out and see what the record stores around here have on tap for the day.
See ya later!
