[Buddha-l] Teaching Zen Buddhist philosophy

[curt]

The main problem with chucking the "classics" and replacing them with 
"contemporary" authors is that you'll have to change the name of the 
course from "Zen Buddhist Philosophy" to "Zen Buddhist Pablum". A better 
idea would be to use some of the material that is actual studied in the 
traditional Zen "curriculum" - especially "The Sutra of Perfect 
Enlightenment" and "The Awakening of Faith". Since Packer rejects the 
label of Zen I see no reason to go out one's way to include her in a 
class on Zen - unless you genuinely find her writings to be insightful 
in and of themselves. Rather than Packer you would be much better off 
with Lenore Friedman's "Meetings with Remarkable Women" - not 
exclusively Zen, but a very interesting overview and extremely 
accessible (and Packer is in there). And if you end up a little short on 
contemporary women authors, you could try to compensate by focusing on 
the extremely interesting area of the history of women teachers in Zen.

Also, there are plenty of good editions of English translations of "The 
Records" of various big shot Masters in addition to Chinul (whom I 
consider to be the best) and Dogen. Lin Chi, Hakuin, Matsu, Ta Hui all 
come to mind. So I would say there's plenty of material that you could 
use without resorting to contemporary Western writers. Don't get me 
wrong, some of my best friends are contemporary western zen teachers.

- Curt

Richard P. Hayes wrote:

>Next semester I am scheduled to teach a course on Zen Buddhist
>philosophy (in the philosophy department, not in religious studies).
>Last time I taught the course I had the students read, among other
>things, The Lankavatara Sutra, the Diamond-cutter sutra, The Platform
>Sutra, some writings by Chinul, some writings by Dogen and a book by
>David Loy. The class got rave reviews, so I could just repeat it. But
>the fact is, I am really sick of the old standards (the majority of
>which I don't find at all inspiring anyway) and would like to have a
>change of pace. 
>
>So I have decided to try something different (for me). Rather than
>giving a lot of historical background, I am thinking of having students
>read five or six books by contemporary Western writers who have been
>influenced by their Zen practice. The people whose works I have been
>thinking of are Robert Aitken, Joko Beck, Jan Chozen Bays, Toni Packer,
>Bernie Glassman and Ruben Habito. 
>
>If possible I'd like to have a good balance of male and female authors,
>and I'd like to have at least one writer who, like Packer, has abandoned
>the Buddhist and Zen labels altogether, and I'd like to have a couple of
>people whose vision of Zen includes religious traditions other than
>Buddhism (like Habito and Glassman). I also want to have a book that
>deals significantly with ethics (as do Aitken, Franz Metcalf and David
>Loy). 
>
>My question is: do any of you have any experience teaching any of these
>authors in an academic context? If so, how did it go? Are there other
>authors you would recommend whose works fit within the guidelines I have
>sketched above?
>
>Incidentally, I was toying with the idea of having people read Austin's
>Zen and the Brain, which I find captivating, but in the end I decided
>against using the whole book. I may include a few excerpts, since
>several of the people who keep taking my courses are science majors who
>seem to like to grapple with the sorts of things that Austin grapples
>with. Have any of you taught from his book? How did it go?
>
>Any advice will be gratefully received.
>
>  
>