[Buddha-l] Re: Teaching Zen Buddhist philosophy

[curt]

Richard P. Hayes wrote:

>When you teach Zen Buddhist philosophy, I suggest you choose other books
>then. 
>
If I was teaching classes on Zen Buddhist Philosophy then I would view 
you as a rival, and I certainly wouldn't share my great ideas with one 
of my competitors! Fortunately for you my Academic teaching career was 
limited to a couple of semesters of lecturing on Chemistry 101.

>The books I have been considering are all by serious
>practitioners. I have met most of them personally and have come to
>respect them highly for their intelligence and integrity. I have come to
>respect them as serious people who have serious things to say to other
>serious people. I apologize for not finding people who meet your high
>literary standards.
>  
>
I'm not sure how high my standards are - but amazon.com probably has 
more books than there are neurons in my brain - so some kind of 
selection criteria are necessary. I find that being an opinionated snob 
is an essential survival skill in a world awash in information - most of 
which is baloney.

>>The other authors originally mentioned write primarily "self-help" books - 
>>they don't even qualify as "serious non-fiction".
>>    
>>
>
>If the Buddha had known how to write, I suspect he would have written
>self-help books.
>  
>
If the Buddha were around today I think he would want to clearly 
distinguish his teaching from the "self-help industry", which caters to 
economically comfortable self-involved middle-class types - people who 
are like Woody Allen but without the talent or the sense of humor.

>>Unlike Loy, those other authors are not in the business of producing works that 
>>are intended to be intellectually challenging, to put it politely.
>>    
>>
>
>The older I get, the less it matters to me whether someone is
>intellectually challenging. In all my years of teaching, my goal has
>never been to help students develop muscular intellects. I am more
>interested in presenting material to students that they can use to
>figure out what it means to be a human being in a badly damaged world.
>  
>
I seriously doubt that. Teaching is not a matter of "presenting 
material" which is then passively absorbed. A teacher - not matter what 
the subject - can, at best, point in the general direction of knowledge. 
It is up to the student to go there him or herself. And some knowledge 
is more difficult to come by than others - and often the best stuff is 
up a steep incline over difficult terrain. So sometimes you have to help 
your students gradually build up their stamina and so forth. God, I do 
have a weakness for over-extending metaphors.

>Perhaps I should have been a high school teacher, but somehow things
>didn't work out that way.
>  
>
Good high school teachers are among the greatest of all Bodhisattvas.

- Curt