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From: nedludd@ix.netcom.com(Ned Ludd )
Newsgroups: alt.zen
Subject: Re: Pop Zen, a good thing?
Date: 5 Jul 1996 18:53:43 GMT
Organization: Netcom
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X-NETCOM-Date: Fri Jul 05  1:53:43 PM CDT 1996

In <4ri62i$8p9@news.interlog.com> darylk@async.org (Daryl) writes: 
>
> Ahem.  This is my theory.
> 
> Pop Zen, whether a perversion of 'real' (ack poo) Zen, or just
> fanciful tag-stealing of anything that sounds deep and mysterious,
> is part of the melding of Zen into a new culture.  Railing against
> it is trying to stop the process of melding, something like
> trying to stop food from getting hot when you cook it.
> 
> To make this clearer, my theory is _not_ that pop Zen (or 'buji'
> Zen if one prefers) is just an inevitable side-effect of the
> melding process, but that it is also an essential part of the
> process.  Without it, new terminology does not arise, as meanings
> for the new terms evolve contextually and are not simply assigned.
> The same is true of other forms of expression, and even of forms
> of practice.  They all require haphazard experimentation to gain
> meaningful translation.
> 
> So pop Zen is good for Zen, at least in terms of the transmission
> of Zen Buddhism.  Whether it's of any use to would-be practitioners
> is another matter.
> 

  Ha.  Almost right.  Your theory of Buji Zen as a "catalyzing agent"
  would apply, except that Buji Zen is always around!

  And that's my theory: That through the 5,000 transformations of
  Buddhism and Zen - through the countries, millenia, gods, saints,
  Branches, Schools and Streams, the ONE constant is Buji.  

  And I bet the buddha-groupies, hangers-on, and non-practicers of 
  ancient times jived the SAME way they jive today, using the SAME 
  terms and same attitude.  THAT is the ONE constant in Buddhism, 
  and the reason, IMO, that Buddha let Buddhism become a religion: 
  that it would provide a backbone for Buji-Buddhism to survive on -
  the true Buddhism, true Zen, Buji Zen!

                                              Ned

(P.S. Theories are neat, hey!)