Category: Rinzai zen

A zen tradition that doesn’t separate buddhanature from substrate consciousness (skt. alaya vijnana), doesn’t speak or teach kensho but then claims to be able to just sit (j. shikantaza), that doesn’t have one on one instruction (j. sanzen/dokusan), that has no emphasis of any type of dynamicity or physicality in training, where lineage blessings go unnoticed, where students and roshis spend sesshin after sesshin half asleep, has got to be the most decadent form of Zen to ever exist. These are the very problems that Bodhidharma corrected by teaching the weak, sleepy and ignorant meditation monks dynamic movement practices but also how to transform, stretch and strenghten tissues (c. yijinjing) and how to transform all three bodies from samsaric to nirvanic state (c. xisuijing, bone marrow washing). It’s been long since Bodhidharma’s time but the state of some systems that claim to be zen buddhism merely based on lineage transmission and mimicked external form, proves that the deluded mind is master in deluding itself, without much ability to learn from the mistakes done by others. It is indeed difficult to find practitioners who are able to analyze and extract the essential meaning of dharma thus demonstrating abundant merit (skt. punya).

Baba,
Revitalized Zen
16 March 2025

Yes, this seems to be true; that the state of Zen lineages today is simply not producing Masters, as was the whole point of Zen training. The state of Dharma is seemingly in a bad shape all around. Therefore, I find it very refreshing and interesting to read such quotes as the one above. Here is the YouTube channel of Revitalized Zen, the facebook group and here is the blog. Excellent reading for any spiritual seeker 🙏🏼🪷