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Fishbulb
Quote: " Is it usual Buddhist practice for a spiritual leader, in this case Reverend Kennett, to form a body of followers autonomous from its original organization? With my limited reading in Buddhism I had learned that lineage is highly regarded. I mean all due respect; if this is typical of a new monastery, to break organizational ties with its starting place, then do set me straight."
I do not think it is usual, but some sort of restructuring is no doubt common when a tradition is transplanted to another country that has marked cultural differences. Doing so needn't deny the religious link, nor change the core elements of the practice. It was not something we sought, and was more of a natural progression than an abrupt or conscious breaking away. Rev. Kennett was a registered member of the Soto Zen Church of Japan at the time of her death, a status she sought to maintain so as to preserve the integrity of the 'bridge' from East to West (although, of course, the deepest and most necessary integrity is found not on the bureaucratic level but in the quality of the practice). As far as I know, none of the currently active monastic members of the OBC are registered with the Head Office of the Soto Zen Church of Japan, and yet my understanding is that our training is respectedby the Japanese and appreciated for the fact that we are carrying on our religious family line. The following extracts from the foreword to Rev. Kennett's first book "Selling Water by the River" were written by her Japanese Master, Keido Chisan Koho Zenji. (References to the mindset of the Japanese bride may now be outdated.)
"When a religion is carried from country to country it is only the basic Truth that will survive; it is like a Japanese bride, who wears white at her wedding so her husband may realise that she is willing to be dyed to any colour, with regards to customs, ways and behaviour that he may wish. When a religion is married, as it were, to a new country, it must be willing to be dyed in the same way as the Japanese bride. ...thus did Soto Zen become the bride of Japan and gain acceptance throughout that country....But this expansion was impossible whilst Zen remained in its original Chinese state, since the Japanese people felt that a foreign religion was being forced upon them. The people of Western countries also, if Zen is ever to reach them properly, must colour it for themselves just as the Japanese did. Thus will Zen be reborn in the West. Like the Buddhist at rebirth, the new Zen will be neither completely new, being the same stream of Truth, nor completely old, as it will have new forms, ways, customs and culture."
While we are not under the jurisdiction of the Soto Zen Church of Japan we nonetheless have evolved (and continue to evolve) a preceptual and ethical framework within which our members must train, and which Rev. Kennett placed herself under as well. Without such a context one would be in the risky position of being answerable to no one.
Haryo Young