The Contemporary Training of a Zen Buddhist Monk

Masaki Matsubara, PhD (Cornell, 2009, Asian Religions) is a scholar of Japanese Religions in the East Asia Program at Cornell University and also serves as an Adjunct Affiliated Chaplain at Cornell United Religious Work (CURW), as well as the Abbot of Butsumoji Zen Temple in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He specializes in the history and practice of Contemporary Japanese Rinzai Zen.

Brown University
Friday, April 19, 2019

[chelsuh]

Thank you for sharing this! Insightful and wonderful 😊

[MG-hxym]

The woman at 1:07:00 is spot on. The martial attitude is a great tool and learning device to separate the wheat from the chaff within someone and get them straight and get proper habits developed, but eventually it does have to be regulated or let go in exchanged for a balanced method that includes compassion and loving kindness.

[DonDeanst]

How wonderful he understoods meditation can have side effects. I've been teaching meditation for many years and its always discouraging to hear other instructors presenting meditation as a 100% safe practice.

[Magnulus]

Daoism saved a Zen master. Fascinating.

[gabrieleschuler]

🙏🙏🙏 Thank you Matsubarasan. You habe given me so many anservs to my struggle in Zen Training in Japan. I wish you would give lectures in Europe.

[Hayk_empty_cloud]

Is it possible attend Rinzai Zen temple at Japan?? (not Soto, I would like to go within Rinzai shu)

[alanarcher]

29:55 sounds a lot like upacara-samadhi / access concentration

[Leah-nytl]

🤣🤣🤣 well this explains so much of the things I have gone through. Thank you for the video

[Oi-mjdv]

The p'eng tsu description sounds incredibly close to shamata/jhana practice

[Ndo]

That Zen overeating tradition mentioned at 1:00:00 is truly bizarre.

[jonwesick]

Seems like a great guy. I guess his Buddhist training must have worked.

[KevinLopez-rlwq]

Tuberculosis? Hasn't anyone ever heard of "lung imbalance" from the Tibetan tradition when someone meditates excessively/incorrectly? "Self induced neurotic breakdown" sounds like a correct description.

[Ryanhampton]

I do not like zen I do not like Rinzi I do not like Soto. I went to both in NYC and iam not trying to be a jerk but with out writing a book here I really can’t stand ither one. However I do like Shugendo they say it comes from Japan but most likely is a folk Taoist import and even if its not it creates a symbiotic relationship with nature so in theory it could lead to spooky abilities but mostly gives a natural high of sorts . The rinzi had a nice gift shop where I got some agarwood incense but other then that they both suck at least here in NYC and yes I have a very good experiential and experience with meditation and like the historical Buddha very much but over given it a chance for over 10 years and iam out. I was homeless in NYC and could meditate for hours a day I spend 2 hours in zazen I walk out feeling like I need a shot of Dilaudid. I have sever nerve pain hit those wood blocks one more time and tell me to stay still, and iam stealing that cool looking talking stick. I get more out of simply reading zen mind and then donating it to a library. And then it’s like taboo to talk about Satori or the scientific aspects of what occurs to the nervous system through yoga. Good grief. I’ll stick to animism and shamanism it’s a shame because you don’t want tho through the baby out with the bath water but I can’t associate with these groups. Just to simply practice right speech.

[ethanfreeman]

These people talk about the idea of Zen as if it's an idea that can be talked about. I think the first mistake was that they began talking about it without talking about the fact that they are talking about it, instead of first of all making the distinction that it fundamentally isn't an idea and therefore cannot be talked about adequately.

Blah blah, you get the point.

[glockdookie]

My fucking God the yapping from the first guy was unbearable.

[TheStoicus]

I would like to comment (for what it's worth), but I'm sure some people will dislike me for it. Now I have huge respect for zen, Rinzai zen, monks, etc... otherwise I would not watch this video. But I'm a little confused, this man is certainly not a sholar of university level in my opinion, I've had courses at the university (In Europe) but the academic level was 100 times higher than this. He doesn't even not go deep into his subject. No real insights, nothing original. The most interesting is when he doesn't read from his paper and talks a little of his own experience. But imho, that's not at an academic level at all. I have the feeling this is a bit like the emperor's clothes, people tend to admire him because he is a zen monk, not because of what he says. So I don't want to insult this man, I'm sure as a zen monk he achieved something, like Satori for example. And please don't give me this nonsense: "yes the message is simple, but with your western mind, you are not able to grasp it". I'm deep into zen en Christian contemplation, I have read dozens of books so I do have a notion of it, and I know that simple phrases can contain huge wisdom. I just mean, he practically does not seem to talk in depth about his subject, answers besides the questions that are asked, ... It's just strange to me

[edgepixel]

Five years in zen training is nothing. An abbot, after 5 years? Preposterous!