Lone Star Zen

Here's a piece from the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram about The Quang Chieu Zen Monastery in Rendon, Texas, about 20 miles SE of downtown Ft. Worth. The piece notes that "A year ago, Zen Buddhist monks and nuns from around the world, plus hundreds of lay Buddhists from the United States, dedicated the majestic new temple of the Quang Chieu Zen Monastery." Now, it sounds as if they have a growing sanhga, including "North Texas engineers, postal workers, homemakers, insurance agents and their children."

Raised a Roman Catholic, it was interesting to read in the piece about a Roman Catholic and Vietnamese construction company owner -- who apparently had not had any introduction to Zen -- who now sits zazen at the temple and attends Mass on Sundays. As he notes:

"'Can you be this and that at the same time? Why not?' the man said one night after an evening meditation service. 'You can have burgers and soup at the same time. You can have chop suey and tacos. I'm not here to find Buddhism but to find myself. Now, when I read the Bible, I read it with a clear mind.'"

When I come back from sesshins, I'm always struck by how many Catholics I have met. One, a short, determined, and very funny nun (I'd guess in her 70s) told me over lunch at the end of a sesshin 2 years ago, "You know, by Saturday night my legs hurt so bad that I was saying my rosary, and I said, 'Jesus, you'd better get him to ring that damn bell!'" There was nothing about Pat to make you think that she was a big one for daily rosaries, but I didn't ask her then. I think I was nervous the entire week-end about the impressions I imagined I was making on everyone.

My back and shoulders hurt so much on a recent sesshin that during a break before the final evening's zazen I went to my car and retreived a rosary that I hadn't held in at least a year. I used each bead to signal a breath. No joyful or glorious or sorrowful mysteries. Just a breath. There are already enough mysteries as to why I am walking the direction I am. But at lunch at the end of sesshin I told my friend that I had remembered her exhortation to Jesus and had held my rosary tightly. She laughed and gave me a big hug.