#5 CALIFORNIA: THE SOUND OF ONE ZOOM CONNECTING

 I DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE exactly; but in a multidimensional click-fest to my next state, California, today I ended up at the Berkeley Zen Center, in a sitting, talk and chanting centered around the installation of their new Abbot Hozan Senauki,  longtime BZC leader and longtime leader of Aitken's Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 

Berkeley Zen Center is an offshoot of the San Francisco Zen Center, founded by Suzuki Roshi, who popularized Zen in the United States, and opened the first Zen monastery outside Asia.  

After a brief meditation, Steven Weintraub (click on his name for a fascinating interview with him about his background and Zen Buddhist experience) discussed tomorrow's 'Mountain Seat' Ceremony, in which Hozan will be installed.  He paid tribute to BZC's previous leader, Mel Weitzman, another really interesting man, who died on January 7.  He died at age 91, and it's odd to think that I am experiencing only the second or so generation of American Buddhism. 

Steven talked about the deep currents of ceremony in Soto Zen, which experienced it's golden age 1300 years ago.  And yet, noted Steven, "Now is really the golden age of zen, your practice now."  With various greetings and processions, Hozan will become the leader of the 'Old Plum Mountain' Center (another name for BZC.  Even though there is no mountain, it is honorific and traditional to include 'mountain' in the name).    

Tomorrow, the 'rioban' or lay leaders, will greet Hozan with flowers at the gate.  They will bow and chant and offer fragrance to the lineage.  Steven noted that for the first time, BZC will incorporate the Buddha's wife in their lineage recognition.  Somehow, this is an American addition, and no matter what, this is a step in the right direction. 

Steven told a story of Suzuki Roshi leading chanting in Japanese at Tassajara.  Mel said "no one can understand this language"  Suzuki replied "tell them it's about love."   The latest generation dies, a new one takes up the mantle in what seem like increasingly difficult circumstances.  Our armor against it all?  "Don't get disconnected", said Steven.   "Enlightenment is intimate".   

Tricycle magazine notes that Alan Weitsman followed in Suzuki's footsteps and possessed the luminous quality of "nothing special."