Sanzen:

Once a Zen student is settled into regular practice sitting Zazen, in a daily life practice and working with the emotional household then a teacher will suggest starting interview practice.

The two schools of Zen, Rinzai and Soto, will use interviews a little differently. In the Soto school there is an ‘encounter’ between teacher and student. The role of the teacher is to act as a catalyst to the student. The student will ask a question or present a problem that has arisen in the training and the teacher will respond. What is produced from this dynamic are pathways to deepen practice.

This function of the teacher is different from either a ‘Father Confessor’ figure or a ‘psychotherapist’, which operate quite differently. 

The Rinzai school may use formal Koans (in fact contrary to popular belief so will Soto teachers). Koan means a legal case such as may be used in a court of law to guide a law or principle to show how it operates in day-to-day life. In the Sanzen room (Interview room), the principles are the insights of the Buddha’s teachings which the student must demonstrate how they work in daily life. However, in Soto training the ‘Koan’ is left to arise naturally. This can happen because the Zen training is organic in its working. At root it is not the student who guides the practice it is the Buddha Nature or the Heart-Buddha of the student who is central to the whole practice although this fact is often not realised by the student for quite some time. The interview allows the Heart Buddha to present what needs to be done and this is gradually uncovered over the course of the training.

In our Dharma Centre we have our weekly Zazen/Meditation Group on Thursday evenings. I’m delighted to report that we have a stable group of regular sitters and we alternate between weeks. One week will be a single sitting and a Dharma talk the next it will be two periods of sitting. It seems the right time to introduce an opportunity for attendees to attend an interview if desired. Interviews will not be mandatory. However, they are useful for deepening the individual’s practice or for airing any difficulties that may have arisen in either daily life practice or in Zazen. For now, we will be concentrating on daily life practice and Zazen as it is imperative to establish a strong practice. Rest assured that because of the dynamic nature of the practice those who attend regularly will notice an effect on their Zen practice and this is the benefit of coming for interview.

Instructions will be given for the form for attending and if anyone has any questions you can always contact me through either the Telegram group or email at: thezengateway@gmail.com 

Martin Goodson

Class Leader and Teacher