Leaving Zen River

At the start of this month I left Zen River. My three months there were up, and with two retreats in other places on my schedule in october, it was time to move on.

It was a good three months. Zen River is a definitely a special place, a full-fledged [NL: volwaardig] Zen Buddhist Monastery, offering monastic and lay [NL: voor monniken en lekenbeoefenaars] training in a fairly traditional settiing is very rare in the West, and it certainly won't be the first thing that most people will think of when they think of the North of Groningen.

Being there, you are immersed [NL: ondergedompeld] in Zen: in Zen meditation, Zen history and Zen rituals and ceremonies. And since this place practices in the same school of Zen as my teacher and me (the White Plum school), it made a lot of sense to spend time there. Especially since I had quite some meditation background, but also was relatively new to this Japanese tradition.

Still, after three months it was also clear that I would not settle down and come live at Zen River. Although we are part of the same school of Zen, there certainly are differences and to me, their Zen does have quite a different feel and flavor as the Zen of my teacher and the Zen at Upaya. Also, with the (head) teacher at Zen River I just don't have the same kind of connection, affinity and resonance as I do with my teacher or with Roshi Joan Halifax. And in Zen the closeness of the student-teacher-relationship is thought of as very important. It certainly is for me. And thus, indeed, I will move on again, and continue my travels.