Is Sōtō Zen Practice actually useful right now?
Image: Unsplash
By, Rev. Jinzu Minna Jain
I am scared right now. A lot of us are. We have loved ones losing jobs because they are trans/non-binary. Others losing access to life-saving medicine, losing family farms, and fearing for their lives more than usual. Not to mention ongoing violence, internationally. In some ways leaning into both the perennial nature of cycles of state violence and the persistence of impermanence is soothing. Relinquishing control while accepting responsibility. That’s pretty Zen.
As Mark Twain has famously (maybe) said (yes, we need to unpack his racism), “History doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes.” And that is helpful. Knowing there’s a rich history of playbooks for understanding state violence and powerful resistance makes me feel grounded, oriented to the terrain around me. Knowing that terrible things have happened and many of them have since changed, allows me to take a breath and zoom out a little. Acknowledging that there are patterns but that none of them are exactly the same as this moment makes me feel seen and keeps me engaged, because right now, people need help and our immediate suffering matters. That’s pretty Zen, too.
Yet, I am still often scared, despairing and angry–unmoored from “refuge.” So, as a novice priest, I’ve been asking myself, “How can Sōtō Zen practice actually be useful right now?” My hope is that we can ask this question together, in community, during the Practice Period. Zen can be a means to build capacity to care for one another while stretching ourselves and the world to transform. The only way through this moment is together, as a sangha, writing a new chapter in the playbook of resistance.
Jinzu Minna Jain (they/them) is an artist, writer, and racial & systemic equity educator. They identify as BIPOC, disabled, queer and trans/nonbinary. Jinzu has been practicing Sōtō Zen Buddhism for over twenty years and is a novice priest at Clouds in Water Zen Center. They are also the Director of Learning & Development with Real Transformation Today, a racial equity education and consulting group. Jinzu is mostly curious about how Zen practice can help us be human well, meet ourselves and one another complexly, and enjoy our little lives a little more. They wish to break down barriers to access caused by systems of oppression and provide gateways into Sōtō Zen for anyone who wishes to experience it.