Buddhism and Change

Zen is my prefered application of Buddhism. I have a distaste for its conformity. I don't feel that a particular way of sitting is all that important, but I agree that simply sitting, or meditating, is the way. The use of koens isn't neccesary, but neither is using a paint brush neccesary to painting. It is just a tool that can be discarded if neccesary, but likely very useful for most people.

The Buddha taught that if a teaching doesn't work in your experience, then it is up to you to choose the proper way in which to reinterpret said teaching. Some critics of Buddhism have said that this essentially allows followers of the Buddha to become whatever they want, that any practice can be justified as acceptable if one is allowed to chose their own path. This is of course absolutly true, but the ramifications of this are less troubling than these same critics would let on. Science works on the same essential principal. If you find something to be incorrect, then it is also up to you to provide a new technique or explanation. It is up to the community to decide whether you have discovered something or if you have created a veil. This is true of Buddhism as well. Nothing is unassailable. All things are open to discussion and critique. This is in part the reason there are so many schools of Buddhism.

Buddhism's current expansion into the west, and it's feedback loop back to the east, has created a new era for Buddhism. This is the most exciting thing to date. Some practices will not survive this new evaluation, but there will be new practices to replace it. Some won't adopt anything new, others will throw everything out. Buddhism, like its practitioners, has never been the same practice at any moment in time. It is always changing, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. This is the way the Buddha taught.