Zen Quaker

My favorite Quaker parable is the story of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, having problems with his conscience about wearing his sword. He asked George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, if he should get rid of it because it conflicted with Quaker pacifistic values. George Fox told him to wear the sword as long a he could.

This seems similar to Suzuki Roshi’s (the founder of San Francisco Zen Center), advice about controlling your thoughts. He said that the best way to control your thoughts is to watch them wander, like controlling cattle by giving them a large pasture to roam through. He said to control people, tell them to behave badly, give them free reign to behave as they will, without judgement and they will behave nicely.

If William Penn could wear his sword, it wasn’t really conflicting with his core values, he just had to watch his values without judgements. When he did, he found that his sword became uncomfortable to him and he stopped wearing it.

Once you identify a habit you want to change, watch it. See what happens.

Growing up as a Christian, I learned about Jesus.  As a Quaker, I thought of Jesus more as a person than as God. Quakerism teaches that there is that of God in everyone, so it seemed natural that Jesus was just very good at expressing that of God in himself and bringing it out in others.  If he had been allowed to live longer, he may have come up with a teaching more similar to the Buddha’s.  He was not allowed to live longer.  The story of Jesus’ death is absolutely horrific. The idea that he died to atone for our sins promotes a sense of guilt in people 2000 years after the fact. To this day, I cannot talk about Jesus without feeling a certain queasiness and holy pretension.

Buddha, on the other hand, poses no such problem for me.  Buddha, to me, embodies love and compassion. The peaceful Buddhist icons, depicting the Buddha in blissful meditation, are quite a contrast to the images of Jesus in his last living moments on the cross. Learning about Buddha and Buddhism gives me a much better understanding of Jesus. I can relate to Jesus as a buddha, an awakened person.  Jesus, Buddha, you and me all have the same potential.  Buddha, and Jesus realized their potential.

For me, Buddha’s teachings provide a more practical approach to awakening that potential in myself. Because I was raised Quaker, when I become enlightened through Buddha’s methods, I may just realize my Jesus nature.

I was raised as a Quaker in the Philadelphia area. That culture is a part of me. I attended Quaker schools. Meeting for Worship was always a part of my life.  Jesus and God to me were not a big part of the experience.  Sometimes people would stand and share messages about Jesus or God, but the messages were just as often about the spirit, or nature, or peace.

As a teenager, I enjoyed gathering with other young Quakers (young Friends) at annual gatherings.  These did not feel like religious gatherings, but youthful gatherings, where we would do youthful things like developing crushes on each other and hooking up. That is what I enjoyed most. We were pretty good kids.

After college, I became interested in Buddhism when I became depressed. I started reading Buddhist books. I was drawn to the kind and compassionate language and practical advice about how to work with your mind.  Although I was adept at sitting in meeting, in silent worship, for up to an hour at a time, I did not know how to meditate in the Buddhist way.  I dabbled with meditation and Buddhist literature for 15 years before I started to practice daily meditation. As I did in my 20’s I turned to Buddhism at 40 to help me deal with difficult emotions. After a couple of years of sitting daily meditation, a friend recommended a Zen temple to me. That is how I came to Zen. Now, I sit Zen meditation (zazen) in the morning and evening. I have a good relationship with my emotions.

Zen has taught me that I am a Quaker, and that my youthful Quaker experience with Meeting for Worship was good preparation for my Zen practice.  My Zen practice is good preparation for my Quaker practice. It is the same practice.

Quakers are generally nice people. Quakers are Christians, they believe in God and Jesus. Quakers are pacifists they work for peace. Quakers are activists. They are people of action.  They try to see the truth through personal experience and represent that truth to the world. In this respect Quakers are like Zen Buddhists. Although there are different types of Quakers, the Quakers that I speak about attend services on Sundays and meet in silent worship. That means they sit silently in a room with the intention of experiencing God. When somebody feels like it (moved by the spirit), they stand up and share a message with the rest of the meeting. I have posted a link to a Quaker information web site and the guide book to Quakerism, Faith and Practice. The official name for the Quaker religion is The Religious Society of Friends. Quakers are also called Friends (with a capital f).