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A Conversation with P'arang
by P'arang
1. Why five years? When Still Point was started I made a vow to stay on as Guiding Teacher for five years for two reasons. The first has to do with the relationship between a guiding teacher and his or her sangha. In the few recent cases in Zen Buddhism where there has been an abuse of power on the part of a teacher it has been because the sangha identified so much with one person -- instead of dharma -- that ethical boundaries were crossed by the teacher without the sangha's immediate correction. I figured that by being clear that I wasn't going to be a permanent fixture here we would all identify more with the Dharma, the teachings, and the community as representing Buddhism rather than with the teacher, i.e. me. As a result, ethical boundaries would be clear and uncrossed. Happily this has been true.
The second reason has to do with age. It matters to me that we baby boomers step aside for the next generation of leadership. We've had our shot and now we need to move on. The energy of Buddhism is in the young people who walk through our doors. And young people better understand young people or so I've been told (by young people).
2. What was the shape of Dharma in Detroit when Still Point started in 2000? There was a Zen Buddhist Center in Hamtramck, led by one of my older dharma brothers, Sambul Sunim. Although we were trained by the same monk, Samu Sunim, Sambul is more formal than I am. I think Samu Sunim's students had worn him down to a dull roar by the time I got to him. My experience of his training was that my job description has two parts: to be a good dharma friend and to be a strong disciplinarian. I've done okay on the friendship part but have been less of a disciplinarian, mostly because I've been so greedy for Dharma to reach into the nooks and crevices of Detroit. Sambul has been a strong disciplinarian.
There was also a Buddhist study group at the Unitarian Universalist Church back in 2000. Many of it members became our first sangha members.
3. And now? There is no question that Dharma has taken hold in Detroit. In the face of great odds, closed-off highways and harsh winters, Still Point fills every Sunday. We have over 120 members now. There is a waiting list for seminary slots. Two years ago, Kogam Gary Schwocho started a sangha in Royal Oak, Muddy Water Zen. It will only grow. Bodhidharma Ron Allen is a one man prophet of the Dharma - he has his own set of formal students and has integrated Buddhist teachings into his plays and poetry, most notably his recent play about the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
4. Why are Koho and Brahana your successors? Since day one I have known that Koho's turn was next. Second only to my son, Sarth, he is the most open-hearted person I have ever met. He is also one of the funniest. That we managed to land in the same place and time zone in this life time amazes me. I expect that Koho will be a more formal guiding teacher than I have been; will focus more on protocol; will set more boundaries between his private life and his role as guiding teacher. I see all of these as improvements.
As for Brahana, who will be the Senior Dharma Teacher starting in September, I wouldn't have believed that someone like her existed if I hadn't met her myself. Brahana flew through the seminary even as she gave birth to Issa part way through. She has also flown through every kongan (koan) (except one) I've thrown at her for the last few years. She has a huge heart. I think she'll be a softer touch than Koho on some levels.
They'll be a great team, one for the history books if that mattered. Both have a deep and abiding love for Detroit and for everyone who lives here. As I think about the two of them it is clear to me that my karma was to get Still Point started so they could institutionalize Dharma in the city.
5. What has been your biggest surprise in the last five years? Every day has its surprises. Having said this I continue to be stunned by how much we resist being happy. This path is straightforward: Be generous. Follow the precepts. Meditate. If we do these things we'll be happy. But resistance shows up in amazingly creative ways. We make up stories for why we can't even sit for a couple of minutes a day. We create melodramas at every turn. We beat ourselves up for not being perfect and when we come up for air from the beatings we look around for someone else or something else to blame for our problems. Sometimes this is hysterically funny. Sometimes it is just plain heartbreaking.
6. How often do you have your head up your butt? At least once daily. I have a mind that wants to plan twenty years ahead at every turn and if it can't plan it wants to worry about everyone I've ever met. This distracts me sometimes. Also my impatience makes me miss clues about how I can be more skillful in a given situation.
7. What has been the hardest thing for you? In our second year, Ananda Steve Bradley died. Although he was no longer a seminary student, I missed him enormously. Within a month of his death my root teacher, Samu Sunim, said some terribly untrue things about me in his own newsletter. It took everything I had to stay put, to not run away. I had never had anyone so close to me really come after me before. I had heard Sunim say terrible things about other students who had left him but had always felt, somehow, that he wouldn't do that to me. I was wrong. In the end I'm grateful to him because he forced me to trust myself in the deepest way possible. In fact when I confronted him about what he had done he told me that "Still Point will be stronger" for his actions. He was right.
Otherwise it has been hard not to be able to do more for Detroit. So much is needed. And I'm always sad to see people go, especially seminary students.
8. What advice do you have for the next generation of Dharma teachers? Take care of your health. Take breaks: at least twice a year go away for five days and take a month off in the summer. Set easily understood boundaries and stick to them. Remember that nothing is personal, even when it feels like it is. Your job is to be available to people - where they are. Sometimes that means when they are mad at you. Use the Diamond Sutra and/or The Bodhisattva Vow to get through it. Make sure you have a personal support team who can hold you up during the roughest waves. These usually hit in February and March.
9. Who has been your support team? Jamie, my daughter, has been there for me from day one, even though it cost her time and money that went into Still Point instead of her education. No matter what I was going through she would tell me I was doing a good job -- amazing support from someone who was a teenager when we started. On a daily basis, Ango has been there through thick and thin. For Koho and Brahana and Buddhimant, also true. Bodhisattva has been a bodhisattva. He always says yes. Pauline Feltner has been the friend who has seen my need for breaks and has reminded me that this is not a path of perfection, it is a path of best effort. As I think about this, everyone at Still Point has held me up in his or her own way. I'm really lucky.
10.What are your future plans? I honestly don't know where my life will head long-term. Short-term I'm headed to Spain for September and to California in October. Thanks to Harper San Francisco I'll have about eight months of income in my pocket leaving Still Point. It is payment for a book titled, The Chocolate Cake Sutra. The book will actually be a modern day rendition of a great teaching from The Flower Ornament Sutra, but the publishers don't want the book to be too Buddhist. The underlying message will be that the mark of spiritual maturity isn't enlightenment, whatever that means, but experiencing everything and everyone exactly as they are and moving out from there. I already have an excellent chocolate cake recipe to include in the book for readers who will take the title literally.
Beyond that, it is all I can do to not pull out Tarot cards to see (please refer to Question #6.) what I'll be doing.
May all beings be free.
