Not Zen Anything

I've long been irked by the use of the word 'zen' to signify anything spiritual of a vaguely Eastern orientation. But in the last couple years, as we've seen yoga sweep our nation (and its suburbs), we've seen a further debasement of the northern Buddhist word zen as it gets attached to this Hindu mode of enlightenment. On more than one of the popular "house shows," I've seen wealthy owners point to their yoga rooms and proclaim them to be Very Zen. Stop it.

Nothing could be less zen than yoga, with its exertions and mantras. The Buddha reached his enlightenment after rejecting the disciplines of the yogis who would starve themselves or tie themselves in knots. He experienced direct realization of the truth of existence while simply sitting under the Bo tree. Zen seeks to practice in a similar manner, sitting and letting the mind be, in emptiness. Zen disciplines include careful attention to what's in front of us, as demonstrated in activities such as the tea ceremony and calligraphy and haiku. Enlightenment isn't built or gained, it is realized in a flash of "satori."

Now I see that Tony Bennett's autobiography is subtitled "The Zen of Bennett." Tony, I love you a lot, and you are a genuinely spiritual person, but you're not zen anything.