We Zen practitioners have no bigotry or bias and we practice non-opposition so as a Zen practitioner I have no beef against Scientology. Actually, only Zen practitioners who have awakened lack all bigotry and bias. I am not an enlightened master and Scientology rubs me the wrong way.
L. Ron Hubbard liked the name Clearwater so he directed that the “spiritual” headquarters of his organization be located in Clearwater, Florida. They purchased sacred property in downtown Clearwater, property that they should not have been allowed to purchase due to its holy status. A place where music lovers would make pilgrimages to were it not now owned by the Scientologists: The Ft. Harrison hotel.
For it was at the Ft. Harrison hotel that Keith Richards woke up in the middle of the night after a riot-shortened concert in Clearwater with a tune in his head. He grabbed a guitar, turned on a tape recorder, pounded out the opening riff of (I can’t get no) Satisfaction, later voted the No. 1 song of the 20th Century by the musicians of seven hundred bands (VH1), and went back to sleep.
Whenever I drive past that historic hotel, which is about five (5) miles from my house, I can’t help but think of the ongoing desecration of that holy site. A rock ‘n roll mecca occupied by a cult that says it hates professional psychiatrists and which preaches amateur psychiatry instead. Good grief.
And they got their IRS tax exemption on the grounds that they are a religion that teaches its adherents to be drug-free. For crying out loud, nicotine is a drug and downtown Clearwater is smothered in the haze of cigarette smoke produced by these cultists. I can’t help but scoff at their IRS tax exempt status, a status that has hurt the tax-paying citizens of Clearwater as more and more buildings are purchased by then and removed from the property tax rolls. Pardon my bitterness.
I think these measured remarks may perhaps be too condemnatory for a Zen practitioner, but, again, I merely practice Zen and still have many opinions.
Why did L. Ron Hubbard like the name “Clearwater”? Because it is used in Zen as a metaphor for a clear mind. People who pay enough money to reach the top of Scientology are declared to be “clear.”
And of course they are far from clear. One lady who reached the top of Scientology was so “clear” that she stepped out of her car, stripped, and began walking down a sidewalk in downtown Clearwater absolutely buck naked in response to being pulled over by a traffic cop for a minor traffic infraction. She, a Scientology superstar/success story, certainly knew how to handle stress.
In Zen, the metaphor of clear water for enlightenment is derived from the well-known observation that muddy water in a glass will turn into clear water if the contents of the glass are not stirred. The particles that create the muddy appearance simply settle to the bottom of the glass.
And that is why Zen practitioners practice sitting without moving. We are letting the muddy water of random thoughts and actions settle down to the bottom of the glass. When we are outside the zendo, running around doing stuff, we are stirring the muddy water, creating more karma. Those who never sit still are keeping their mud in suspension at all times and their water never gets clear.
The enlightened ones have sat until their water is clear and the mud at the bottom of their glass has turned to stone. They re-enter the marketplace, doing stuff, and their clear water stays clear no matter how furiously it may be stirred. They are unaffected by the daily flow of events and can live and teach in the world without stirring up more karma. They do not strip and sally forth in their birthday suits in response to minor or even major stress events.
When they hear the music of The Rolling Stones, Kanye West, and the fifty years of music there-between, they hear the transient noise but do not get caught up in the emotions generated by such noise. It doesn’t even bother them that the Scientologists are desecrating holy property in Clearwater. Their water remains clear even in the face of such outrages.
May the Scientologists be well, happy, calm and peaceful.
If I repeat that thought with sincerity over time, and if I continue to sit still every day, some day my chagrin over what they have done to that holy site will dissipate…maybe.
