Venerable Ajahn Brahm does not teach the meditation techniques taught by the Zen school. As we have emphasized throughout the How To Practice Zen website, the term “Zen” means meditation and we share the teachings of all Buddhist schools without limitation to the Zen school. It is called the Zen school because it emphasizes meditation more than the other schools do. Ajahn Brahm is clearly a meditation master and therefore has earned the title Zen Master.
When venerable Ajahn Brahm received some beautifully wrapped gifts from grateful students during a visit to Japan, he left them wrapped and started through the customs line. He was advised to open the packages before going through customs, just in case someone had unscrupulously planted drugs in one of the gifts, using the monk as a courier. He declined to open the packages, saying that if someone had put drugs in one of the packages, he would get three square meals a day in prison so why should he be concerned?
Ajahn Brahm flies from time to time, visiting countries where he has received invitations to visit and lecture. When asked if he had any fear that his plane might someday crash and burn, he asked why crashing and burning was something to fear. Then he added: “After all, it’s a free cremation, isn’t it?”
Few Buddhist practitioners have reached such a level of selflessness but those who at least have an intellectual grasp of emptiness can appreciate where Ajahn Brahm is coming from.
One’s location on the continuum from strongly independent, isolated and fearful to a universal, fearless confidence and connectedness indicates where one stands on the path to enlightenment.
The unenlightened have a strong sense of an independent self that is under attack from a hostile universe. They put guns in their house to “protect” themselves. They pay monthly fees for security services. They applaud wars of aggression because “a good offense is the best defense.”
The enlightened have realized their inherent Buddha nature and live fully, fearlessly, and in good humor.
