23/07/2014 01:28 Why everything I've said about Genpo Roshi is 100% true...

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Why everything Ive said about Genpo Roshi is 100% true
This is a quick post to deal with some skepticism that has come up about what Ive said about Genpo
Roshi and his Big Mind process in a few comments you guys have posted.
First, some have taken issue with my saying that Genpo is the highest ranking Zen master outside of
Japan.
Yes, Zen does have a system by which Zen practitioners and teachers are ranked. I am not an expert on
the entire ranking system, but to become a Zen master is not a walk in the park. It took Genpo over 20
years, if my math is correct, during which he went through a lot too much to include here, even if I
knew and remembered all the details. Zen masters, particularly the Japanese variety Genpo studied
with, tend to be a bit fierce, coming from a much tougher cultural perspective than Americans, and
they do not lightly declare a student to have achieved a particular level in their practice particularly
that of Master.
Genpo has received the very highest transmission available in Zen from his teacher, Maezumi Roshi
(who was Japanese, and a direct lineage descendent from the founder of the Soto school of Zen, a very
famous Zen teacher, Dogen Zenji, who lived in the 1200!s. You can look him up on Wikipedia for more
information.
This final transmission is called inka, or inka shomei, and is the final stamp of approval that a student
is fully enlightened and is a master. To get to this point Genpo had to go through a number of stages of
Zen traning and realization, including solving over 700 koans. A Zen koan is a formulation, in baffling
language, pointing to the ultimate Truth, and which cannot be solved by recourse to logical reasoning,
but only by a deeper level of the mind beyond the discursive intellect. Genpo completed koan practice
in less time than any other student of Maezumi Roshi (it still took him, I believe, six years, though it
often takes 20 years or more).
I have a LOT of respect for what Zen students have to go through, since I am going through a non-Zen
version of it (since I am not formally a Zen Buddhist) under Genpos tutelage, and I can see how
incredibly difficult it is (I would have said nearly IMPOSSIBLE, since thats how it has always looked to
me, had I not just spent 5 full days working with Genpo and had a MAJOR opening and cleared one of
the major hurdles, while participating in his Big Mind process an experience that completely
changed me, and gave me a bit of light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the whole thing being
possible).
Genpo (who is an American) is considered by many to be the highest ranking Zen master outside of
Japan because he is a student of Maezumi Roshi (a very famous teacher and Zen master), he is a direct
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decendent of the highly respected Soto Zen lineage, and for years he has been the head of the largest
Zen lineage in the world outside of Japan (though he just resigned from that a few months ago). And,
since some of the skeptical comments came from Europe, Ill just add that Genpo has a TON of
students in Europe more, I believe, than any other Zen master.
The other point on which there was skepticism was my saying that the Big Mind process allows you to
experience states of transcendent awareness (and the insights that come with those states) something
that almost always take decades to achieve, but which, with Big Mind, can be experienced in less than 3
hours. This is NOT exaggeration, nor is it marketing hype.
First of all, I did not say that you will become enlightened in 3 hours. Though possible, I suppose, that
is not what is going on here. Let me explain, though, what does happen.
In Zen, or at least in the school of Zen from which Genpo comes, they refer to The 5 Ranks of Tozan
five stages of enlightenment. The first stage in one in which the student has learned how to access
states of transcendent awarenesswhat has been called Big Mind (see Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by
Shunryu Suzuki, for instance). The student at this first stage, however, is not permanently established
in this state, and must keep visiting, you might say, through continued meditation or other means. In
other words, this state of unity consciousness, or awareness of ones Buddha nature, or experience of
Oneness (or whatever you choose to call it) is available, but not yet permanent. The student knows this
state, and knows how to get into it, but isnt permanently there yet.
Im not going to go into the whole 5 Ranks here, as this would end up being a hugely long post, and
Im not really an expert in all the nuances. The third stage, however, is one where the student IS
permanently established in the transcendent. This third stage is what most people refer to as
enlightenment. There is, however, more, and the fifth stage is the highest stage (the second and fourth
stages are transitional stages, though each can take many years to move through).
Genpo describes this in a simplified way by referring to a triangle, saying that the lower
left corner represents the relative world, where one does not have access to the transcendent (though
its possible to have glimpses of it, as some people do without even knowing that this is what is
happening). Such a person is in what Zen people might call the world of the separate self, the world of
suffering.
The lower right corner of the triangle represents the transcendent, the place where one has realized
that there really is no separate self, that the separate self is an illusion, an idea (I dont mean that they
know this intellectually, though, but rather than they are permanently in the place where they are
experiencing no-self). The student in the first stage of the 5 Ranks, then, can visit the transcendent, but
isnt fully embodying it yet. The student in the third stage, however, is firmly in that state, all the
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time. He or she is no longer a visitor, but rather a resident, you might say.
Zen would say, then, that a person could be stuck in the lower left of the triangle, in the relative world,
the world of suffering, the world of the illusion of separation (which is, in fact, where nearly all human
beings are). But a person could also be stuck in the lower right, in the transcendent. Not a bad place to
be stuck, since from that perspective there is no suffering, everything is perfect, you are blissed out,
peaceful, and so forth. However, from a Zen perspective, you can still be stuck there (a story I also
dont have the time to go into here).
And, finally, the real, full enlightenment happens (if it does) when there is an integration of both the
relative and the transcendent, represented by going to the apex of the triangle which is the fifth
stage. Again, I wont go into the details here, for the sake of space, and because that isnt the reason for
this post.
So, when I say that with Genpos Big Mind process you can experience states of transcendent
awareness usually taking years or even decades, but do so in less than 3 hours, Im saying that you can
visit the transcendent (and in fact, through Big Mind, have access to it any time). Trust me its a
great place to visit. Just doing Big Mind once probably doesnt qualify you to say that youre at that first
stage of the 5 Ranks, but after doing it a number of times you might very well be at that first stage (I
dont know what the formal requirements would be Id have to ask Genpo).
However, to even experience the transcendent at all especially the way you do in this process is a
huge accomplishment. Buddha, it is said, in speaking to his disciples, picked up a handful of sand from
the banks of the Ganges River and said that of all the grains of sand along the banks of the Ganges,
this many people (the handful of sand), in all of history, attain that first stage. Genpo, then, by
combining Western psychological practices with Zen, has discovered / created a way to allow people to
experience the transcendent in a few hours, when it generally takes years and years of sitting in
meditation and, become established in that first stage rather quickly.
This is a revolutionary discovery. Genpo and I visited a lockdown facility for the most violent youth
offenders in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska (most of which had IQs averaging about 70) a
few months ago. These kids experienced Big Mind in just 45 minutes (which was all the time we had).
These kids, as they spoke from the voice of the transcendent, said the exact same things the Buddha
said when he spoke from that state of awareness! It was quite amazing to see this, Ill tell you. Ive seen
quite a few other people go through this process, and I have facilitated it myself several times (for a
meeting of the Transformational Leadership Council, for a group of Jesuit Priests in Ireland, at two
Centerpointe retreats, and for a group of transformational teachers on a yacht in the Mediterranean),
and (unless a person doesnt really participate in the process) people always experience these states.
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This is an incredible advance in spiritual practice, and Genpo is a master at facilitating it.
Also, many of the voices Genpo asks the participants to speak from are parts of you where you have
what is referred to as unresolved shadow material. Speaking from these disowned or shadow voices
heals the shadow material, which creates huges shifts for people, often healing psychological
problems that had been plaguing them for most of their lives. And, there are also many key insights, as
you might imagine, that a person experiences by going into the transcendent.
This is what I meant when I said that in this process you experience the insights that come with long-
term Zen practice and which generally take many, many years to experience.
This is NOT enlightenment in 3 hours, and I didnt say that it is. Go back and look at what I said, and
you will see for yourself. In fact, Genpo generally warns people that, as amazing as it is to experience
these states of transcendent awareness, unless you do some sort of ongoing practice after this
experience (Holosync, traditional meditation, or more Big Mind, for instance), after a while it will
become nothing more than a really cool experience you had.
It is, though, a truly life-changing process, or I would not be telling you about it. Theres really a lot
more to it than what I have said here, but its one of those things that you really have to experience for
yourself in order to really appreciate just how potent it is. I will say that Ken Wilber and a whole lot of
other HIGHLY respected spiritual teachers think Big Mind is one of, if not THE, biggest advance in
spiritual practice in the last several centuries and I agree.
And Holosync AND Big Mind together are REALLY amazing. (Genpo, by the way, loves Holosync.)
Here are two links you might want to check out from Wikipedia, one about Genpos Zen Center and the
other about Big Mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzeon_Zen_Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mind
One last thing, for those of you who branded my description of Big Mind, and what I said about Genpo,
as some sort of Western over-the-top marketing. I ALWAYS tell the truth in my marketing. Yes, I
am very enthusiastic, and I may use vivid descriptions of the benefits you will receive, but I always tell
the truth. I describe the benefits in the most vivid, tangible way I possibly can, but always within the
bounds of total honesty. My position is that the more people I can convince to do things like Holosync,
or Big Mind, or some of the other things I endorse (nearly all of which, by the way, I receive nothing for
endorsing) the more people are helped. One reason why Centerpointe is so successful is that when I say
something, you can count on it being true, and you can count on the fact that I will go the extra mile to
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make sure you actually get the benefits Ive described.
So, once again, if you are interested in what Genpo has to offer, and youd like to see Genpo and I
presenting together, come be with us in Los Angeles on February 9-10. The $200 early registration
discount is available for a few more days. Go to www.centerpointe.com/bigmind to register or for
more details, or call Kelli at Centerpointe to talk to a human. Her number is 503 906 6026.
I will post part two of my description of Piagets work on human development within a few days.
Be well.