In some past musings I commented on how alike the art of sailing is with Kung Fu and the practice of Zen. There is the truth to us Zen practitioners, that they are not just alike but the same. Kung Fu is called motion Zen. Because in the Zen/Ch’an mind there is no duality, on the basic level we are all the same. Man, plant animal, thought, action, etc. Ch’an is the Universe and the Universe is Ch’an, Life is Ch’an. Sailing is life on a small scale. using the forces of nature to get you where you want to go, having fun , doing it with style, efficiently, etc. One aspect of reality, one aspect contains the seed, the essence of all. As we are a part of God, we are god in a sense. Not God with a “big G’ but with a little “g”. Get it? … no matter.

So I spoke of the likeness, however with some events of late I see some conflicts. Not conflicts of nature or substance but of transmission. When I learned to sail I received a basic course from a ex-employer, basic as in a 2 hour sail. Then I practiced. I became aware of the nature of the wind on the boat and how I needed to blend with that to go where I wanted. I got the big picture, then a took it down to it core over time, with some guidance on details. This is also the way of Kung Fu training. We get the big picture, the movement, the form. Then take it down to details, turn the hand, shift the weight, drop the shoulder. We experience it first then define, refine, the details, we become more effective, efficient with practice with time, our realization of the “truth” enhances our experience or perhaps better said our experience enhances the “truth”. Our basic experience is not defined by words , it is experienced via practice, by doing a punch, a kick, a jump and turn. First the form, we watch we copy, then, stand like this, move this foot first, raise this hand, then the knee. Then explain this does this, this does that if not understood.

Our Zen practice is the same , it is from our sitting, in meditation and experiencing the Tao, the Force that our awareness develops. It is not from how many books we read, or films or Microsoft simulations or lectures. It is from living Zen/Ch’an, Sitting Zazen is the gate, but it is not the Force, it is not Zen/Ch’an. Zen/ch’an is not transmitted via scriptures or doctrine but via the heart, via living, by experience. The basics are liken to my 2 hours sailing instruction. Do this, do not do that, watch this, feel for that. This Chakra does this, this one does that, this Punch , this kick, this jump, this chi flow. This Jasmine scent come from here…this flower. But to describe the the feel, the smell, the taste, it has to be experienced the words are limited. They, the words are but a finger pointing to the moon.

A on-line friend of mine in France once wrote of how different the way they learn sailing in France , Europe is from here in the states. She says, Here it is about “feel” the experience. Americans for the most part want the experience explained to them. They want the details laid out, then have the experience. I made the remark at the time of un-Zen like. No wonder only few grasp the path of Ch’an/Zen, the oneness of all things concept here.

It is the way of the East/Asia to also be shown the gate, the path, but understand they must walk it themselves. They can be shown the guide posts on the path, but hey must walk the path. It is about their interpretation of the journey that makes it their experience not the teachers.

This is where I see the conflicts on the Tao, the Path, the way.. the transmission of the view of the gate. In thinking of the most successful teachers over at OCSC, and I would believe at other places here, the ones who have had their feedback, their evaluations read as shining praises are the ones who speak the most, who can or try to define the details of the scent of the waves and the taste of salt, the placement of the fingers on the tiller. I am being dramatic but you get the picture, the metaphor. They are good at what they do and deserve the praise as they have taped into the Tao of the western mind. I can learn from them and do. Sailing and teaching are an on going process. I also heard one European instructor say that Americans have seemly unlimited capacity to suck up praise. We all want to feel successful, feel we are accomplishing something, but is constance high praise really learning or just feeding the ego, the illusion. Are Americans more about feeling good about how they are doing than the experience itself. Like American Zen it may not be pure Zen, not the Ch’an of China or Japan, but it works for here. This style of words, praise and hand holding. It is like traveler being lead to the gate of the Path and their hand placed on the knob and turned, not just shown the gate. I am thinking this is also the way of teaching sailing here. The more one holds the hand of the seeker of the Sailing Tao the more one is revered by the seeker. Interesting in the East they are not taught to be creative, to think for themselves, but here we are. Yet many here seek the imaged security of having ones hand held when learning. Something that is an art to be experienced, of course one has to factor in that there are different learning styles as there are different teaching styles. And a good teacher has the ability to adapt. In teaching kung fu we are needed to explain things 3 or 4 different way for a student to get it sometimes. At an ASA conference it was started that there are three main ways one learns as an instructor one needs to be aware of that. Some students will need some thing explained one way, another differently, same as with teaching “fu”. As with the Zen/Ch’an thought there are no good or bad days, there are no good or bad teaching styles, just different strokes for different folks. Some stokes are more in harmony with the brush than others. When painting a picture one can paint with the flow of the brush hairs, or against them. The difficulty, the challenge of the instructor and perhaps the hardest part is not the teaching effectively to one, but to many at the same time who have different ways of learning, walking the path to the experience. When teaching a group of adults Kung Fu at some point the instructor gets to have one on one time with the student. This is not so much when teaching sailing. One can not focus only on the individual for periods of more than a few minutes, or the others feel slighted. I have not taught children sailing, however I would think they would be easier to teach as a group than adults, as they are like sponges they suck up whatever is given. They have no set ideas about how, what should be done or the need to protect or have their ego inflated, & they are clear when not getting what they need. More about having the experience than analyzing the journey, I’m guessing here, just from teaching kung fu to some children.

So my whole thought process here is just understanding, the conflict of ideas, the change that is needed in teaching not only Zen, a philosophy based on living the journey/experience, not talking the journey to the everyday western person. Also in teaching a “Motion Zen” such as sailing and resolving the basic clash of Philosophies. Or put another way painting against the flow of the brush.

When some people hear me say I am teaching sailing these days. Some say “Oh what a easy job”. I say no, remember the saying:

“you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time”

Finding the way to please most of the people, all of the time is the teaching challenge.