Just had a nice conversation with Rev. GMS. He is part of a church known as Dudeism and he attended the Symposium for Socially Engaged Buddhism. He and others are exploring possibilities for Socially Engaged Dudeism.
Several years ago Roshi Bernie Glassman met Jeff Bridges and thus began a long-term friendship. Bernie said to Jeff, “You know, a lot of folks consider the Dude a Zen Master.” Jeff replied, “What are you talking about … Zen?” Bernie said that quite a few people had approached him wanting to chat about the Dude’s Zen wisdom. Jeff said that he had never heard of that.
This article revives a series of posts to let that conversation go on with those interested in the Dude. Bernie did a koan study using the Big Lebowski as source material and featuring Koans by the Coens. These koans will be posted on this blog with comments by Bernie and Zen students. The first one follows:
What to do?
Lebowski Koan: “What do you DO Mr. Lebowski?
A Harvard student asks: “How do I choose my vocation?”
Koryo Roshi* says: “Why do you put on your patchwork robe at the sound of the bell?”
KoOn’s interpretation: “What will Gandhi do when he grows up?
Roshi Bernie replies: The vocation chooses You!
*Koryu Roshi is quoted frequently in this blog. Roshi Bernie calls him his “heart teacher.” Koryu Roshi approved Bernie’s presentation of his first koan and also for his subsequent first one hundred koans. He finished his koan study (around 1000 koans) with his root teacher, Maezumi Roshi.