Thoughts On Going To Zen Centers?

[kieranperez]

So I live 2 blocks down the hill from the San Francisco Zen Center here obviously in San Francisco. I really want to start getting serious about my pursuit of enlightenment and I think having a teacher (or however it works in Zen) would be really helpful for me. However, I don't really know what to expect. I've always been really private about my meditation work alone as it is. I don't if my background as an Atheist is causing this block to be weird about this whole thing.

Anyways though, I know @Leo Gura has talked in the past describing Zen as Stage Blue Spirituality and I kinda got put off by that a little bit in terms of my view of maybe attending the Zen Center. However, I want to be open. I would love to know your guys' thoughts on having an in-person teacher, the Zen tradition itself, and just what to expect coming from those who've at least studied or have practiced Zen with Zen teachers. I don't really know what to expect. I don't want to do something stupid and go up to a teacher and be like 'so... how do I work towards enlightenment?' Then next thing I know I'm being beaten with sticks. 

[herghly]

8 hours ago, kieranperez said:

I don't really know what to expect. I don't want to do something stupid and go up to a teacher and be like 'so... how do I work towards enlightenment?' Then next thing I know I'm being beaten with sticks. 

Haha don't say that. Just go once to have a look and be open minded. If they ask why you are interested just tell them the truth you want to deepen your practice of meditation

[Till]

I went multiple times to different Zen Centers and my opinion is that you should not put Zen into a basket named "religion". The Buddha was a completly normal human in the way Zen is thought. I wondered also as I heared Leo saying it might be a stage blue Psyche thing in the Spiral Dynamics System but it could be. In Zen you have mostly a lot of rituals to switch off your thoughts and getting into sustained tranquility. I got good results with it when I surrendered to the practice but I would never loose my critical mind in the background. So I see it just as a very productive form of practice which can be shooting you up from a stage blue type training right into stage turquoise. My experience of Zen Masters I get to know here in germany are that they were highly envolved psyches. At least stage yellow types.