Does Zen training have to be changed for the West?
Trevor Leggett is interviewed by David White. D.W : Does Zen training have to be changed for the West? T.L : Ultimately, in any field, the point is whether a thing works. But for the training, there is the question, how much the intellect needs to be satisfied. In Judo for instance, if you tell a Japanese to pull in a particular way, he will do it, and he is prepared to go on doing it for perhaps six months without asking fussy questions about it. If the teacher is a good one the student will begin to get results, and only then will the teacher explain why it had to be that way and no other. But Western people often cannot keep their minds settled. The Japanese view is that until you have practised and experienced something you cannot possibly understand the reason for it. But many Westerners are a bit like …