Announcement about the Closing of Sweeping Zen

[boda]

What thought process could lead to banning Zen teachers from Zen forums?

No thought process.

Actually, I know for sure the owner put a tremendous amount of thought into it. This included conversations with the Teachers that were part of the forum. Again, only time will tell if it was a wise choice.

IMHO, Zen just doesn’t work well in a discussion forum, unless the topic is scandalous. To get the desired type of conversation, you have to keep kicking out the people who don’t discuss topics in the fashion the owners want. That will just lead to crickets.

Putting a tremendous amount of thought into something isn't necessarily a good thing, in fact it can quite often be counterproductive because a thinker may get lost in their own thoughts and those lost thoughts can diverge from the reality of a situation. Being responsive to circumstances and knowing what you want to accomplish is a far safer approach to a productive outcome.

So the new owner doesn't want to moderate teachers and that's why he bans them. Sound like a simple thought process to me. It centers around the idea that a Zen teacher is somehow special, has some special quality whereby they must be treated differently that 'ordinary' people. This makes me laugh, quite frankly. I imagine that it would make a good teacher, one who would never need moderating, laugh as well.

[GDPR_Anonymized001]

What thought process could lead to banning Zen teachers from Zen forums?

No thought process.

Actually, I know for sure the owner put a tremendous amount of thought into it. This included conversations with the Teachers that were part of the forum. Again, only time will tell if it was a wise choice.

IMHO, Zen just doesn’t work well in a discussion forum, unless the topic is scandalous. To get the desired type of conversation, you have to keep kicking out the people who don’t discuss topics in the fashion the owners want. That will just lead to crickets.

That was my attempt at a Zen joke, not a critique of Clyde. Mu

[HePo]

https://zen1.space

Thanks. Has everyone seen the announcement about the closing of Sweeping Zen website?

Hilarious, but good for him.

If you take a few minutes to look at his Youtube channel or his new website (using his new name), it is not hilarious or good for him at all, it is tragic.

[KeithA]

Speaking of Zen teachers and Zen Forum International (now zen1.space), I just read that they don't allow Zen teachers there now. What are we to make of that???

New owner...new owner's rules. It's not been a popular move, but time will tell if it was a good one or not.

Before the teachers were banned there was maybe 6 people writing there. After banning them, there's 4. Somehow I don't feel this move was very relevant at this moment.

I agree, not much has changed. It's early days, I guess. TBH, the teachers that were there weren't all that active, either.

Round and round...

[KeithA]

No thought process.

Actually, I know for sure the owner put a tremendous amount of thought into it. This included conversations with the Teachers that were part of the forum. Again, only time will tell if it was a wise choice.

IMHO, Zen just doesn’t work well in a discussion forum, unless the topic is scandalous. To get the desired type of conversation, you have to keep kicking out the people who don’t discuss topics in the fashion the owners want. That will just lead to crickets.

Putting a tremendous amount of thought into something isn't necessarily a good thing, in fact it can quite often be counterproductive because a thinker may get lost in their own thoughts and those lost thoughts can diverge from the reality of a situation. Being responsive to circumstances and knowing what you want to accomplish is a far safer approach to a productive outcome.

So the new owner doesn't want to moderate teachers and that's why he bans them. Sound like a simple thought process to me. It centers around the idea that a Zen teacher is somehow special, has some special quality whereby they must be treated differently that 'ordinary' people. This makes me laugh, quite frankly. I imagine that it would make a good teacher, one who would never need moderating, laugh as well.

As a famous man once said: "truly you have a dizzying intellect!"

I don't know about all that. It will be an interesting experiment, if nothing else.

[boda]

Thanks. Has everyone seen the announcement about the closing of Sweeping Zen website?

Hilarious, but good for him.

If you take a few minutes to look at his Youtube channel or his new website (using his new name), it is not hilarious or good for him at all, it is tragic.

When I saw the post about sweepingzen.com closing down I went to the site to check it out. The domain now redirects to: frombuddhist2christian.home.blog. The blog post there ends with "...an understandable inability to understand it from those who I knew in Buddhism I am happier and more alive than I ever was sitting on cushions burning incense, trying to find that buddha within."

Perhaps you are such a person in Buddhism with an understandable inability to understand he's now happier and more alive (inagruably good for him).

I am sympathetic of his trials and tribulations, but nevertheless it tickles my mind that a seeker who's traversed the American Zen landscape to the extent that he has would eventually find himself in the company of a God, and worse, demons.

Maybe his mistake was trying to find a Buddha within when he should have been trying to realize his true nature.

[明安 Myoan]

[HePo]

SweepingZen can still be found at
https://web.archive.org/web/*/sweepingzen.com - (not sure how complete) just pick a date.

Adam Tebbe aka Jeremiah Cohen's new adventure
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCefPpd ... RuS8B_xE7w
and
https://demonicharassment.wordpress.com

[KeithA]

SweepingZen can still be found at
https://web.archive.org/web/*/sweepingzen.com - (not sure how complete) just pick a date.

Adam Tebbe aka Jeremiah Cohen's new adventure
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCefPpd ... RuS8B_xE7w
and
https://demonicharassment.wordpress.com

Oh my..that is truly sad. I hope he gets the help he very obviously needs.

[Wayfarer]

There is an interesting saying about Christians, Buddhists and culture that I think about from time to time: "If you scratch a Western Buddhist, there will be a Christian underneath. If you scratch the skin of an Asian Christian, there will be a Buddhist underneath".

I don’t get it. Does that saying mean that these two religions are somehow connected to race? There are Asian Christians who were born into a Christian family who has been Christian for generations.. and there are second- and third-generation Buddhists in the West.

I think there are cultural archetypes that are virtually inborn. I mean, they're not necessarily genetic, but they're embedded in the language, culture, and psyche of the members of a cultural group and those born into that. I wrestle with this myself, as someone who refused confirmation as a Christian, and then turned to Buddhism. I have found through meditation practice that some of those deep cultural archetypes still resonate. So at least part of my spiritual experience has a rather Christian kind of aspect. But in my case, I don't see a conflict between Zen and Christian principles. I have a deep and abiding respect for the Zen Christian teachers and for the common ground between the two cultures which they found.

I never paid that much attention to Sweeping Zen, although I did sponsor him for $5.00 a month for a while. It's kind of sad that he feels that way, but c'est la vie. Paul Williams, who wrote some great scholarly books on Mahāyāna, converted to Catholicism because he was scared of being reborn as a cockroach.

[tingdzin]

Anyone who thought that Tebbe's organization was at all reflective of who quality teachers of Zen are was really deluded. It's amazing how many people follow the opinions of those who just set themselves up as authorities. I am not at all surprised he switched to Christianity; there's a certain personality type that tends to behave just the way he has. Reread Eric Hoffer's True Believer.

[DNS]

After looking at his youtube channel, I had to look up the terms gangstalking and TIs (targeted individuals):
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/heal ... duals.html

Shocking and sad.

[el gatito]

Speaking of Zen teachers and Zen Forum International (now zen1.space), I just read that they don't allow Zen teachers there now. What are we to make of that???

New owner...new owner's rules. It's not been a popular move, but time will tell if it was a good one or not.

Before the teachers were banned there was maybe 6 people writing there. After banning them, there's 4. Somehow I don't feel this move was very relevant at this moment.

Having the teachers' accounts active there, however, allowed for some sort of potentiality for the forum. But at the moment, taking into account the present situation, the chance is lost. IMO.

This is absolutely not how the forum was thought to develop from the very start.

[zenman]

New owner...new owner's rules. It's not been a popular move, but time will tell if it was a good one or not.

Before the teachers were banned there was maybe 6 people writing there. After banning them, there's 4. Somehow I don't feel this move was very relevant at this moment.

Having the teachers' accounts active there, however, allowed for some sort of potentiality for the forum. But at the moment, taking into account the present situation, the chance is lost. IMO.

This is absolutely not how the forum was thought to develop from the very start.

I kinda understand what Clyde was after but the timing was awful. I bet that zenspace will never become much more popular than it is now. Pity that ZFI died, so much good discussion there.

On this forum Malcolm recently left. Personally I feel that regardless of his great knowledge his presence made this place heavier, oppressive really, and I know it's not just me because I've seen many people say that. Now it feels different, freer, fresher.

Maybe Clyde was/is after something similar.