Over zen en leven
Article in BoeddhaMagazine (Dutch Buddhist quarterly), number 71, Summer 2013
'Just jump, it will be allright'
Ron Sinnige about his teacher Jeff Shore
Teacher, but also a spiritual friend. The tie that Ron Sinnige has with Jeff Shore is close and personal. Trust is the key word. He also experienced this when their relationship was in a crisis.
Talking about the subject of ‘teacher and student’, Ron Sinnige suddenly asks: “Am I a student?” He thinks the term is ‘a little sentimental’. “That is not my attitude towards the people that inspire me. However, I am convinced that I need a teacher on the way. Recently, I said to Jeff: everything that I did on my path, I owe to you. But he said: no, ultimately you do it together. I think he is right. But nonetheless I have a deep feeling of gratitude towards him.”
Ron Sinnige (1965), initiator of ZEN onder de Dom in Utrecht and a press officer in daily life, meditates since high school. He came to Zen Buddhism by chance. In 1991, he met Jeff Shore during a lecture of his at The Tiltenberg, then a well known center of Zen practice in the Netherlands. The American professor at the Zen Buddhist Hanazono University in Kyoto introduced him to Tofukuji monastery which was led by Fukushima Roshi. Ron trained there many times and followed Rohatsu ten times, an intensive week of almost continuous meditation. A strong bond formed. “From the start, Jeff was much more my teacher than Fukushima Roshi, who had a much more formal role. I visited Jeff at home, he explained things to me and we went out for dinner. Soon, we were two peas in a pod.”
Shore became his spiritual friend and teacher. For Sinnige, he embodies the Zen tradition – a condition to be able to trust him. “A teacher should be an example for me. I give myself completely on my spiritual path. And I want to have a teacher that went, and goes, the same spiritual way. He has to have come to no-self, which is what Buddhism is about. Jeff ís this realization. As a student, you don’t surrender to the teacher. But he has to see through you and give you a push in the right direction at the crucial moment: just jump, it will be allright. That last step, so essential on the spiritual path, you can only take when you have the trust that your teacher knows what he is talking about.”
Exactly how important that tie with his teacher was for him, he experienced in 2008 when it came to a separation. The trust disappeared. “Fukushima Roshi had announced that Jeff would be his successor. I got the impression that this new role put pressure on him. Maybe it was me, but at that time, I experienced him as very unreasonable sometimes. Mutually, a lot of misunderstanding and irritation came up. I felt like the foundation under my Zen practice was gone.”
For two years, they had little contact. Until he sent his teacher of old an e-mail message. “I missed sitting together. His first reaction was that I should sign a vow with all kinds of provisions. I didn’t want that, I wanted to make a new start in all openness. Later, he called me and suggested to meet again. That touched me. He showed not only his humanity, but also his greatness. When we met each other again, I felt: this is my tradition, this is home. Now, my bond with Jeff is as strong and heartfelt as before.”
‘A teacher must be an example for me’
More information about Jeff Shore: www.beingwithoutself.org
Talking about the subject of ‘teacher and student’, Ron Sinnige suddenly asks: “Am I a student?” He thinks the term is ‘a little sentimental’. “That is not my attitude towards the people that inspire me. However, I am convinced that I need a teacher on the way. Recently, I said to Jeff: everything that I did on my path, I owe to you. But he said: no, ultimately you do it together. I think he is right. But nonetheless I have a deep feeling of gratitude towards him.”
Ron Sinnige (1965), initiator of ZEN onder de Dom in Utrecht and a press officer in daily life, meditates since high school. He came to Zen Buddhism by chance. In 1991, he met Jeff Shore during a lecture of his at The Tiltenberg, then a well known center of Zen practice in the Netherlands. The American professor at the Zen Buddhist Hanazono University in Kyoto introduced him to Tofukuji monastery which was led by Fukushima Roshi. Ron trained there many times and followed Rohatsu ten times, an intensive week of almost continuous meditation. A strong bond formed. “From the start, Jeff was much more my teacher than Fukushima Roshi, who had a much more formal role. I visited Jeff at home, he explained things to me and we went out for dinner. Soon, we were two peas in a pod.”
Shore became his spiritual friend and teacher. For Sinnige, he embodies the Zen tradition – a condition to be able to trust him. “A teacher should be an example for me. I give myself completely on my spiritual path. And I want to have a teacher that went, and goes, the same spiritual way. He has to have come to no-self, which is what Buddhism is about. Jeff ís this realization. As a student, you don’t surrender to the teacher. But he has to see through you and give you a push in the right direction at the crucial moment: just jump, it will be allright. That last step, so essential on the spiritual path, you can only take when you have the trust that your teacher knows what he is talking about.”
Exactly how important that tie with his teacher was for him, he experienced in 2008 when it came to a separation. The trust disappeared. “Fukushima Roshi had announced that Jeff would be his successor. I got the impression that this new role put pressure on him. Maybe it was me, but at that time, I experienced him as very unreasonable sometimes. Mutually, a lot of misunderstanding and irritation came up. I felt like the foundation under my Zen practice was gone.”
For two years, they had little contact. Until he sent his teacher of old an e-mail message. “I missed sitting together. His first reaction was that I should sign a vow with all kinds of provisions. I didn’t want that, I wanted to make a new start in all openness. Later, he called me and suggested to meet again. That touched me. He showed not only his humanity, but also his greatness. When we met each other again, I felt: this is my tradition, this is home. Now, my bond with Jeff is as strong and heartfelt as before.”
‘A teacher must be an example for me’
More information about Jeff Shore: www.beingwithoutself.org
