Sfatto Zen
Okay, I am really getting tired of seeing the trade mark sign starting to appear in Zen from Big Mind Zen to Mondo Zen. So I have come up with Sfatto Zen! Yeah!
Sfatto which is an Italian word is very difficult to translate into English. It, more or less, can mean "unkept," "sloppy," "disheveled," "unmade," etc. Just imagine an unmade bed with the sheets every which way. This is sfatto.
If I had to define Sfatto Zen, it is everything that modern Zen is not. It is completely laid back and profound. There is no regimentation; no neat rows of zazen-ers trying to keep still or stop a fart. Everyone just sort of lays around in the Sfatto Zendo. Their only intention is to find pure Mind, that is, to have a genuine engagement with the absolute or Suchness (tathata).
The Sfatto Zen Roshi, if we can call him that, is a dudea grand dude (or a grand dudette). His official robe is his bath robe. The grand dude or "GD" (it could also be GOD as in Grand Old Dude) has seen pure Mind who expresses its dynamism in his everyday conduct from cracking a fart, to gratuitously laughing. Such conduct might include eating a huge bowl of ramen noodles, making all kinds of sucking sounds.
The GD could be modeled after the legendary Hotei (10th century) who was one laid back eccentric Zen dude. He carried around a huge hemp beggars sack and laughed a lot (whoa, was that dude ever high!).
Other famous Sfatto Zennists might included Kanzan and Jittoku (7th century).
Although, I have the feeling that Sfatto Zen is not going to be popular because Western Zennists seem to enjoy the strict regimination of Japanese Zen which presents of picuture of being neat and formal, I believe there is a niche for Sfatto Zen where people can all lay around and seriously discuss Buddhism for a change and, if they want, drink macchiatos or cappuccinosor maybe have a little wine with some good cheese.
Today, I could resist a humorous blog.
