The
Zen Talks are a collection of 18 talks recorded by Rama, Dr Frederick Lenz in 1986. These have been digitally
remastered. Transcripts of the tapes and mp3 downloads are available from the Frederick Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism by clicking on the links below.
The Zen Talks are:
Origin of The Zen Talks
While preparing for a major series of public lectures in
1986, Rama - Dr. Frederick P. Lenz strived to present a
path to enlightenment that would be accessible to the largest
audience. He chose the framework of Zen as the vehicle to
transmit his teachings to current and future students, calling
his teachings "Tantric Zen".
Are They Still Relevant?
Absolutely!
Enlightenment is about the eternal moment. Practices may
be refined and/or modified to accommodate the state of the
world as we now find it, but the fundamentals remain ...
and these are covered on the Zen Talks.
Accessibility
There
have been many teachers of enlightenment over the ages of
human history. Many of their works are only now being translated
into the English language. There are difficulties with this
process based on the simple fact that often there is no
direct correlation between words in the language of origin
and modern English. The Zen Talks avoid this difficulty
because the concepts transmitted require no further translation,
just our attention and the will to attain enlightenment.
A Personal Note
Some
people, on hearing the talks, have commented that Rama's
American accent is a distraction. This usually brings a
smile to my face as I wonder how these good folk would have
understood Guatama Buddha or perhaps a Japanese Zen Master
who didn't speak English at all. We now have so many options
that perhaps we easily forget just how lucky we are.
My first encounter with the teachings of Rama - Dr. Frederick Lenz, was through the Zen Talks. I fondly remember listening to these tapes, which at that time were noisy copies of copies, that had somehow traveled
to the opposite side of the planet to reach me. It was at
times both humorous and confronting, but ultimately, a life changing experience ... for the better!
Now these talks have been digitally remastered and there is even a book (for those xenophobes amongst us who have a problem with accents :-) ... all thanks to the efforts of the students that Rama has helped to achieve a better life. We may be biased of course, but we still think the Zenmeister is one mighty cool dude. But of course, as Rama would say: "there's really only one way to find out... right?"
-
Nexus in the land down under