ABSTRACT
My article in the February issue on 'Zen Comes West' 1 has produced considerable comment, much of it in the answers to the third of three questions I put to members of the Zen Class. The purpose of the questions, to be answered not too briefly and in writing, was first, to make the members think clearly about their attitude to Zen and thus to learn much about themselves, and secondly to help me to place them for the coming session in the Beginners' Class, the Zen Class (closed for each Session) and the Circle, or inner group which meets at odd times just for meditation. Needless to say, a written paper was not the sole means of judgment but it is the only one of which anything may be published. Even the written papers were for my eye alone, but I have found the contents so profoundly interesting that, without breaking any confidence, I have thought it right to publish certain extracts and conclusions without delay. For this is the raw material of Western Zen, the unpolished and unedited expression of inner processes and direct experience which will help to decide the future of the Zen movement in Europe.
