"The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called ‘yourself.’ " – Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig attempts to apply Eastern Zen to the concerns of modern, Western man. "You see things differently on a motorcycle," he says. "In a car you’re always in a compartment." His book is one of many which attempts to relate Zen to modern man. I would be foolish to attempt an explanation of Zen Buddhism here. It’s been done better by many others. And I’m not really advocating practicing Zen Buddhism anyway.

But I am aware that the insights of those who seek to apply some of Zen’s principles to modern man and modern activities have usefulness and validity. So, why not consider "Zen and the art of teaching?"

Frederick Lenz’s book, Surfing the Himalayas, like Pirig’s book, looks at Eastern Zen from the point of view of a Westerner. In Surfing the Himalayas, Lenz, an American snowboarder, journeys to the Himalayas in search of the ultimate snowboarding experience. He meets a Buddhist monk who attempts to reveal the essence of Zen to him. "Become the board," says the monk, adding to the long list of apparently ambiguous Zen remarks. You know…if you have to ask, you won’t understand…that kind of thing.

The article at this website about "Ready, Fire, Aim" might strike responsive chords from those interested in Zen for the Western man because it advocates coming to an enlightened understanding of a teaching situation...a sense of the wholeness of a situation. The Buddhist monk in Surfing the Himalayas tries to explain an enlightened method of thinking. In the West, he says, the process of building a house contains these steps:

* decide what kind of house you want to build
* find a site for it
* create a blueprint
* build a house according to the blueprint

But an enlightened person might follow these steps:

* let the site select you
* go to the site and let the site dictate what type of house to build
* Then build it

So what might a teacher do with all of this Zen stuff. Well, it kind of relates to "ready, aim, fire." You must develop a sense of the teaching/learning situation. You don’t necessarily come to a teaching situation with method already established. Instead, give thought to developing an "enlightened sense of the teaching situation." Not that you don’t prepare. Indeed, preparation and planning make it more possible for a teacher to develop a sense of the teaching situation and react with appropriate method.

If you’ll accept the chalkboard as metaphor for an entire teaching situation and if you can stand the pun, then I can say along with the Buddhist monk in Surfing the Himalayas…

Be one with the board.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig, 1974, Bantam Books.

Surfing the Himalayas, Frederick Lenz, 1997, St. Martin’s Griffin.