Rev. Danny Fisher

A while back, elephant journal, which I occasionally write for, ran a piece by editor Waylon Lewis about a New York Times headline that used the word “Zen” in a way that could most charitably be described as “loose.” Specifically, the word was used to describe President-Elect Barack Obama’s seeming tranquility. Waylon wrote, “As I Buddhist, I loooove it when ‘Zen’ is used willy-nilly to describe anyone who’s kinda focused, quiet, and peaceful.” Waylon was, I think, appropriately relaxed about this widespread phenomenon, saying that it might not be a bad thing for such Buddhist language to infiltrate popular culture just so long as “the roots” of those words come along for the ride.

There, however, is the rub. It doesn’t seem clear to me that uses of “Zen” like the one in the Times are mindful at all of the word’s etymology. The article and Waylon’s comments reminded me of an excellent post at the Religion News Service’s blog that I blogged about earlier this year. RNS writer Daniel Burke, responding to an especially willy-nilly Washington Post piece about retreat excursions entitled “Get Zen”, noted the way our popular culture seems to have transformed “Zen” from a proper noun into a catch-all adjective.

By ‘Zen’ the Post didn’t mean ‘a variety of Buddhism now practiced especially in Japan, Vietnam and Korea, seeking to attain an intuitive illumination of mind and spirit through meditation,’ as Webster’s (and many others) define it. They meant yoga, reiki, qi gong and other “woo-woo-New-Agey,” practices…

[Interestingly, the online version of the Post piece was later re-titled “Chilling Out on the Cheap.”]

The Times piece is more of the same, using “Zen” this time to describe President-Elect Barack Obama’s cool, Hawaiian-influenced demeanor. They unpack their use of the term a bit, effectively equating it with the “Aloha spirit” of Hawaii:

The mood of Mr. Obama, to many observers here in Hawaii, embodies the Aloha Spirit, a peaceful state of mind and a friendly attitude of acceptance of a variety of ideas and cultures. More than simply a laid-back vibe, many Hawaiians believe in a divine and spiritual power that provides a sustaining life energy.

So, again, another use of “Zen” that doesn’t really have anything at all to do with Zen. This brings us back to the question: Have the roots of the Zen Buddhist tradition come along for the ride, or has the word “Zen” just been appropriated here in the West with little if any regard for its proper cultural context?

By and large, it seems that the latter is the case. As I said in my post about Burke’s piece last year, I’m sure it’s no one’s intention to demean anyone or confuse anything, but that’s still kind of what’s happening when specific language is used in this sort of slapdash way. Mr. Burke is quite right indeed, I think, when he says that the use of the term “Zen” in this way is both inaccurate and insulting to those who practice in one of the Zen traditions. Referencing the Post piece, he writes:

Somehow I can’t imagine a writer repeatedly using the phrase “gospel singing” and then sending readers to a mosque to check it out.

Mr. Burke makes a great point here about the carelessness with which the media and others generally use certain Buddhist terms. (Don’t let’s get started on uses of karma in religion stories in the media about Buddhists…) Waylon, too, though, has wisdom to impart. I think he models well for uptight guys like me how we ought to respond to the problem: in as relaxed and light-hearted a way as possible.