ChaZen

He tells himself a story: a great Zen master had a cat he particularly loved. He loved him so much that he kept him with him at all times, including during the sessions of meditation. When the old monk died, his disciples wondered, "What are we going to do with the cat?" ". In memory of their deceased master, they decided to allow him to continue to be present in the temple during the meditation sessions. Years passed like this, but the tomcat eventually died. Accustomed to his presence, the monks decided to find another cat.

The Buddha never ceased, throughout his teachings, to encourage personal reflection, without swallowing anything, even on his part. For once, the proverbial critical spirit of Westerners – and perhaps more particularly of the French – may prove to be an advantage and not a defect…

Quickly, the story of the presence of the feline during zazen sessions having spread in the region, the other temples also introduced the presence of kittens during their meditation practices. Forgetting that the former master was an outstanding teacher, they had come to believe that the cat was solely responsible for the monastery's fame.

The importance of meditating without a cat… A revolutionary thesis!

A generation passed, and treatises were published glossing over the importance of the cat in Zen meditation. A thesis affirming for example that the feline had the capacity to increase the capacity of the humans to concentrate and that to eliminate the negative energies was even supported and acclaimed by the academic community of the corner. And, thus, for a century, no one questioned the place of the chat in the practice of Zen Buddhism.

Then appeared a master who was allergic to cat hair. He had no other solution than to keep the kitty away during the daily collective practices. At first, the monks rebelled, but the master insisted firmly. A few weeks later, everyone was forced to face the facts: the quality of the training remained unchanged despite the absence of a cat. Again, this story spread in the region, and little by little, the other monasteries – tired of having to feed so many felines – kept the animals away during the practices. In a few decades, new revolutionary theses bearing pompous titles such as "The importance of meditation without the cat" or "Balancing the Zen universe by the sole power of the mind, without the help of animals" met with a big success. Another century passed and the cat came completely out of the Zen meditation ritual. Thus, it still took two hundred years for everything to return to normal; no one had wondered, all this time, why the cat was there…

So, true story or not, no one knows. Today, however, some temples have made it their specialty to house large numbers of cats. Perhaps one of the most famous is the Gotanjoji Temple of the Soto Zen school, located in Fukui Prefecture, so much so that it is better known by its nickname "Cat Temple" (Nekodera).

The Buddha never ceased, throughout his teachings, to encourage personal reflection, without swallowing anything, even on his part. For once, the proverbial critical spirit of Westerners – and perhaps more particularly of the French – may prove to be an advantage and not a defect…