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Am I An Authentic Zen Rōshi Or Just A Fraud? — Part 2
Explorations on the path to a spiritual life.
To read Part 1 of this 3 part series click below
Please note that the first paragraph in this post is a repeat of the introduction found in Part 1.
About a decade ago my students began calling me Lewis Roshi. It began as a joke, with one of my senior students saying it. Over time it got passed around my school, the Academy of Natural Healing. Soon, every student was calling me Lewis Roshi. Technically I wasn’t, and am not a Rōshi. A Rōshi. (老師) (Japanese “old teacher”; “old master”;) is a title in Zen Buddhism with different usages depending on sect and country. I didn’t promote the practice of my student’s calling me this but I didn’t ask them to stop doing it either. The question I had to ask myself was, am I actually a Rōshi, or just a dilatant stealing a word that I could not morally or ethically claim ownership of?
The modern Chinese use of the word ‘Lao Tzu’ 老師/老师 is a common word for teacher or professor without the religious or spiritual connotation of rōshi. it…
