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Cluster Foruln
Zen Buddhist On A Baptist Campus
Or. Eligio S. Gallegos, associ
ate professor of psycology,
has been on the Mercer facul
ty for three years. Originally
from New Mexico, he received
cipllne which leads an indivi
dual to an understanding of
his entire process of living.
CLUSTER: How did you be
come interested in Zen Budd
hism?
good and evil. Does Zen
Buddhism have such a code.
CLUSTER: Are you a practic
ing Buddhist?
DR. GALLEGOS: Well, I
don't think that I am a Budd
hist as such. Zen Buddhism is
a discipline oriented toward
an individual understanding
himself. There are a lot of
things about Buddhism in gen
eral that Zen Buddhist don’t
adhere to. Zen Buddhism is
not a “thing": that is, it is not
something that is well defined.
It is a thought process.
DR. GALLEGOS: Actually, it
was an intense emotional
experience that kind of turned
my life upside down. I hap
pened to read at that time'a
series of essays by a gentle
man named Krishna Multi,
and these were the moat pro
found writings that I had ever
read. He seemed to under
stand the true meaning of life.
As I read this, I became inter
ested in how he had reached
this insight. It was through
the practice of Zen Buddhism.
DR. GALLEGOS: Good and
evil is a qualitative judgment
about a situation and it de
pends upon judgment from a
certain standpoint. Zen Bud
dhism puts you right there
without this framework, and
you can see thinp for what
they are and see them in their
reality rather than from a per
sonal judgment. I think this
was one of Jesus’ notions.
You shouldn’t judge people or
anything else. If you do, you
impose on reality something
of your own backpound.
CLUSTER: Then, are you say
ing that Zen Buddhism is very
different from the type of
Buddhism practiced in India?
CLUSTER: In this mental di*
cipline are there practices such
as yoga or meditation?
CLUSTER: Does Zen Bud
dhism try to give meaning to
life and death?
his Ph.D. from Florida State
University. After much
thought and an “intense emo
tional experience", he became
a practicing Zen Buddhist.
CLUSTER:
a religion?
Is Zen Buddhism
DR GALLEGOS: I don’t
think it is a religion because
there are no gods. Buddha
himself was a man. It is a dis
Dr. Walter Moore
Will Speak in Chapel
Friday, February 13.
DR. GALLEGOS: Yes. They
describe it in this way. They
say that Buddhism is an indi
vidual coming to a point of
understanding of who he
really is, and this point is at
the peak of a mountain with a
long slope which he must
travel. It will take a long time
for him to walk up the slope,
and if death reaches him first,
he may never reach the peak
of the mountian at all. On the
other hand. Zen Buddhism is
a steep approach of the peak.
It takes a tremendous effort,
but one can reach the top of
the mountain in a few jumps.
DR. GALLEGOS: Yes, there
is a great deal of meditation
and of course it is a thing that
you do with y#«ir entire body,
this meditau,<u. What you
have to do eventually is come
to understand your feelings
and thoughts, your way of
tlunking, your way of seeing
things, and so on.
CLUSTER: In a Baptist or
Christian oriented atmosphere
such as Mercer supposedly
has, how do people, especially
the students, react to your be
liefs?
CLUSTER: Most modem re
ligions seem to have a moral
discipline baaed on a code of
DR. GALLEGOS: I find them
extremely receptive. In fact,
many of the students seem to
be searching for something
that will lead them to under
stand themselvea. I think
modem religions don’t do this
at all. Modem religions pose
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for them a kind of formula
that if they accept, things will
go well, and them will be lew
future changes. Zen Buddhism
re-orients them to within
themselvea, and this Is where
they have to work out their
understanding, not at
external level.
DR. GALLEGOS: In Zen
Buddhism life doesn’t have to
be explained. It’s just them.
It’s put of being what you
am. On the other hand, when
death comes you accept that,
too. It’s just part of living. I
think many religions have
been developed out of a fear
of death. It seems we fear
death because it means we
will lose the concept of what
we think we are. We think we
are the object of thought, but
we are actually the process of
thinking itself. I think people
are afraid to give up what
Freud would call the ego.
er gtDeration ham mom or
Mas discovered something that
give* them some kind of con
tentment in Bfo. Zen Bud
dhism doesn’t require that
you search for continuous
coutantmant or try to hang
on to a contentment. It re
volves around the notion that
contentment, derire, or anger
am feeilnp that m* momen
tary. They don’t persist. It la
the trying to hang on to them
that makes an IndMdual rigid.
It makes him unable to view
something new for the first
time and view it for what It la
worth rather than for what hi*
system tells him it is worth.
CLUSTER: If a person was In
terested in becoming a Zen
Buddhist, how would he be
gin?
Photo by Jot Cook
CLUSTER: Do you find
younger people more receptive
to Zen
DR. GALLEGOS: He should
probably med a book written
by PhiUip Kapieeu. He is the
only American Zen Matter,
and he has written a very
teadlble book called THE
THREE PILLARS OF ZEN.
DR. GALLEGOS: Yea, they
am still seeking while the old-
CLUSTER: Think you, Dr.
Gallegos, for your time. I’m
sure that you have aniwated
many questions which interest
the reader of the CLUSTER.
Thompson, Suit Speak
Republican Workshop
Six Mercerians recently attended an ail-day Young Repub
lican educational workshop held at the Sheraton Motor Inn in
Macon.
Speakers at the meeting in
cluded Mayor Ronnie Thomp
son, Hal Suit of WSB-TV fame
and of more recent date a
candidate for Governor. Sena
tor Prank Miller of Dekalb
County who is running for the
office of Lt. Governor, and
Senator Billy Adams of Bibb
County. Panels held Included
finances, socials, and com
munications. The Communica
tions panel was moderated by
Wright Davia of the Walter F.
George School of Law and in
cluded Rocky Wade of the
Liberal Arts School.
The pane) diacuarion cover
ed the spectrum from news
letters to phone committees
to local campus newspapers.
Later, they were confronted
with many questions; several
aimed directly at the situation
on the Mercer campus itself.
After the seminar, fifteen
Mercerians attended a “Swing
into *70” party honoring
Senator Oliver Bateman, an
“unannounced" candidate for
the office of Governor.
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