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That question always seems to come back in my mind. I thought alchool was not permitted in Zen practice... ?

Well, it seems that all was cool on Mount Baldy!

Maybe cognac helped them to stand up to the cold winter nights??
P.P.

Girl-e wrote:That question always seems to come back in my mind. I thought alchool was not permitted in Zen practice... ?

Zen neither permits nor prohibits - only Zen practioners do that.

I read somewhere that in the monastery on Mount Baldy, at the end of their fiercely rigorous ' sesshins' (intensive meditation retreats), they hold a ceremony where they recite the Buddhist precepts solemnly in Japanese - until they get to the one about no alcohol, they they break out the sake and spend the rest of the day getting hammered.

Japanese Zen has always played by a different set of rules from the other branches of Buddhism - Japanese monks not only drink, they eat meat, and get married, and do all that fun stuff the Buddha was so sniffy about.

Thank you Johnny7moons ! By the way, what a beautiful name!

Cheers. It's not my creation, though - 'Johnny Seven Moons' is actually a character in the very fine novels of Mr Jim Dodge, which I commend to one and all.