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I’m walking towards the medieval courtyard of Dartington,
Devon with Ingen Breen a teacher from San Francisco Zen Centre who
is here in Totnes to hold two practice days with the local Dancing
Mountains Sangha. We had intended to walk through the park with
its huge old trees now winter gaunt and dripping but the rain is
heavy. We decide to divert to the Roundhouse café and take
the stroll later. As we enter the distinctive voice of Johnny Cash
pours out of the CD player and we talk with the woman serving us
about the music she loves and recent films we have all seen. I tune
in to the gentle Irish burr in Ingen’s voice which reflects
his origins. He was brought up in a working class family devoted
to Roman Catholicism with an elder brother and two sisters in Dublin.
Tragedy struck this happy close knit family early. Ingen was
only eight years old when his father died.
“This sensitised me,” Ingen says “to notice in
an intuitive way aspects of and the beliefs of my Catholic faith.
I would go to evening mass but always sit at the back, part of the
mystery but at the same time slightly aloof, wondering.”
When his brother took up Yoga Ingen became interested and began
to practice and later followed this with TM meditation. In his secondary/High
school studies his favourite subjects were maths and physics and
he took up Aikido which is still an important part of his investigations
into life.
When he left education he became an apprentice electrician but continued
his interest in rationalism by reading thoroughly Plato’s
Republic which led him to question his own faith at a deeper level,
since, in his view his Catholicism seemed in part to be based on
the Greek philosopher’s views and theories about human nature
and being. All this led to what he calls the first great koan of
his life
“Could I be happy if it was incontrovertibly proved that there
was no life after death?”
He was now beginning to recognise that much of what he believed
was simply what others had told him was true and posed the question:
“How do they know?” Which led him to his second koan
“Why do you believe in life after death?”
As his apprenticeship neared its end Ingen had considered three
possibilities as careers; engineer, teacher or priest. He realised
that the latter was now impossible since his constant interrogation
of himself and his faith had led to the realisation that he was
an atheist! He went to college to study electrical engineering but
his studies were interrupted by serious health problems and during
this time he started meditating again using a simple technique he
learned from his Yoga practice. At this crucial time in his mid-twenties
his mother died and he came across Shunryu Suzuki’s classic
text ‘Zen Mind Beginners Mind’. This opened up a new
universe of possibilities for the young seeker. He realised that
he could live his life in a new way within the vast potential offered
by Suzuki’s teaching. He found a teacher and sangha in the
Friends of the Western Buddhist Order and sat with them as they
explored the fundamental teachings of Buddhism such as the four
noble truths whose rationale and pragmatism resonated strongly with
him. He then reasoned, there are plenty of electrical engineers
in the world but not many dharma teachers, so moved to Vajrakuta,
an FWBO retreat centre in Wales, to deepen his studies. Ingen remained
in residence for one and a half years whilst also exploring other
traditions such Theravada and Zen including time at Throssel Hole
Buddhist Abbey in Northumberland, England. A motorcycle accident
in 1993 resulting in minor injuries came with the realisation that
if he was to continue to explore the ‘suchness,’ of
all things he needed to take care of his physical being more carefully!
The search went on and eventually led him in 1995 to San Francisco
Zen Centre’s temple at Green Gulch in California (SFZC was
founded by Suzuki Roshi in the sixties).
“I was impressed by the egalitarian nature of the centre and
the wealth of practice, teachers and teachings that would be available
to me.”
His mentor throughout the long and arduous training was Zoketsu
Norman Fischer from whom he received dharma transmission in 2009.
Ingen observed with a smile that life had seemingly laid out the
circumstances of his spiritual search perfectly.
“If I had gone to Green Gulch first with its many forms, rituals,
bells and incense I would almost certainly have rejected it as too
closely mirroring my former Catholic faith. However the grounding
I derived from the Western Buddhist Order gave me the insight and
patience necessary to overcome a misunderstanding and rejection
of these forms.”
At present temporarily based in Dublin Ingen travels in Ireland,
U.K., Sweden and Italy offering dharma teachings, sesshins and practice
days.
The interview over we walked through the Dartington gardens with
the trees scattering golden offerings in the puddles across our
path. I reflected with deep gratitude on the blessings committed
teachers such as Ingen Breen brings to us all.
More
info on Ingen at: www.everydayzen.org
and www.stresspionage.com
Interview
& article by Michael Elsmere (Kogan Muju)
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