DOZEN SCHOOL OF INSTANT ENLIGHTENMENT

		do ('way') - zen ('absorption') (Japanese)

	the Dozen school teaches an approach in which discipline 
	is not the primary aspect of the practice, one's very 
	life becoming the foundation of one's study. 

	the school is falsely said to have originated in China (as 
        so many Japanese things do!), founded on a practice called 
        "tao-ch'an", and developed out of the habits of lazy 
	ch'an buddhist monks who either found what they sought in 
	their practices or got burned out and discovered a more 
	powerful (and therefore dangerous!) method.

	legend has it that from China it became assimilated with 
        the seventh of the eight folds in the 8-fold Path of Nirvana
        in Buddhism, though many Dozen Masters have said that it 
        is not especially a Buddhist (so much as a buddhist) school.  
        as 'right mindfulness' (Pali 'samma-sati'), the legend
        continues, it found its way into the Japanese culture and 
        therefore came under the scrutiny of the buddhist community 
        at large as the foundation of a school all unto its own 
        (originally without a name).

	for a sample of the inventive and at times baffling expressions
	of Dozen Masters, have a peek at the essay entitled 'monkmind',
	or the now-classic piece on the 'lazy path'.  for a more 
	technical piece, try The Classic of the Magick Squares, by the 
	black friar, or have a look at some of the more scandalous and 
	confusing expressions of "!" within the Dozen directory.
	
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nagasiva