Zen again

Dushko Petrovich, DC '97, is House Master of the New Haven Zen Center, which makes him a good source of insight on problems of housekeeping and philosophy. He balked at the question of "Thanksgiving strategy," however: "Zen doesn't have any strategies--no strategy is better than a strategy. It's almost boring, the simplicity of it. When you're with your family you have to perceive the situation correctly and take correct action. There's no prescription for Zen, there's no authority. It just means being present with your family, which you need during those short escapes from Yale. One thing about being at Yale is it makes you so crazy that you want to see your family."

Petrovich doesn't deny that Thanksgiving occasions a tense transition between a collegiate identity and a familial one, but cautions that practicing Zen might make it even more difficult. "I remember trying to take my Zen practice home with me, which was very confusing when I first started," Petrovich said. "I'd be in my old room and all of a sudden I'd be sitting Zen.... Now I think it's funny when I get stuck in my grandfather's house--that's when I want to sit Zen, because it's a house designed for a 78-year-old, and there's nothing interesting. It used to be that TV was the common language, but that just doesn't cut it anymore."

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