Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Monastic practice and lay practice are and always have been in a dynamic relationship, one supporting the other. You would have a very short-lived lay practice without monasticism and a very short-lived monasticism without lay practice. That has been the history of the Buddha-dharma—2,500 years of it—with its vitality and lifeblood depending on the contrast, the contact, and the integration of the two streams.

The enlightenment of a monastic and a lay practitioner are not different. Both monastic practice and lay practice can result in deep, profound realization—one indistinguishable from the other. What are different are the respective occupations of monastics and lay practitioners, the difficulty of attaining realization, the depth and breadth of training, and the possibility of formally completing one’s study.’ (from Tricycle Magazine)