Correction!

An article in New York Magazine the summer after Rama's passing (July 20, 1998) gave some inaccurate information about the teaching programs offered by your webmaster. The article was entitled "Zen Master Rama's Long Goodbye". It is ordinarily not my policy to comment on press articles about Rama, because they are inevitably one-sided and negative in perspective, and they have nothing in common with what I know to be true about my teacher. I choose not to dignify these articles with a response.

However, in addition to the usual tabloid claims about Rama, this article made some specific statements about my upcoming teaching program which need to be corrected. I am not attempting to fill the void created by the death of Rama. There is no way that I could even attempt to do so. Rama was enlightened; I am not.

It is true that beginning in late September, I will be involved in the teaching of introductory self discovery. However, the format will be quite informal--I will not be accepting students in any formal sense at all. I will simply be trying to share, much as I am doing with this Web site, my experiences studying with my teacher, so that others can learn about the Light even though my teacher is no longer on the planet. Ultimately, though, anyone seriously interested in what Rama taught will need to learn directly from him through the books, tapes, and videos he left behind, and most importantly from their own experiences in meditation. I can only hope to guide people to Rama, the real teacher.

The article also inaccurately stated that I have been contacting Rama's students. In point of fact, I have not contacted any of Rama's students, either those active at his death or former students, about my teaching. I have complete respect for the privacy of all my fellow students and would not interfere with their relationship with our teacher.

I hope this helps to clear the air of any misconceptions the New York Magazine article might have created.

On a completely tongue in cheek note, I must say that it is a honor, though, to be rated one of the three possible successors to my teacher, as the article stated. Since New York Magazine rated my teacher one of the one hundred smartest New Yorkers back in 1995, and I'm the only New Yorker among the "possible successors", does that mean I then became among the one hundred smartest New Yorkers?

More seriously, in its August 10, 1998 issue, New York Magazine ran, as a letter to the editor, a rebuttal from me of its July 20, 1998 article about Rama. The rebuttal in its entirety follows:

"Your July 20, 1998 issue ran an article about my late spiritual teacher Rama (Dr. Frederick Lenz) ('Zen Master Rama's Long Goodbye'). Some inaccurate statements were made about me in that article which need to be corrected.

"I am not attempting to fill the void created by Rama's death, simply because it would be impossible for myself or any of his students to do so. He was enlightened; we are not. I will simply be offering classes in introductory self discovery beginning this September [webmaster's note: this series of classes started in August 1998 and continued through 1999, watch for details of a new teaching program in 2001 in L.A.], so that others who did not have the chance to meet Rama during his lifetime will nevertheless have the opportunity to learn about him.

"Also, I have not contacted any of Rama's students, either those who were active at the time of his death or former students. I have complete respect for the privacy of my fellow students, and absolutely would not try to interfere in my fellow students' relationship with our teacher. This is especially true right now, since it is a time of profound grief for many of us, and we all need to be given the space to deal with that grief in our own way. [webmaster's note: at this point (early 2001) I, and other teachers, do maintain a mailing list of Rama students; however, we always respect student requests to be removed from our lists when requested.]"