[1] An external narrative is Nondualism, which claims Zen to be a token of a universal nondualist essence of religions.
[6] The Traditional Zen Narrative bases its self-understanding especially on the encounter stories of the well-known teachers of the later Tang-period, such as Mazu Daoyi and Linji Yixuan.
[23] According to critics it doesn't contribute to a real insight into Buddhism: ...most of them labour under the old cliché that the goal of Buddhist psychological analysis is to reveal the hidden mysteries in the human mind and thereby facilitate the development of a transcendental state of consciousness beyond the reach of linguistic expression.
The teacher scandals which have occurred in Western Zen have been explained as being caused by an overreliance on charismatic authority,[25] and a misinterpretation of the meaning of dharma transmission and the position of a roshi.
In the Western world roshis have been given an archetypal status as wise old man, someone who has realized an infallible insight into the true self, and a perfect personality.
In daily life this appears to be an idealized view, give the repeated cases of abuse of power, and financial and sexual misbehaviour.
This support has been made widely known in the Western world by Brian Victoria in his groundbreaking study Zen at War, though in Japan this was already more common knowledge.
In particular, the recorded teachings of sages (such as Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj) have paved the way for a contemporary generation of illuminating speakers and writers.