Beyond Meditation - Removing limiting views

A lot of people just believe Zen is a meditation method called Zazen, though that is a highly limiting view akin to thinking that baseball is just about batting. Meditation is just a tool that Zen leverages for the larger goal, that of a true innate understanding of the core philosophy, the virtues, and of course the way of life. Many Zen organizations promote a view of seated meditation as Zen, thus presenting a view of Zen that is highly limiting. The old saying that, if all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail, applies well to this view of Zen. Though meditation is a powerful tool, it is by far not the only tool, and at times not the correct tool either. Today many Zen teachers have awakened to this fact, and are introducing a much broader and inclusive view of Zen that includes arts, writing, discussions and debates, home crafts, and gardening. Another common misconception about Zen is that Zen is about secret meanings. This is often conveyed in a quote from Lao Tzu, a Taoist master, those that speak don't know, and those that don't speak know. This often implies a secret meaning or a riddle. Many beginning Zen students pour through the recorded sayings of Zen masters, being these late 8th century Chinese fan fiction of enigmatic monks who travel around China having various adventures. This then leads to the misconception that Zen is about witticisms and improved comedy often expressed in the more slapstick views of Zen, thus the hitting, slapping, and shouting. Such online forums as Reddit Zen Forum and a few Facebook forums tend to promote this view and attitude as authentic Zen, and imply that there are secrets in the Zen books that are hiding in plain view. Other less common misconceptions include, Zen is nihilism, Zen is solely for monastics, Zen is about being emotionless, Zen is anti-intellectual, Zen is about zoning out or having a blank mind, and Zen is just about Japanese culture. All of these are limiting views and only create suffering, and therefore are to be abandoned. The aspect of Zen being a Japanese religion is difficult for many to separate Zen from Buddhism and from Japanese cultural Zen Buddhism. Those who are involved in these Japanese lineages or religious schools based on Japanese religion often struggle with bridging into everyday life the core values of Zen and asking such questions as, how do I bring these teachings to my everyday life? Or, am I to take my Zafu, meditation cushion, and robes to me at work? Many also then start asking questions about if they need to set up a Butsudan, Japanese family home funerary, only eat Japanese food, or even need to learn the Japanese language. All of these limited views and misconceptions lead students to dead ends, traps, and pitfalls in which only suffering is created. Many Zen teachers called Roshi in Japanese use the lineage authority to drive students into suffering, thus creating a type of hellish realm carved out from misunderstanding, misconceptions, and limited views. So how did all of this happen?