This article is pathological in a fascinating way. I don't mean psychologically; I'm all in favor of effective therapy for non-productive suffering. I mean intellectually. It's a disaster of a hodgepodge. You couldn't ask for a better illustration of the reductio ad absurdum that Western intellectuals create out of Eastern spiritual teachings:
For two decades he lectured on the emergence of Western lay Zen, arguing against what he saw as the antiemotional bias of monastic Asian Zen in favor of an approach that integrated psychological experience into meditation practice. But as a pioneer of Zen in America, he had little success practicing what he preached.
So the guy basically got disillusioned with one doctrine and went and took another doctrine. It's like deeply religious people suddenly realising that god may in fact not exist and go and seek another religion to see if that may be correct. Sure it will take some time to shift the perception of life and their position in it which in turn creates a melancholic view of life. They simply need to think stuff through, they don't need another doctrine to screw up reality.
For two decades he lectured on the emergence of Western lay Zen, arguing against what he saw as the antiemotional bias of monastic Asian Zen in favor of an approach that integrated psychological experience into meditation practice. But as a pioneer of Zen in America, he had little success practicing what he preached.