Zen

Zen (禅 in Japanese, ch'an in Chinese, 禪, 선 "Seon" or "Sŏn" in Korean) Buddhism is a fusion of Mahayana Buddhist beliefs with Taoism.

Table of contents

1 Overview

1.1 Esoteric meaning of Zen

2 Zen Terms
3 External Links
4 Recommended Reading

Overview

Zen especially emphasizes the practice of meditation. It developed when teachers from India, the original homeland of Buddhism, founded schools in China, where it was known as ch'an (ch'an is the Wade-Giles transliteration of the Sanskrit word dhyana). The canonical exemplar of these teachers is Bodhidharma, the Indian monk who traditionally founded Zen Buddhism at the Shaolin Temple in the fifth century CE. Later, Japanese monks studying in China learned of Zen and brought it back to Japan, where several divergent schools of thought emerged.

Influenced by Taoism, Zen de-emphasizes study and worldly deeds, and concentrates instead on meditation and a non-rational awareness of the world and the way the mind reacts to it.

Zen tradition holds that the highest form of spiritual practice is zazen meditation. Zazen translates approximately to sitting meditation. During zazen, practitioners assume a lotus, half-lotus, burmese, or seiza position. Rinzai practitioners typically sit facing the center of the room, while Soto practitioners sit facing a wall. Awareness is directed towards complete cognizance of one's posture and breathing. In this way, practictioners seek to transcend thought and be directly aware of the universe.

Later schools (especially Rinzai) developed the famous koans, paradoxical "riddles" or "puzzles" designed to shock the mind out of its rationalistic rut and into a non-discriminatory awareness.

The following Zen traditions still exist in Japan: Soto Zen, Rinzai Zen and Obaku. Originally formulated by the eponymous Lin-Chi (Rinzai in Japanese), the Rinzai school was introduced to Japan in 1191 by Eisai, whose disciple Dogen went on to found the Soto Zen school.

Many modern students have made the mistake of thinking that since much of Zen sounds like nonsense, then any clever nonsense is also Zen. This is not the case, but see Discordianism and the Church of the SubGenius for modern semiserious religions influenced by this idea.

Zen Buddhism stands in the Middle Way of dialectics between idealism and materialism. In The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch of Zen in China, Hui Neng instructs his accomplished disciples in the chapter on his Final Instructions, "After my entering Nirvana, each of you will be the Dhyana Master of a certain district. I am, therefore, going to give you some hints on preaching, so that you may keep up the tradition of our School."

"First mention the three categories of Dharmas, and then the thirty six 'pairs of opposites' in the activities of the Heart-Mind. Then teach how to avoid the two extremes of 'coming in' and 'going out.' In all preaching, stray not from the Heart-Mind. Whenever someone puts a question to you, answer in the antonyms, so that a pair of opposites; will be formed, such as coming and going. When the interdependence of the two is entirely done away with there would be, in the absolute sense, neither coming nor going. ... Whenever a question is put to you, answer it in the negative if it is an affirmative one; and vice versa. If you are asked about an ordinary man, tell the questioner something about a sage; and vice versa. From the correlation or interdependence of the two opposites the doctrine of the Middle Way may be grasped. If someone asks what is darkness, answer thus: Light is the root condition and darkness is the reciprocal condition. When light disappears, darkness appears. The two are in contrast to each other. From the correlation or interdependence of the two the Middle Way arises."

Esoteric meaning of Zen

From this point of view, Zen is, instead of a religion, rather an undefinable origin, beyond all words and concepts, which can only be experienced on an individual level. In Zen, Prajna, i.e., direct intuitive wisdom, is to Buddhism what Gnosis is to Hellenism and Christianity. All religions originated from more concrete expressions of Prajna, and as such Zen is not bound to any materialist view of religion at all, even not Buddhism. Zen is then the fundamental perfection of awareness in relation to everything existing, and is known by all the great saints and sages of all times. Zazen is then, both a method to bring people to liberation and an expression and realization of the perfection already present in every person.

Zen Terms

Dharma - The Law of Reality which is the Teaching of All Buddhas.
Doan - Term for person sounding the bell that marks the beginning and end of Zazen
Dojo - "Place of the Way" in Japanese, used interchangeably with Zendo
Dokusan - Private interview between student and teacher.
Fukudo - Term for person who strikes the Han
Gassho - Position used for greeting, with palms together and fingers pointing upwards in prayer position.
Han - Wooden board that is struck announcing sunrise, sunset and the end of the day
Ino - One of the leaders of a sesshin
Jisha - Roshi's attendant during sesshin or dokusan
Kensho - Enlightenment. Kensho has the same meaning as satori, but is customary used for an initial awakening experience.
Kinhin - Walking meditation
Kyosaku (keisaku) - A flattened stick used to strike the shoulders during zazen, to help overcome fatigue or reach satori.
Mokugyo - a wooden drum carved from one piece, usually in the form of a fish.
Mondo - A short dialogue between teacher and student.
Rohatsu - A day in December (usually 8th) that marks the attainment of Nirvana by Buddha
Roshi - Teacher
Satori - Enlightenment
Sesshin - A zen retreat where practioners meditate, eat and work together for several days.
Tanto - One of the main leaders of a sesshin.
Teisho - Lecture by Zen teacher
Tenzo - Head cook for a sesshin
Zazen - Sitting meditation
Zendo - A hall where Zen (usually meaning zazen) is practiced (see Dojo)

See also: Eastern philosophy, Buddhism in China, Ryoju Kikuchi(Tamo Samma)