He repaired to a distant monastery, where, it is said, he sat facing a wall for nine years, in constant meditation. The disciple stood outside in the snow all night long. In the morning he presented Bodhidharma with his severed arm as a token of his seriousness. So, at least, the story goes. Zen schools are more or less divisible into those that emphasize a curriculum of verbal meditation objects — like koans — and those that do not. Emphasizing daily life practice as zazen, Soto Zen centers generally do not work with a set koan curriculum and method, though koans are studied and contemplated.
Because of this, Soto Zen has sometimes been criticized by the koan schools the best-known of which is the Rinzai school of Japan as dull, overly precious, and quietistic, in contrast to the dynamic and lively engagement of the koan path. But the koan way also has its critics, who see the emphasis on words, meaning, and insight as working against real non-conceptual Zen living. Koan training systems also have the disadvantage of fostering competition and obsession with advancement in the system.
Zen Buddhism has had a long and varied history in several different Far Eastern cultures. Each culture has produced a tradition that is recognizable as Zen, but differs slightly from all the others.
Vietnamese Zen is the one most influenced by the Theravada tradition. It tends to be gentle in expression and method, to emphasize purity and carefulness, and to combine Zen with some Theravada teaching and methodology.
Especially stylized, dramatic, and austere, Korean Zen includes prostration practice repeated, energetic full-to-the-floor bows of veneration and intensive chanting practice, and has a hermit tradition, something virtually unknown in Japanese Zen.
Within each of the Asian Zen traditions there are several schools, and within schools the styles of individual teachers often differ greatly. This uncanny fact — radical individuality within the context of shared understanding — seems to be an indelible feature of Zen. In the middle of the talk he paused and held up a flower. Everyone was silent. Only Mahakasyapa broke into a smile.
Not dependent on words, it is a special transmission outside tradition. I now entrust it to Mahakasyapa. This story, however historically unverifiable, represents the beginning of the Zen transmission, said to start directly with the Buddha. The story tells us two things: first, although the Buddha taught many true and useful teachings and techniques, the essence of what he taught is simple and ineffable.
Holding up a flower is one expression of this essence. Second, the very simplicity and ineffability of this essential teaching requires that it be handed on in a lineage from master to disciple in mutual wordless understanding.
We are all familiar with the transformation that takes place in apprenticeship and mentorship relationships, processes that involve a wordless give and take between individuals, and in which something quite hard to define is passed on. To be sure, respect for and confidence in the teacher is essential if one is to undergo the transformation in consciousness that Zen promises.
But the Zen teacher is also an ordinary, conditioned human being, simply a person, however much they have realized of Zen. Through the relationship to the teacher, the student comes to embrace all beings, including himself or herself, in this way.
It was typical in the early days of the transmission of Zen to the West for teachers of different lineages to be scornful of each other. There were centuries of tradition behind this prodigious failure to communicate. In Asia, lineages through the generations tended to be separate and usually of opposing congregations.
Thankfully, in the West there is now much more sharing between the various lineages. In recent years in America, two organizations have been created to promote warm communication between the Zen lineages: the American Zen Teachers Association, which includes teachers from all lineages, and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, which is made up of teachers of the various lineages of Soto Zen, the largest Zen tradition in the West.
A Zen wave broke on North American shores in the middle of the twentieth century. Instead it was bringing large-scale suffering and dehumanization. What was the alternative? Alan Watts , whose popular books on Zen were hugely influential, was there. Cage influenced Merce Cunningham, the dancer-choreographer, who in turn influenced many others in the performance art field. The Zen-derived notion of spontaneous improvisation became the essence of bebop, the post-war jazz movement.
Origins of zen buddhism by zen master Jean-Pierre Taiun Faure. Zen in Japan by zen master Genshin Strim. Zen in Europa by zen master Pierre Dokan Crepon. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.
Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here. FR EN. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. Zen Buddhism Last updated Zen Buddhism Zen in its own words A special transmission outside the scriptures Without reliance on words or letters Directly pointing to the heart of humanity Seeing into one's own nature. Hakuin Ekaku. Zen in practice Learning Zen If you're a westerner you may find it hard to shake off the intellectual and dualist ways of thinking that dominate western culture: these can make it difficult for westerners to come to Zen.
Clues to the meaning of Zen Because Zen is so hard to explain here are some quotations that may help you get an idea of it: The essence of Zen Buddhism is achieving enlightenment by seeing one's original mind or original nature directly; without the intervention of the intellect.
Zen is big on intuitive understanding, on just 'getting it', and not so hot on philosophising. Zen is concerned with what actually is rather than what we think or feel about what is. Zen is concerned with things as they are, without trying to interpret them.
Zen points to something before thinking, before all your ideas. The key to Buddhahood in Zen is simply self-knowledge. To be a human being is to be a Buddha. Buddha nature is just another name for human nature - true human nature. Zen is simply to be completely alive. Zen is short for Zen Buddhism.
It is sometimes called a religion and sometimes called a philosophy. Choose whichever term you prefer; it simply doesn't matter.
Zen is not a philosophy or a religion. Zen tries to free the mind from the slavery of words and the constriction of logic.
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