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Zen, Zen

The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahyna Buddhist thoughtamong them the Yogcra and Madhyamaka philosophies and the Prajpramit literatureand of local traditions in China, particularly Taoism and Huyn Buddhism. From China, Zen subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan.

He left India in 517 C.E. and arrived in China in 520 C.E., to spread Buddhism to Asia. When he got there, he found that Buddhism, which had already been established, was perverted by superstitious devotionalism, devoid of true insight. Thus, Bodhidharma focused on direct insight about one's own experience, under the instruction of a Zen teacher, discouraging misguided veneration of Buddhas for the sake of superstition. Often attributed to Bodhidharma is the Bloodstream Sermon, which was actually composed quite some time after his apparent death.

The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Zen history no longer exist.

However, the dramatic story of Huineng's life tells that there was a controversy over his claim to the title of patriarch. After being chosen by Hongren, the fifth patriarch, Huineng had to flee by night to Nanhua Temple in the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren's jealous senior disciples. Later, in the middle of the 8th century, monks claiming to be among the successors to Huineng, calling themselves the Southern school, cast themselves in opposition to those claiming to succeed Hongren's then publicly recognized student Shenxiu (). It is commonly held that it is at this pointthe debates between these rival factionsthat Chn enters the realm of fully documented history. Aside from disagreements over the valid lineage, doctrinally the Southern school is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is sudden, while the Northern School is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is gradual. The Southern school eventually became predominant and their Northern school rivals died out. Modern scholarship, however, has questioned this narrative, since the only surviving records of this account were authored by members of the Southern school. Many historians proposed that Chn was probably an indigenous Chinese creation by mixing Buddhist doctrine with Daoist and Neo Daoist ideas. Some Chinese scholars, such as Ma Tian Xiang even propose that Zen's foundation is based on Lao Zhuang Daoist philosophy instead of Indian Buddhism.

The aim of Zen practice is to discover this Buddha-nature within each person, through meditation and mindfulness of daily experiences. Zen practitioners believe that this provides new perspectives and insights on existence, which ultimately lead to enlightenment.

However, Zen is deeply rooted in both the scriptural teachings of the Buddha Siddhrtha Gautama and in Mahyna Buddhist thought and philosophy. What Zen emphasizes is that the awakening taught by the Buddha came through his meditation practice, not from any words that he read or discovered, and so it is primarily through meditation that others too may awaken to the same insights as the Buddha.

Since Bodhidharma taught the turning-about techniques of dhyna with reference to the Lankavatara Sutra, the Zen school was initially identified with that sutra. It was in part through reaction to such limiting identification with one text that Chinese Zen cultivated its famous non-reliance on written words and independence of any one scripture. However, a review of the teachings of the early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were all well versed in various scriptures. For example, in The Platform Sutra of the Sixth ancestor and founder Huineng, this famously "illiterate" Zen master cites and explains the Diamond Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Lankavatara Sutra.

Awakening like the Buddha, and not merely following rules or memorizing texts became the watchword of the Chn practitioners. Within 200 years after Bodhidharma at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the fifth generation Chn ancestor and founder Daman Hongren (601674), the Zen of Bodhidharma's successors had become well established as a separate school of Buddhism and the true Zen school.

All of the Buddha's fundamental teachingsamong them the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the idea of dependent origination, the five precepts, the five aggregates, and the three marks of existencealso make up important elements of the perspective that Zen takes for its practice. While Buddhists generally revere certain places as a Bodhimandala (circle or place of enlightenment) in Zen wherever one sits in true meditation is said to be a Bodhimandala.

Despite Zen's emphasis on transmission independent of scriptures, it has drawn heavily on the Mahyna stras, particularly the Heart of Perfect Wisdom Stra , Hredaya Pranyaparamita the Stra of the Perfection of Wisdom of the Diamond that Cuts through Illusion , The Vajrachedika Pranyaparamita the Lankavatara Stra , and the "Samantamukha Parivarta" section of the Lotus Stra.

Others include the various collections of kans and the Shbgenz of Dgen Zenji.

During zazen, practitioners usually assume a sitting position such as the lotus, half-lotus, Burmese, or seiza postures. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or put in the energy center below the navel (Chinese dan tian , Japanese tanden or hara ).

In Japanese Rinzai Zen tradition practitioners typically sit facing the center of the room; while Japanese Soto practitioners traditionally sit facing a wall.

The key is daily regularity, as Zen teaches that the ego will naturally resist, and the discipline of regularity is essential. Practicing Zen monks may perform four to six periods of zazen during a normal day, with each period lasting 30 to 40 minutes.

Successive periods of zazen are usually interwoven with brief periods of walking meditation to relieve the legs.

The numerous 3050 minute long meditation periods are interleaved with short rest breaks, meals, and sometimes, short periods of work (Japanese: samu ) all performed with the same mindfulness; nightly sleep is kept to a minimum, 7 hours or less. Sesshins run in silence, except the public talks (teisho) given by master and individual direction in private meetings (which may be called dokusan , daisan , or sanzen ) with a Zen Master.

Seven day sesshins are several times a year at many Zen Centers, especially in commemoration of the Buddha's awakening to annuttara samyak sambodhi . At this Rohatsu sesshin, the practitioners typically strive to quiet the mind's chatter to the point of either Stopping thought, samadhi, kensho, or satori.

Generally speaking, a Zen teacher is a person ordained in any tradition of Zen to teach the Dharma, guide students in meditation, and perform rituals.An important concept for all Zen sects is the notion of dharma transmission: the claim of a line of authority that goes back to kyamuni Buddha via the teachings of each successive master to each successive student. This concept relates to the ideas expressed in a description of Zen attributed to Bodhidharma: McRae offers a detailed criticism of lineage, but he also notes it is central to Zen, so much so that it is hard to envision any claim to Zen that discards claims of lineage. Therefore, for example, in Japanese Soto, lineage charts become a central part of the Sanmatsu , the documents of Dharma transmission. And it is common for daily chanting in Zen temples and monasteries to include the lineage of the school.

Modern Zen Buddhists also consider questions about the dynamics of the lineage system, inspired in part by academic research into the history of Zen.

However, there is no specific criterion by which one may be called a Zen master. The term is less common in reference to modern teachers. In the Open Mind Zen School, English terms have been substituted for the Japanese ones to avoid confusion of this issue. "Assistant Zen Teacher" is a person authorized to begin to teach, but still under the supervision of his teacher. "Zen Teacher" applies to one authorized to teach without further direction, and "Zen Master" refers to one who is a Zen Teacher and has founded his or her own teaching center.

Koan practice is particularly emphasized by the Japanese Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line.

These anecdotes involving famous Zen teachers are a practical demonstration of their wisdom, and can be used to test a student's progress in Zen practice. Koans often appear to be paradoxical or linguistically meaningless dialogues or questions. But to Zen Buddhists the koan is "the place and the time and the event where truth reveals itself" unobstructed by the oppositions and differentiations of language. Answering a koan requires a student to let go of conceptual thinking and of the logical way we order the world, so that like creativity in art, the appropriate insight and response arises naturally and spontaneously in the mind.

Zen teachers advise that the problem posed by a koan is to be taken quite seriously, and to be approached as literally a matter of life and death. While there is no unique answer to a koan, practitioners are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the koan and of Zen through their responses. The teacher may approve or disapprove of the answer and guide the student in the right direction. There are also various commentaries on koans, written by experienced teachers, that can serve as a guide. These commentaries are also of great value to modern scholarship on the subject.

The same term is also used in Japanese homes for the altar where one prays to and communicates with deceased family members. As such, reciting liturgy in Zen can be seen as a means to connect with the Bodhisattvas of the past. Liturgy is often used during funerals, memorials, and other special events as means to invoke the aid of supernatural powers.

Since the Zen practitioners aim is to walk the Bodhisattva path, chanting can be used as a means to connect with these beings and realize this ideal within oneself. By repeatedly chanting the , for example, one instills the Bodhisattva's ideals into ones mind. The ultimate goal is given in the end of the sutra, which states, "In the morning, be one with Avalokiteshvara,In the evening, be one with Avalokiteshvara,", Through the realization of the Emptiness of oneself, and the Mahayanist ideal of Buddha-nature in all things, one understands that there is no difference between the cosmic bodhisattva and oneself. The wisdom and compassion of the Boddhisattva one is chanting to is seen to equal the inner wisdom and compassion of the practitioner. Thus, the duality between subject and object, practitioner and Bodhisattva, chanter and sutra is ended.

Some of these are common today, while others are found mostly in anecdotes. These include the loud belly shout known as katsu . It is common in many Zen traditions today for Zen teachers to have a stick with them during formal ceremonies which is a symbol of authority and which can be also used to strike on the table during a talk. The now defunct Fuke Zen sect was also well-known for practicing suizen, meditation with the shakuhachi, which some Zen Buddhists today also practice.

During the same period, the various developments of Chn teaching methods crystallized into the gong-an (koan) practice which is unique to this school of Buddhism. According to Miura and Sasaki, " [5] t was during the lifetime of Yan-wu's successor, Ta-hui Tsung-kao (Daie Sk, 10891163) that Koan Zen entered its determinative stage." Gong-an practice was prevalent in the Linji school, to which Yuanwu and Ta-hui (pinyin: Dahui) belonged, but it was also employed on a more limited basis by the Caodong school. The teaching styles and words of the classical masters were collected in such important texts as the Blue Cliff Record (1125) of Yuanwu, The Gateless Gate (1228) of Wumen, both of the Linji lineage, and the Book of Equanimity (1223) of Wansong, of the Caodong lineage. These texts record classic gong-an cases, together with verse and prose commentaries, which would be studied by later generations of students down to the present.

In time much of the distinction between them was lost, and many masters taught both Chn and Pure Land. Chn Buddhism enjoyed something of a revival in the Ming Dynasty with teachers such as Hanshan Deqing (), who wrote and taught extensively on both Chn and Pure Land Buddhism; Miyun Yuanwu (), who came to be seen posthumously as the first patriarch of the Obaku Zen school; as well as Yunqi Zhuhong () and Ouyi Zhixu ().

Of these, St is the largest and Obaku the smallest. Rinzai is itself divided into several subschools based on temple affiliation, including Myoshin-ji, Nanzen-ji, Tenry-ji, Daitoku-ji, and Tofuku-ji.

At the same time, however, one must be aware that this involvement was by no means limited to the Zen school: all orthodox Japanese schools of Buddhism supported the militarist state. What may be most striking, though, as Victoria has argued, is that many Zen masters known for their post-war internationalism and promotion of "world peace" were open nationalists in the inter-war years.

A new school was founded by one of Vietnam's religious kings; this was the Truc Lam (Trc Lm) school, which evinced a deep influence from Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Nevertheless, Truc Lam's prestige waned over the following centuries as Confucianism became dominant in the royal court. In the 17th century, a group of Chinese monks led by Nguyen Thieu (Nguyn Thiu) established a vigorous new school, the Lam Te (Lm T), which is the Vietnamese pronunciation of Linji . A more domesticated offshoot of Lam Te, the Lieu Quan (Liu Qun) school, was founded in the 18th century and has since been the predominant branch of Vietnamese Zen.

It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners, other than the descendants of Asian immigrants, pursuing a serious interest in Zen reached a significant level.

Like his friend, the late D.T. Suzuki, Merton believed that there must be a little of Zen in all authentic creative and spiritual experience. The dialogue between Merton and Suzuki explores the many congruencies of Christian mysticism and Zen.

He was interned during World War II and started writing in prison. He was tutor to the Crown Prince after the war. His greatest work is the 5-volume "Zen and Zen Classics", published in the 1960s. In it, he discusses Zen themes from a philosophical standpoint, often in conjunction with Christian elements in a comparative spirit. His essays include titles such as "God, Buddha, and Buddhahood" or "Zen, Sin, and Death". He is an enthusiast of Zen, but not altogether uncritical of it. His writings can be characterized as unorthodox and quirky.

Rather it deals with the notion of the metaphysics of "quality" from the point of view of the main character. Pirsig was attending the Minnesota Zen Center at the time of writing the book. He has stated that, despite its title, the book "should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice". Though it may not deal with orthodox Zen Buddhist practice, Pirsig's book in fact deals with many of the more subtle facets of Zen living and Zen mentality without drawing attention to any religion or religious organization.

Among these are the lineages of the San Francisco Zen Center, established by Shunryu Suzuki and the White Plum Asanga, founded by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. Suzuki's San Francisco Zen Center established the first Zen Monastery in America in 1967, called Tassajara in the mountains near Big Sur. Maezumi's successors have created schools including Great Plains Zen Center, founded by Susan Myoyu Andersen, Roshi, Zen Mountain Monastery, founded by John Daido Loori, the Zen Peacemaker Order, founded by Bernard Tetsugen Glassman and the Ordinary Mind school, founded by Charlotte Joko Beck. The Katagiri lineage, founded by Dainin Katagiri, has a significant presence in the Midwest. Note that both Taizan Maezumi and Dainin Katagiri served as priests at Zenshuji Soto Mission in the 1960s.

The International Zen Association, which he founded, remains influential. The American Zen Association, headquartered at the New Orleans Zen Temple, is one of the North American organizations practicing in the Deshimaru tradition.

He established the Temple at Long Beach in 1971 where he resided until his passing in 1998. Matsuoka created several dharma heirs, one of whom is Hogaku McGuire Roshi. Hogaku Roshi established Daibutsuji Zen Temple in Cloudcroft and Zen Center of Las Cruces, in Las Cruces, NM. Hogaku's dharma heir, Sodaiho Hilbert Roshi succeeded him as abbot of the Zen Center of Las Cruces. Sodaiho Roshi established the Clear Mind Zen , a socially engaged sangha with practice centers in Cloudcroft and Las Cruces, New Mexico. In addition, he maintains a large Internet sangha.

Sanbo Kyodan Zen is based primarily on the Soto tradition, but also incorporates Rinzai-style koan practice. Yasutani's approach to Zen first became prominent in the English-speaking world through Philip Kapleau's book The Three Pillars of Zen (1965), which was one of the first books to introduce Western audiences to Zen as a practice rather than simply a philosophy. Among the Zen groups in North America, Hawaii, Europe, and New Zealand which derive from Sanbo Kyodan are those associated with Kapleauwho was never recognized as being a zen master, Robert Aitken, and John Tarrant.

Jiyu Kennett, an English woman, was ordained as a priest and Zen master in Shoji-ji, one of the two main Soto Zen temples in Japan (her book The Wild White Goose describes her experiences in Japan). The Order is called the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives . The lineage of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi is represented by the White Plum Sangha UK , while Taisen Deshimaru Roshi's lineage is known in the UK as IZAUK (Intl Zen Assoc. UK). The Zen Centre in London is connected to the Buddhist Society. The Western Chn Fellowship is an association of lay Chn practitioners based in the UK. They are registered as a charity in England and Wales, but also have contacts in Europe, principally in Norway, Poland, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland and the USA.

In North America, some of the more prominent include Rinzai-ji founded by Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi in California, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji established by Eido Shimano Roshi and Soen Nakagawa Roshi in New York, Chozen-ji founded by Omori Sogen Roshi in Hawaii, Daiyuzenji founded by Dogen Hosokawa Roshi (a student of Omori Sogen Roshi) in Chicago, Illinois, and Chobo-Ji founded by Genki Takabayshi Roshi in Seattle, Washington. In Europe there is Egely Monastery established by a Dharma Heir of Eido Shimano, Denko Mortensen.

Seung Sahn founded the Providence Zen Center in Providence, Rhode Island; this was to become the headquarters of the Kwan Um School of Zen, a large international network of affiliated Zen centers.

North American Soto teachers in North America, led by several of the heirs of Taizan Maezumi and Shunryu Suzuki, have also formed the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.

Source: Wikipedia > Zen