Zen Buddhism

12 Key excerpts on "Zen Buddhism"

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  The Hope of Liberation in World Religions

  • Miguel A. De La Torre(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Baylor University Press

    (Publisher)

  Meditation manuals written in India and Sri Lanka describe various states of absorption ( dhyana ) that lead to this state of awareness, paving the way for discerning and liberative wisdom ( prajna ). Historically, what we refer to as Zen ( Ch’an ) Buddhism originated in China from around the sixth or seventh century or later. This school placed central emphasis on the practice of seated meditation, over and above doctrinal or ritual aspects of Buddhism. This is not to say that doctrinal, ritual, or other aspects were entirely neglected, but simply to mark the point which proponents of the school themselves highlight-ed. 2 Beginning around the early centuries of the common (Western) era, with the translation of various scriptural texts and commentaries into Chinese, as well as the importation and adaptation of doctrines, rituals, and devotional practices, Buddhism came to be gradually Zen Buddhism — 157 assimilated into Chinese culture and society. The period between the sixth and the eleventh centuries saw the establishment and subsequent flowering of different Buddhist schools of thought and forms of popu -lar devotion in China. Around the tenth or eleventh century, advocates of Zen/Chan sought to distinguish their school from other forms of Buddhism, and offered systematized formulations of its basic principles. They also sought to legitimize their school and establish its superiority over oth-ers through a reconstruction of its past, tracing its origins back to the Buddha Shakyamuni himself, in a direct line of transmission through Indian and subsequently Chinese ancestors. 3 A pivotal figure in this reconstructed view of Zen/Chan is Bodhidharma, who is said to have arrived in China around the sixth century from the southern parts of India, and is regarded as the twenty-eighth ancestor in the line of trans-mission from Shakyamuni Buddha.

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  Essays in Zen Buddhism

  • D.T. Suzuki(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Souvenir Press

    (Publisher)

  HISTORY OF Zen Buddhism FROM BODHIDHARMA TO HUI-NÊNG (YENŌ)

  (A.D. 520—A.D. 713)

  M Y INTENTION here is not to make a thoroughly critical and scientific study of the history of Zen Buddhism; for this presupposes some knowledge of the development of Buddhism in China, and there are, as far as my knowledge extends, no text-books on the subject, which are accessible to readers of this book. The main object of the present Essay will therefore be to acquaint them first with the traditional history of Zen as it is told by its followers both in Japan and China. Its critical investigation will follow when readers are in a degree prepared for the task.

  The traditional origin of Zen in India before its introduction into China, which is recorded in Zen literature, is so mixed with legends that no reliable facts can be gathered from it. In the days when there was yet no critical study of anything and when things, especially relating to religion, were believed in a wholesale manner, we could not expect anything else. It may now be too late to try to unravel the mysteries enveloping the origin of Zen in India except in a general and logical way from the historical facts already known concerning the development of Mahāyāna Buddhism. In fact, Zen Buddhism, as was already discussed, is the product of the Chinese mind, or rather the Chinese elaboration of the Doctrine of Enlightenment. Therefore, when we want to narrate the history of Zen, it may be better in some respects not to go to India but to stay in China and study the psychology and philosophy of her people and the surrounding conditions that made it possible for Zen to achieve a successful growth in the land of the celestials, always remembering that it is a practical interpretation of the Doctrine of Enlightenment.

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  Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation

  • Carl Bielefeldt(Author)
  • 1990(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  Introduction The Zen school is the Meditation school, and the character of Zen can be traced in the tradition of its meditation teaching. Historians have shown us that the origins of the school in China are considerably later and more complicated than the traditional account of the lineage of Bodhidharma would have it and that the early history of the school is in fact a h istory of the teachings and traditions of several Buddhist meditation communities of the seventh and eighth centuries. If the masters of these communities did not yet see themselves as members of a Ch'an, or Meditation, school, and if—as is clear from their own reports—they did not always agree on their interpretations of Buddhism, still they were bound together by a common concern for the immediate, personal experience of enlightenment and lib-eration and, hence, by a common emphasis on the cultivation of spiritual techniques conducive to that experience. To this extent they may be spoken of as participants in a single reform movement, which sought to cut through the scholastic elaborations of the medieval Chinese Buddhist church and to translate the yogic traditions of north China into a popular modern idiom acceptable to the T'ang Buddhist community. By the end of the eighth century the Ch'an reformation had established itself as a distinct Buddhist school, complete with its own history, literature, and dogma. Nevertheless, the emphasis on practice and immediate expe-rience remained a hallmark of the faith. Indeed some scholars have held that it was precisely this emphasis that allowed the school to weather the persecutions of the late T'ang and emerge as the sole surviving form of Chinese monastic Buddhism. On several counts such a view is probably overdrawn; but, if the number of Ch'an books from the late T'ang and Sung suggests that there was considerably more to Ch'an religion in those days than simply seeing one's nature and becoming a Buddha, there is much

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  Religion Of The Samurai

  • Kaiten Nukariya(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  The Religion of the Samurai

  Chapter IHistory of Zen in China

  1. Origin of Zen in India .—To-day Zen as a living faith can be found in its pure form only among the Japanese Buddhists. You cannot find it in the so-called Gospel of Buddha any more than you can find Unitarianism in the Pentateuch, nor can you find it in China and India any more than you can find life in fossils of bygone ages. It is beyond all doubt that it can be traced back to Shakya Muni himself, nay, even to pre-Buddhistic times, because Brahmanic teachers practised Dhyana, or Meditation,1 from earliest times. But Brahmanic Zen was carefully distinguished even by early Buddhists1 as the heterodox Zen from that taught by the Buddha. Our Zen originated in the Enlightenment of Shakya Muni, which took place in his thirtieth year, when he was sitting absorbed in profound meditation under the Bodhi Tree. It is said that then he awoke to the perfect truth and declared: “All animated and inanimate beings are Enlightened at the same time.” According to the tradition1 of this sect Shakya Muni transmitted his mysterious doctrine from mind to mind to his eldest disciple Mahākāçyapa at the assembly held on the Mount of Holy Vulture, and the latter was acknowledged as the first patriarch, who, in turn, transmitted the doctrine to Ānanda, the second patriarch, and so till Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth1 patriarch. We have little to say about the historical value of this tradition, but it is worth while to note that the list of the names of these twenty-eight patriarchs contains many eminent scholars of Mahāyānism, or the later developed school of Buddhism, such as Açvaghoṣa,2 Nārgārjuna,3 Kāṇadeva,4 and Vasubhandhu.5

  2. Introduction of Zen into China by Bodhidharma .—An epoch-making event took place in the Buddhist history of China by Bodhidharma’s coming over from Southern India to that country in about A.D . 520.1

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  Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics

  • Simon P. James(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter One

  A Short History of Zen

  The main purpose of this chapter is to explain what Zen is by looking at its historical development.1 Another aim is to introduce the concepts, individuals and historical episodes I will be referring to in subsequent chapters, so that when I refer later in the book to the ‘emptiness teaching’ or to ‘Dōgen Zenji’, for example, readers will know to what or to whom I am referring.

  The Buddha

  If, as is conventionally held, Bodhidharma is the father of the tradition, then Zen was born in what is now modern day China around the turn of the sixth century CE. We will consider Bodhidharma presently. For the moment, it can be noted that even if this birth certificate is accurate, it is far from illuminating. Zen did not coalesce out of thin air, springing fully-fledged from the furrowed brow of Bodhidharma. To determine the nature of the tradition one must look back to times that even by the sixth century were considered ancient history, and one must look further afield than China. Most obviously, Zen is a form of Buddhism,2 and to understand its nature one must look to the ancient Indian traditions of Buddhism from which it evolved.

  Buddhism can of course be traced back to the Buddha himself, and so a good place to start in our history of Zen is with an account of the Buddha’s life. (Or rather, an account of how his life has been traditionally understood. I leave the task of sifting the factual elements of it from the legend to historians.) The first thing to note here is that the word ‘Buddha’ means ‘Awakened One’, one who has, as it were, awoken from his spiritual slumber to perceive things as they really are. The title ‘Buddha’ can, moreover, be applied to any beings that have thus awoken, so that one can speak, as many Buddhists do, of a plurality of Buddhas, scattered throughout time and space. However, when people refer to the

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  The History of Buddhism

  Facts and Fictions

  • Geoffrey C. Goble(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • ABC-CLIO

    (Publisher)

  7

  Zen Buddhism Is the Essence of Japanese Culture

  What People Think

  Buddhism, particularly Zen Buddhism, is the essence of Japan. It is what makes Japanese culture unique and it has instilled a subtle refinement in the Japanese people. From the warrior ethos of the samurai to the austere beauty of rock gardens, Japanese culture is informed by Zen Buddhism. It may be said that Zen Buddhism is, in fact, the essence of East Asian culture, which attained its most refined and distinctive expression in Japan. Zen is the distillation of an essential East Asian mentality and natural aesthetic. Zen is the essence of the natural simplicity and grounded practicality of East Asian culture. It is the product of East Asian masters cleaning away all of the speculative ornamentation of Indian Buddhism. The spirit of Zen may be seen in the subtle ink and brush landscape paintings of classical East Asian art. The principles of Zen inform the distinguished poetry of East Asian masters, immortalizing the beauty and splendor of the ordinary world—the peach blossoms in spring, mountain vistas, the movement of clouds and rivulets—in haiku poetry. In fact, the principle of Zen may be applied to any endeavor, not just the traditional arts of Japan. Zen is the essence of any activity performed fully, completely, and intuitively. Any activity that is performed in a spontaneous, effortless, and maximally effective manner is an expression of the spirit of Zen and it is this spirit that informs Japanese culture. Hundreds of books have been written that apply the principles of Zen Buddhism to a wide range of activities. These “Zen and the Art of . . .” or “Zen in the Art of . . .” books seemingly cover every possible human endeavor: Zen and the Art of Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer, Zen and the Art of Cooking Beer-Can Chicken, Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires, and Zen and the Art of Public School Teaching

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  Awakening

  An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought

  • Patrick S. Bresnan(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Various Buddhist disciplines, including meditation, might have a role to play, but no practice can achieve awakening. Through the guidance of an already awakened teacher, an individual can be urged to the state wherein he or she may be willing to let go of attachment-to-self and suddenly and spontaneously see the real truth of one’s nature. The real truth is, of course, the Buddha-nature, which is the common essence of all beings, hidden from us only by our ignorance and the fear born of that ignorance. The time following the death of Huineng was a time of consolidation and enrichment for Zen Buddhism. Daoist influences, always strong within the culture of China, were richly woven into the fabric of Zen during that time. Zen experienced near-explosive growth during the late Tang and Song periods. Zen was far from being the only Buddhist sect in China, though. Early Zen itself had been richly influenced by Tiantai Buddhism, the most prominent school of Buddhism in China at that time. In fact, Buddhist groups were so numerous and diverse as to be likened to the trees of a forest. Zen was only one part of the forest—an important part to be sure—but just one part nonetheless. Not all Buddhists were (or are) monks. One of the great attractions of Mahayana Buddhism is that it offers something for everyone. Laymen and women could also enjoy a rich Buddhist way of life. But those few who were willing to give up everything and dedicate their lives one hundred percent to practicing the Buddhist disciplines—in other words, the monks—would remain at the core of the movement. From the very beginning of Buddhism in China, dedicated men and women formed themselves into monastic communities. * We have encountered references to monasteries often in the story of Buddhism’s evolution in China. Bodhidharma, for example, stayed for nine years at the “monastery” of Shaolinsi

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  All About Religion in Asia

  • (Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • University Publications

    (Publisher)

  Zen Buddhist teaching is often full of paradox, in order to loosen the grip of the ego and to facilitate the penetration into the realm of the True Self or Formless Self, which is equated with the Buddha himself. According to Zen master, Kosho Uchiyama, when thoughts and fixation on the little 'I' are transcended, an Awakening to a universal, non-dual Self occurs: ' When we let go of thoughts and wake up to the reality of life that is working beyond them, we discover the Self that is living universal non-dual life (before the separation into two) that pervades all living creatures and all existence.'. Thinking and thought must therefore not be allowed to confine and bind one. Nevertheless, Zen does not neglect the scriptures. Vajrayana and Tantra Though based upon Mahayana, Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism is one of the schools that practice Vajrayāna or Diamond Vehicle (also referred to as Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tantric Buddhism, or esoteric Buddhism). It accepts all the basic concepts of Mahāyāna, but also includes a vast array of spiritual and physical techniques designed to enhance Buddhist practice. Tantric Buddhism is largely concerned with ritual and meditative practices. One component of the Vajrayāna is harnessing psycho -physical energy through ritual, visualization, physical exercises, and meditation as a means of developing the mind. Using these techniques, it is claimed that a practitioner can achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime, or even as little as three years. In the Tibetan tradition, these practices can include sexual yoga, though only for some very advanced practitioners. ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ History Philosophical roots The Buddhist Carpenter's Cave at Ellora in Maharashtra, India. Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of Ancient India during the second half of the first millennium BC.

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  Zen: The Religion of the Samurai

  A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan

  • (Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • The Floating Press

    (Publisher)

  Chapter II - History of Zen in Japan * 1. The Establishment of the Rin Zai [67] School of Zen in Japan. The introduction of Zen into the island empire is dated as early as the seventh century; [68] but it was in 1191 that it was first established by Ei-sai, a man of bold, energetic nature. He crossed the sea for China at the age of twenty-eight in 1168, after his profound study of the whole Tripitaka [69] for eight years in the Hi-yei Monastery [70] the then centre of Japanese Buddhism. After visiting holy places and great monasteries, he came home, bringing with him over thirty different books on the doctrine of the Ten-Dai Sect. [71] This, instead of quenching, added fuel to his burning desire for adventurous travel abroad. So he crossed the sea over again in 1187, this time intending to make pilgrimage to 34 India; and no one can tell what might have been the result if the Chinese authorities did not forbid him to cross the border. Thereon he turned his attention to the study of Zen, and after five years' discipline succeeded in getting sanction for his spiritual attainment by the Hu Ngan (Kio-an), a noted master of the Rin Zai school, the then abbot of the monastery of Tien Tung Shan (Ten-do-san). His active propaganda of Zen was commenced soon after his return in 1191 with splendid success at a newly built temple [72] in the province of Chiku-zen. In 1202 Yori-iye, the Shogun, or the real governor of the State at that time, erected the monastery of Ken-nin-ji in the city of Kyo-to, and invited him to proceed to the metropolis. Accordingly he settled himself down in that temple, and taught Zen with his characteristic activity. This provoked the envy and wrath of the Ten Dai and the Shin Gon [73] teachers, who presented memorials to the Imperial court to protest against his propagandism of the new faith.

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  Asian Philosophies

  • John M. Koller(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The Zen emphasis on the immediacy and completeness of present experience shows up in the underlying principles of Zen practice, in the quality of enlightened life, and in the teachings underlying Zen. Of these three basic features of Zen—practice, enlightenment, and teachings—it is practice that comes first. Enlightenment cannot be separated from practice, and teachings support and are determined by practice and enlightenment. It is fitting, therefore, that we should turn now to a description of the practice of Zen.

  Zazen

  Zazen, the chief discipline of Zen, is practiced in order to see directly into reality. In the direct insight of mindfulness practice one discovers in the purity of one’s own mind the true nature of all existence. This discipline requires assuming complete control and regulation of the hands, feet, legs, arms, trunk, and head. Next, breathing must be regulated and the activities of the mind calmed. Through a series of special forms of concentration the activities of the mind are brought together, unified, and stilled. The emotions and volitions are also brought under control and harmonized with the mind. Having attained the foregoing, it remains to cultivate what is sometimes called a profound silence in the deepest recesses of one’s being, letting go of all dualistic thought and all graspings.

  Why engage in the discipline of zazen? There are many good reasons to practice zazen. Centuries ago, Japanese warriors practiced zazen to improve their fighting skills. Today, athletes around the world practice zazen to improve their performance. Many people practice zazen as a kind of therapy to relieve personal stress. Some Japanese companies send their managers for a week of zazen practice to learn self-discipline. But the traditional reason for practice is that zazen is the practice of mindfulness that the Buddha taught as the way out of suffering. It is the practice of zazen that brings peace through the deep insight into reality that Buddhists recognize as enlightenment.

  Zen presupposes that ordinarily a person is caught up in a confusion of ideas, theories, reflections, prejudices, feelings, and emotions that prevent one from experiencing things in their wholeness, as they really are. The discursive mind divides reality into segments, which it then arranges into objects, connected to each other and to the subject through a series of relationships created by the mind. Thus, ordinarily a person does not really experience reality, but only the mind’s network of ideas and feelings about reality. These ideas and feelings always stand between the individual and reality, mediating the experience. The aim of zazen

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  Chan Insights and Oversights

  An Epistemological Critique of the Chan Tradition

  • Bernard Faure(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Princeton University Press

    (Publisher)

  He disbelieved in all outward forms and images, even in the use of sacred books, and taught the abstraction of the mind from all objects of sense and its own thoughts. In this the smaller vehicle of the south held closer to the Buddha's Law (Stewart 1926, 251). Despite this rather sympathetic presentation of Bodhidharma, Stewart finds accents that recall the style of Wieger to describe what he calls Mystic medita-tion: One has but to look at the faces of these misguided seekers of the Way, to believe that the process in many cases is too sadly true and that they become half comatose creatures devoid of the glow and splendor of the Divine image within. Others, doubtless, find, as has been demonstrated in many another monkish system, that this way of meditation, far from bring-ing the destruction of the desires, brings through inactivity but greater incitement, and makes baser thoughts more dominant (ibid., 254). Ap-parently, this characterization of Buddhist meditation had become a cliche among Christian missionaries by the end of the nineteenth century, 38 and mysticism and contemplation were seen as mere spiritual counterparts to (and alibis for) indolence and laziness (Almond 1988, 50). Scholarly efforts to trace Chan and Zen back to their Indian sources have not been abandoned. A relatively recent example is provided by Shanta Ratnayaka's Zen is the Theravada Branch of Buddhism in Mahayana Countries. 39 The author first attempts to demonstrate how Zen differs from Mahayana, and then, resorting to available historical evidence 3 8 Similar accounts in Philosinensis [!] 1834, 2 1 4 -2 2 5 ; Culbertson 1857, 79; and Davis 1857,2: 48. See Almond 1988,120. To give just one example: They have, nearly all of them [Buddhist monks], an expression approaching to idiotcy [sic], which is probably acquired by that dreamy state in which one of their most famous professors is said to have passed nine years with his eyes fixed upon a wall (Davis, ibid.).

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  Transforming Buddhism

  • (Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • LIT Verlag

    (Publisher)

  The fact is that a majority of the twenty or more largest centres for Zen, Vipassana, Tibetan Buddhism,Yoga and Advaita Vedanta in Amer- ica and Europe have faced scandals involving the teachers themselves (both Asian and Western). The scandals that erupted often centred on issues of power, sex, dishonesty and alcoholism. Basic morality was violated by people who were sup- posed to have attained high levels of spirituality, causing deplorable suffering. The bodily and mentally liberating experiences attained by meditative awareness ap- parently do not automatically carry over to the other aspects of the personality. For certain issues western psychotherapy is more successful than meditation. On the other hand, there are limitations to western therapy where the meditative discip- 184 Lars Lanke line and Buddhist insights can be very valuable. Buddhism can help one to carry on where therapy stops. After two years at art academy I realized that I did not want to spend the rest of my life as an artist and that I wanted to do something with or for people. On top of this, the teachers and I had a vehement argument about my paintings and the role Buddhism had as my main source of inspiration (they objected to this) which led to me leaving the academy. I took on a job as a cleaner in a hospital for a year, where I met Prof. Dr. Rasker. He started a conversation because I reminded him of a Tibetan monk he knew. He was surprised to hear that I actually had been to a Buddhist monastery. In the following years he became like a mentor to me with regard to my education, encouraging me to develop my intellectual abilities. Zen at war At this time I read about a disturbing aspect of the Zen tradition in Brian Vic- toria’s Zen at war (Victoria 1997). This book sheds light on the dark side of the history of Zen Buddhism and Japanese militarism from the time of the Meiji Res- toration to the Second World War and the Post-War period.

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