Zen

Bodhidharma, woodblock print by Yoshitoshi, 1887.

Zen is the Japanese name of a well known branch of Mahayana Buddhist schools, practiced originally in China as Ch'an and subsequently in Korea , Japan , and Vietnam . Zen emphasizes the role of sitting meditation (zazen) in pursuing enlightenment. Zen can be considered a religion, a philosophy, or simply a practice depending on one's perspective. It has also been described as a way of life, work, and an art form.

Zen is the common name for this branch of Buddhism in Japanese as well as in English. However, in the last half of the 20th century, Zen has become an international phenomenon, with centers in many countries around the world.

Spread of Zen

Traditionally, Zen traces its roots back to Indian Buddhism and, while not an independent school of Buddhism there, takes its name from the Sanskrit term for meditation, "dhyana" This word was transliterated into Chinese as Chán ( simplified ); "Chán" was later borrowed into Korean as Seon , Vietnamese as Thi?n and into Japanese as "Zen." (Note that Chan, Zen, Seon and Thien are just different pronounciations of the same Chinese character. Their teachings may vary in methods, but the principles claim the same origin.)

According to traditional accounts, Zen was founded in China by an Indian Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma ( Daruma in Japanese). He was the 28th in the line of transmission from the Buddha's disciple Kasyapa. According to the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp , circa 520 CE he traveled by sea to the southern Chinese kingdom of Liang where, in a famous exchange with the Emperor Wu, he declared that good deeds done with selfish intention were useless (conferred no merit) for gaining enlightenment. He then went to a monastery near Luoyang in eastern China and, according to legend, spent nine years meditating before a cliff wall before accepting any disciples. He later passed away at Mountain Sung Shaolin TempleDeng Feng County , Honan Province , China (Mountain Sung, the highest and central peak of the Five Sacred Mountains , situated in Honan Province ).

As a legendary culture hero Bodhidharma has also been linked to the Shaolin Temple and the subsequent spread of East Asian martial arts in the oral traditions of schools like Kung Fu and T'ai Chi Ch'uan, as well as in much popular wuxia fiction.

Later, Korean monks studying in China learned what was by then called Ch'an, and which had by then been profoundly influenced by Chinese Taoism and to a lesser degree Confucianism. After the tradition was expanded to Korea , it came to be called Seon there (sometimes misspelled as Soen in the West). Korean monks then brought it to Japan around the seventh century, where it came to be called Zen.

It is important to note, however, that Chan, Seon and Zen continued to develop separately in their home countries, and all maintain separate identities to this day. Although lineage lines in China , Korea , Japan and elsewhere appear to show direct descent from Bodhidharma, changes in belief and practice have inevitably appeared with the profusion of Chan/Seon/Zen.

The Japanese Rinzai Zen philosopher D.T. Suzuki maintained that a Zen satori (awakening) was the goal of the training, but that which distinguished the tradition as it developed in China , Korea , and Japan was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. In India , the tradition of the mendicant (holy beggar, or bhikku in Pali) prevailed, but in China social circumstances led to the development of a temple and training-center system in which the abbot and the monks all performed mundane tasks. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration, and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Zen had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life. next PAGE 1 2 3 4

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