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Big in Japan: A beginners guide to Zen
All this month, Big in Japan is bringing you a special series on Zen. From ancient scriptures and Buddhist mantras to austere minimalism and the sound of nothing, we'll do our best to help you find your own little slice of inner peace and enlightenment...Few Japanese words capture the imagination quite like Zen (?), a school of Mah?y?na Buddhism that emphasizes experiential wisdom over theoretical knowledge. Of course, while most Westerners have a vague concept of what Zen entails, few understand the subtle intricacies of this centuries-old philosophical treatise.
Indeed, Zen is much more complicated than a cup of green tea from Starbucks or a pebble rock fountain from Bed, Bath & Beyond. However, you needn't spend years and years on a remote mountaintop living off of nothing more than morning dew and tree bark to grasp the core fundamentals of Zen.
On the contrary, all you need is roughly five minutes to read today's post, which will hopefully help de-mystify some of the mysteries of Zen Buddhism.
The establishment of Zen is largely credited by to an Indian prince turned monk, namely Bodhidharma, who is reported to have spent several decades doing nothing more than living in a cave, staring at the wall and mediating from dawn to dusk.According to tradition, Bodhidharma left India in 517 AD, and traveled to China to spread Buddhism that 'did not stand upon words.' While Buddhism had already taken hold across the Middle Kingdom, Bodhidharma felt that the religion had been perverted by superstition, and was completely devoid of any kind of meaningful insight.
In the words of Bodhidharma:
"If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won't see the Buddha. As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha. Don't use a Buddha to worship a Buddha. And don't use the mind to invoke a Buddha. Buddhas don't recite sutras. Buddhas don't keep precepts. And Buddhas don't break precepts. Buddhas don't keep or break anything. Buddhas don't do good or evil. To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature."
In case Zen is starting to get a bit too cryptic for you, just simply look within. Indeed, Zen upholds the doctrine that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, and that th
is inherent wisdom is nothing other than the nature of the mind itself.In other words, the aim of Zen is to discover the Buddha-nature within through meditation and mindfulness of daily experiences. Practitioners of Zen believe that new perspectives and insights on existence will lead you down the road to enlightenment.
So, while Zen is deeply rooted in both the teachings of the Buddha and Mahāyāna philosophy, the emphasis is on daily mediation, not scriptural readings.
Truly, Nirvana may be a lot closer than you think...
Want to learn more? Sure you do!
Be sure to check out Big in Japan all this month as we delve deeper into the subtle art of Zen (禅).
** All images courtesy of the WikiCommons Media Project **
Filed under: Asia, Japan, Big in Japan
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BoH Oct 16th 2008 11:54PM
I am starting a blog carnival dedicated to all things zen and eastern philosophy.
If you would like to be part of it and submit any of your posts please go to:
Blog Carnival - zen school carnival