Zen

During Buddhism's 2,500 year history, several thriving sects have emerged, each with a unique take on the teachings of Buddha and daily practice. Zen Buddhism-that grew out of Mahayana and has gained increasing popularity in the West. Zen Buddhism treats zazen meditation and daily practice as essential for attaining Enlightenment and deemphasizes the rigorous study of scripture. On February 24th, I had a chance to go to the Clouds In Water Zen Center on 445, 445 Farrington St, St Paul, MN 55103. I got there around 1:25 pm as my classmates gathering around the greeter. Besides the building is not what I expected; I impressed with the teaching of living in the present, and properly sit meditation. Clouds In Water Zen Center building structure…

THE ART OF NOTHINGNESS The teachings of Zen as many would view it as the representation of a meditating Buddha or a Zen rock garden, but to reach Zen mind does one solely must do it through meditation? In Zen in the Art of Archery written by Eugen Herrigel, one can graduate and transcend into nirvana through any art. Finding Zen through mindless activity with the right focus allows one to be part of that Buddha Nature. When one clears the mind, one can achieve that perfect shot, dance…

But when it came to Japan during the 12th and 13th centuries, it was known as Zen. The intent of Zen Buddhism was to reach enlightenment through meditation. It was believed that through meditation of this nature, an individual could reach an enlightened state of being in one lifetime. There were two main schools of Zen Buddhism. The first was Rinzai, which was founded by Eisai, who claimed that it “outwardly favored discipline over doctrine, inwardly it brought the highest inner wisdom” (Wangu…

Observational Experience: Inside a Zen Buddhism Temple For my observational experience I went to the Great Heartland Buddhist Temple of Toledo in Holland, Ohio. This experience was very eye opening, but I felt so at peace afterwards. I learned that Buddhism itself is more broad than what I could have imagined after learning about it in class. There are many different forms of Buddhism, but this particular temple focused on Zen. Zen Buddhism focuses on the meditation aspects. They strive…

In Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, I encountered some frustration and confusion while attempting to decipher what Suzuki was saying to me. In part two, the section titled “Study Yourself”, I found to be one of the most confusing parts of the book. In this section Suzuki explains that while trying to study yourself, we need a teacher to show us how to study ourselves. However, he then says that you can not take what you have learned from a teacher and use this to study yourself. I…

Zen Buddhism began in 6th century China where it is known as Ch’an. Zen was brought by a South Indian monk who arrived in China around 520 CE. The philosophical development of Zen is found in the Lankavatara Sutra which was composed in India in the fourth century. It is a sutra of Mahayana Buddhism, the sutra is a narration of the Buddha and the bodhisattva known as Mahamati. Through Zen’s evolution in China it was impacted by Taoist beliefs which are shown in Ch’an’s significant importance…

the best one with confidence and courage. For example “Gumption” is having the confidence and courage to complete or achieve something and “Quality” is how one has obtained or achieved their goal and what the outcome of the end product looks like. In the book “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” written by Robert M. Pirsig expresses what the true meaning of quality and gumption really is and what it is like to experience a moment of your life where nothing else matters, Also known as a…

number of students to China. They originally wanted to learn more about the Chinese culture, specifically calligraphy and religion. These newfound Zen Buddhist followers then came home and introduced the art to Japan during the 14th century. This was just the beginning of the Zen Buddhism movement, where sumi-e painting would play a large role in. The actions and mindset found necessary to practice sumi-e are extremely philosophical. Not all works of sumi-e can be classified as Zen Buddhist art.…

Park’s essay “Zen and Zen Philosophy of Language: A Soteriological Approach,” Park offers an alternative understanding of the role of language in Zen philosophy by examining it not in regard to the state of enlightenment but rather in the process of reaching this state. With this perspective, he disputes the claim that a linguistic and non-linguistic approach to enlightenment must be mutually exclusive and instead posits that they can both be understood as complementary aspects of the path to…

Perhaps, some of the most Enlightened people would be widely considered to be unenlightened by everyone, excluding themselves. The topic of this paper is to raise the question if it would be more in line with Zen for humans to experience no emotion at all. Bringing out excerpts from the Zen readings, this essay will compare the two possibilities of it being ideal for humans to possess no emotions, or to possess low intensity emotion according to Chinese Buddhist philosophy. Zen might think it…