Zen

people wanted to practice, Japanese blended Buddhist rituals with Shinto customs to form a new religion. But the tweaking did not stop there. People changed types of Buddhism to fit their needs. These types were called Tendai, Shingon, Amida, and Zen. Zen was one of the most practiced forms. Samurai practiced it because it gave them inner peace and helped them in battle. Artists also practiced it because they liked the simplicity and boldness of the…

On October 24th I attended the Autumn Festival at The New York Buddhist Church with my fellow classmate, Bianca Rodriguez, located at 331-332 Riverside Drive, New York, New York. The New York Buddhist Church practices the Pure Land and Zen perspective of Buddhism. This church is also supported by specifically the Japanese culture, opposed to the many other Asian cultures who share this perspective. We were at the festival from beginning to end, 12pm-4pm. The outside of the church was very simple…

Japanese Zen is based on the two most prominent schools of Chan in China, Rinzai established by Eisai and Soto by Dogen, who traveled to China with Eisais successor Myozen returning to Japan in 1227 with his certification in realization from his Soto master. The practice of sitting meditation (zazen) is popular n Soto Zen but also pronounced in Rinzai. Enlightenment is not something one realizes, but rather something…

on the koan, he will forget both the passing of time and the outside world. This will allow the practitioner to unexpectedly “wake up” form their former self. This is the true enlightenment. Practitioners often look towards Zen masters to see enlightenment as attainable. Zen master Reiun reached enlightenment while looking at peach blossoms; Reiun let go of the disillusionment of life and through this…

important thing to the Samurai was religion. Religion played a part of a Samurai’s life because the Samurai believed in inner peace and self control. The most common religion for Samurai warriors at the time was Zen. Zen, like the Samurai, believed in meditating and self control. Because the Zen and Samurai beliefs were so similar, they went well together, making the religion appealing to many Samurai warriors. Religion taught the Samurai cleanliness on not only the outside, but on the inside…

With no doubts, The Tale of the Heike is one of the most influential, well-known and renowned classics in Japanese literature. Initially, the authorship of this work is unknown but it is known that The Tale of the Heike was compiled by blind monks in the mid 13th century. While reading, one may face numerous instances of dharma, the Buddhist law that claims that evil doings in the present will ultimately ruin the future of one's generations. Also, The Tale of the Heike incorporates the Buddhist…

Swords clash and bang. The sound of war rings throughout the battlefield. Samurai and knights make this booming noise, fighting for their daimyos and lords. Thousands of miles apart, similar feudalistic societies arose, developing their own elite warrior classes. In Japan, samurai protected the peasants, their lords, and especially the Emperor. They went to war to defend the people selflessly. Knights were the Medieval warriors of Europe. These soldiers went to war on horseback and defended…

Shinto The Shinto religion is thought to have started at 500BCE or even earlier. The word ‘Shinto’ means, ‘The way of the Gods’. During the 8th century CE, both Shinto and Buddhism became the official religions of Japan. The ‘Buddha’ for the Shinto religion was the ‘Kami’. Kami were ‘Divine spirits that dwell within nature’. People believed that Kami could be found in many different forms, anything unusual or beautiful in nature or in exceptional people. They believed Izanagi-no-mikoto and…

When we started this project, we were asked to think about something that has been on our minds recently. One of the things I wrote down was “It’s a struggle to stay zen.” Out of everything I wrote, I felt that this was what most totally encompassed everything I was dealing with. I realized that the way I understood zen, yoga and meditation was a lot different than how most people around here understand it. Being raised by a Buddhist mother, these ideologies are, whether consciously or not,…

Kamakura Culture The culture of the Kamakura period was based on the tradition of the national culture of the Heian era and was a mixture of the values of the emerging warriors and peasants. The Kamakura period overwhelmed political and military aspects; however, in terms of culture, it lagged behind the aristocratic culture of long - established tradition. Later, the new culture of unauthorized warrior readers gradually began to overtake the traditional culture. The characteristic of this age…