Zen is probably the most popular kind of Buddhism, but it is a school that few understand. Instead, most mistake it to be emptiness, iconoclasm, or free-form "whatever."
Zen is much deeper. It is an ancient tradition that does not rely on paradoxes, koans, or clapping. There is a point and a style of practice to get cool calm and collected.
It's as easy and impossible as Alan Watts and D.T. Suzuki made it out to be when describing it to Western practitioners. Followed by socializing and vegan snacks and drinks. RSVP FREE:
Buddhist scholar Rob Buswell (UCLA) spent five years as a Zen monk then as a Theravada Buddhist monk. He draws on personal experience in this insightful account of day-to-day Zen practice. He reveals a religious tradition that differs radically from the stereotype prevalent in the West. His portrayal of the life of modern Zen monks provides a provocative look at Zen from the inside. More
The “unconstrained conduct” of Zen is more literary trope than pervasive practice.
After the ecstasy, the laundry and sweeping.
The literature of Zen Buddhism, particularly as we know it in the West, often portrays its adepts as iconoclasts who reject conventional norms and restrictions of Buddhist tradition.
Zen masters are said to have burned statues of the Buddha for firewood and scorned the written sutras.
When Chinese Master Yunmen Wenyan was asked, “What is the Buddha?” he replied, “A dried turd.”
When Linji Yixuan, the eponymous founder of the influential Rinzai school (Linji zong) of Chinese Zen (Chan), was asked what monks should do if they encountered the Buddha, he shouted, “If you meet the Buddha [on the road], kill him!”
In 1964 Ch’unsong -- a modern Korean Zen (Son) monk renowned for his iconoclasm -- was invited to the presidential palace to give a Dharma talk at the birthday celebration of Yuk Yong-su, a devout Buddhist laywoman, the wife of Korean President Park Chunghee.
Zen monk Ch’unsong ascended the dais and sat silently for over a half hour, leaning on his staff. When it was obvious that his audience had lost all patience, he held his staff over his head and shouted:
“This is the day the mother of the First Lady split open her vagina!”
He then descended from the dais and walked off without saying another word. Needless to say, he was not invited back.
A Zen master’s awakening [kensho, satori] is said to transcend all the conventional dichotomies of right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral.
Sex with prostitutes?
This goes against Gautama's teaching.
This experience frees him to engage in what the tradition calls “unconstrained conduct” (wu’ai xing), which allows its enlightened monks to do iconoclastic things like frequent bar and brothels (whore houses).
[NOTE: "Enlightenment" in Zen (satori or kensho) seems to differ from the Theravada school's understanding, where the historical Buddha called it bodhi, "awakening," complete liberation, the realization of nirvana, the end of all rebirth and suffering.]
The Hongzhou school, on what was then the wild Sichuan frontier of China, was especially known for such iconoclasm; many of the portrayals of Zen masters striking, shouting at, and kicking their students are associated with Hongzhou masters.
Derived from Mazu Daoyi and his successors, the Hongzhou school claimed that all actions were equal manifestations of the enlightened mind and that conventional ethical observances placed artificial restraints on the mind’s free functioning.
Such “unconstrained conduct,” however, was subject to withering criticism by certain other factions within the Zen tradition itself.
Guifeng Zongmi, a successor in the Heze lineage that traces itself back to the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, blasted the Hongzhou school for fostering what he considered to be dangerous antinomian tendencies.
Prof. Buswell on Zen enlightenment
The notion that the vast majority of Zen monks are engaged in unconstrained conduct is not true and belied by the fact that Zen monasteries adhere to strict sets of regulations that the tradition itself developed.
These codes are the so-called “rules of purity,” or qinggui, a genre of Zen literature that was intended to provide an indigenous disciplinary code distinct from the imported monastic discipline of India.
Contemporary practice of Zen Buddhism
The source of many of the qinggui’s rules and regulations, however, is in fact the normative Indian Vinaya [original Buddhist monastic code] tradition.
Quinggui codes cover everything from the monthly and annual celebrations and festivals, down to the minutiae of daily life in the monastery and the specific duties of the monastery’s administrative monks.
In modern Korean monasteries, the daily life of Zen monks is so rigorously structured around the 10 to 14 hours typically allocated to formal sitting meditation (zazen) that they are permitted no time even to read or chant, let alone to hit the local bar.
The “unconstrained conduct” of Zen is a literary trope, not a pervasive practice. It is the exception, not the rule. More
With a 2,500-year Buddhist history and over 10 million Buddhists at present and a hundred pagodas (ornate reliquaries), Vietnam can become an attractive destination for Zen tourism.
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna ("Larger Vehicle") Buddhism that is most famous in Japan. Zen emphasizes experiential wisdom in the attainment of enlightenment. As such, at least in legend (legend contradicted by the Western scholar and former Zen Buddhist monk Prof. Robert Buswell, UCLA) Zen de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge in favor of direct self-realization.
Sitting Zen in Vietnam in front of image of Bodhidharma (phathoc.net)
Realization (satori, minor awakening or "epiphany") comes through meditation and Dharma practice. The teachings of Zen include various sources of Mahāyāna thought, including the "Perfection of Wisdom" (Prajñāpāramitā) literature, particularly the Heart Sutra, and the teachings of the Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha schools.
The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century ACE. From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam very early, around 580. It developed strongly under the Ly -- Tran and Trinh -- Nguyen (pronounced "Win") dynasties.
As a result, Vietnamese culture and lifestyle has been influenced by Zen philosophy, particularly its most famous advocate, Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh.
A senior Vietnamese Buddhist monk, previously detained in an alleged plot to finance disorder against the communist regime, is in custody again (Rev. Danny Fisher).
Zen tourism has been developed in Vietnam with tours to pagodas (ornate reliquaries) and pagoda festivals, which enable tourists to visit Buddhist architectural works, observe and participate in the activities of Buddhist priests, monks, and nuns, as well as enjoy and admire characteristics of Zen arts like flower arranging, the tea ceremony, bonsai tree cultivation, and vegetarian food.
There are about 120 pagodas available for Zen tourism in Vietnam, including popular names such as Dau in northern Bac Ninh Province; Ba Da and Tran Quoc in Hanoi; Truc Lam Tay Thien in northern Vinh Phuc Province; Tu Dam, Thien Mu, and Tu Hieu in central Thua Thien-Hue Province; and Tu An, Giac Lam, and Giac Vien in Ho Chi Minh City. Source
Patrick Reynolds has a book for desk workers (Knowledge Workers Survival Guide). Here he introduces the basics of Zen-style sitting meditation -- called zazen -- and what to expect from daily practice. Patrick has more about Zen on his weekly podcast: ZenIsStupid.com. If visiting Yokohama, Japan, join Patrick Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm for zazen at Yoga Garden. (Music from The American Analog Set, Ulrich Schnauss, The Dining Rooms, and George Handel).
Wisdom Quarterly: Za is Japanese and means "seat" as in zafu and zabuton. Zen simply means "meditation," from the Sanskrit word dhyana (jhana in Pali, as a verb jhaneti, "practicing for jhana"). Meditating (jhaneti) means settling back into an original serene state.
Did the Buddha talk about Zen? Wisdom Quarterly The historical Buddha frequently talked about jhana. He often commended meditating (jhaneti), which is the intensive development of wholesome qualities.
But what we call "Zen" -- a mix of Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism (going with the "flow" or the path of least resistance) -- is modern.
Zen today is wonderful for not attempting to interpret experience or the Buddha's teachings. But it was originally very academic. Its monks in Japan were very well versed in sutras, philosophy, and other elements of the Dharma. The West assumes that Zen is as iconoclastic as we pride ourselves for being.
Myth-Busting: Why Zen is not "Zen" UCLA professor of Buddhism Robert Buswell, who was a Zen then a Theravada monk before disrobing and going into academia, taught Wisdom Quarterly a whole different story about Zen. It's not what we Americans usually imagine. He wrote of his adventures in the Zendo:
The Zen Monastic Experience [This book is] a myth-shattering foray behind the walls of a Korean Zen Buddhist monastery. The common Western image of Zen as a religion that features unpredictable, iconoclastic teachers "bullying their students into enlightenment'' is, says Buswell (UCLA), grossly inaccurate.
And he should know, having spent five years as a monk at Songgwang-sa, one of the largest Zen monasteries in Korea. Here, deftly weaving scholarship and memoir, Buswell depicts what life in a Zen monastery is really like....
Buswell explodes Zen's reputation as bibliophobic, artsy-craftsy, and reliant on physical labor. Ironically, the narrative takes flight with the author's description of the aspect of Korean Zen that matches its reputation -- the arduous life of the monastery's "elite vanguard,'' the meditators.
Although meditators comprise only a small percentage of the monks (with the rest devoted to support activities or ritual), their efforts astonish: sitting in meditation for 14 hours a day; for one week a year, sitting seven days straight without sleep; engaging in such severe practices as extensive fasting, never lying down to sleep....
But for most monks, Buswell notes, it's "a disciplined life, not the transformative experience of enlightenment,'' that's crucial. Less the sound of one hand clapping than of hands, mind, and heart working together to lead a sanctified life -- and, as such, a sound corrective to Western misunderstandings about Zen.
Buswell: Building a Base for Buddhism Buddhism may champion the concept of detachment, but UCLA Buddhist scholar Robert Buswell admits his ego got bruised when he returned this summer to the Buddhist monastery where he practiced for five years in his early 20s. A friend who had remained at the monastery looked...
"Leading Buddhist Studies Program Eyes Tibetan Gap" Angilee Shah (UCLA International Institute)
UCLA has an impressive collection of Tibetan-language texts, says Robert Buswell.
Center events on Tibetan Buddhism are part of an effort to create a UCLA chair in the field. On May 23, 2007 a high-ranking Buddhist abbot and a University of Michigan professor read the poetry of a modern Tibetan monk in the original language and in English translation.
Berkeley, CA (USA) -- A quick search of UCLA's library collections returns 472 entries of Tibetan language texts. The problem is that no one at UCLA is devoted to studying them.
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"The only area that we really don't cover right now is Tibet," says UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies Director Robert Buswell, a scholar of the religious tradition in Korea.
Home to four professors and looking to hire more, UCLA has the largest faculty for Buddhist studies in the Western world and the largest U.S. enrollments in courses on Buddhism. Two UCLA art historians specialize in Buddhism, and faculty members from several other departments have strong interests. More>>
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Zen is probably the most popular kind of Buddhism, but it is a school that few understand. Instead, most mistake it to be emptiness, iconoclasm, or free-form "whatever."
Zen is much deeper. It is an ancient tradition that does not rely on paradoxes, koans, or clapping. There is a point and a style of practice to get cool calm and collected.
Buddhist scholar Rob Buswell (UCLA) spent five years as a Zen monk then as a Theravada Buddhist monk. He draws on personal experience in this insightful account of day-to-day Zen practice. He reveals a religious tradition that differs radically from the stereotype prevalent in the West. His portrayal of the life of modern Zen monks provides a provocative look at Zen from the inside. More
