Los Angeles is a big place. There's Angel City Zen Center with artist and priest Dave, who replaced Brad Warner.
There's ZCLA (Zen Center of Los Angeles), which is a little stiff and set in their ways. Now there's a third good option, the Pasadena Zen Sangha with American Sensei Ese (S.A. for Seigaku Amato).
What's so good about it? It's new, it's open, it's under a fully trained Zen priest who was certified in Japan and has been around many Zen circles.
On a recent Thursday night, practitioners gathered, took to zafus and zabutons (sitting cushions), chanted Sanskrit the Japanese way then English, and started a session of shikantaza, just sitting.
Then came time for kinhin, the relief of getting up to stretch and walk slowly and mindfully before another sitting session. Then the fireworks: question and answer with discussion.
"Those who know don't say, and those who say don't know" is a Taoist saying and sentiment. Many things can be known, and many of them can be expressed. So we hit Sensei with two barrels' worth of questions. Next time we finish off with koans of such subtlety and complexity, he stands no chance. ;,)
This is very easy to answer. In Japanese zen literally means "meditation" in the sense of "absorption" (Pali jhana, Sanskrit dhyana, Chinese chan or channa, Vietnamese thiền, Korean sŏn or seon, and Japanese zen). Absorptions are progressive states of stillness (samadhi), misleadingly translated as "concentration."
The connotation of this rendering is struggle, force, and effort, whereas "absorption" is the result of persistent balanced effort (sādhanā practice) but itself is effortless: It is not accomplished by "muscling" or "over-efforting" but rather by "letting go" and no longer "clinging" to things.
Absorption is a natural state of enhanced awareness because of the purification and intensification of consciousness, which is usually scattered, distracted, and beset by the Five Hindrances. Through persistent, steady, calm practice these obstructions are replaced by the Five Factors of Absorption (jhana'anga. "limbs of absorption"), detached tranquility, dispassionate observation, and mindful looking on or objective witnessing or simply watching, at first accompanied by a sort of "bliss" (piti, rapture, uplift, joy, enthusiasm, zeal), "happiness" (sukha), and "contentment" (santosha).
What is Zen (uppercase)?
There's really no need to overthink this (like this writer), but it may be better to demystify.
"Zen" with a capital Z is a different story, for it may refer to the entire history and set of practices in the Japanese Mahayana Chan School originating in China, having spread to Korea and other parts of Asia and now the world.
Perplexing discussions of "emptiness" (shunyata) and "suchness" (tathātā) are more easily understood in the older texts of the Theravada.
The Wheel of the Dharma (8 spokes)
Thera-vada is the "Teaching of the Elders," who are the enlightened direct disciples of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, the "Sage of the Sakas" or the Indo-Scythians of ancient Gandhara, one of the Angas.
Of course, as much as one Buddhist school might influence or explicate another, Zen (Chan) is part of the Mahayana movement, a later "reformed" rather than a back-to-basics "orthodox" movement like Theravada. Zen is so thoroughly blended and saturated with Taoism (and to a lesser extent Chinese Confucianism and Japanese Shinto) that most of what is pondered and assumed to be "Buddhist" is strictly Taoist in nature. All the fun of Zen is more related to Lao Tzu (and later Hinduism, Tantra, and Vajrayana) than the historical Buddha's Teachings. One need only listen to Alan Watts to realize that.
What is NIRVANA?
What are those "things"? They are everything other than the only compact (noncomposite) item, the sole unconditioned element, which is called nirvana (Pali nibbana).
Nirvana, as our habitual logic might compel us to conclude, is notnothingness. Rather, it is the end of:
For anyone who's convinced that the Buddha never had anything to say about nirvana, there is this lovely description describing the indescribable, almost capturing the ineffable, or seeming to put words to that which is really beyond words.
These words are said as a corrective for everyone making the massive mistake of concluding that nirvana has to mean "annihilation, nothingness, non-existence, or the void," a pernicious wrong view.
Could anyone ever draw what can't be imagined?
THE BUDDHA: “There is, O meditators, an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed. Were there not, O meditators, this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. But since, O meditators, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and unformed, there is an escape from the born, originated, created, formed.”
Anyone not yet convinced that the Deathless is not Eternal Life (but perhaps closer to the Ancient Greek term mistranslated as such, aion, as spoken of by the wise Gnostics) and the Unconditioned is just not like the conditioned (all those composite things utterly dependent on causes and conditions), the Buddha said more:
“Truly, there is a realm, where there is neither solid, nor fluid, neither heat, nor motion, neither this world, nor any other world, neither sun nor moon. This I call neither arising, nor passing away, neither standing still, nor being born, nor dying. There is neither foothold, nor development, nor any basis. This is the end of suffering" (Ud. VIII. 1 - The Immutable).
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Savatthi in Jeta's Grove at Anathapindika's monastery.
On that occasion he was instructing, rousing, inspiring, and gladdening the meditators with a Dhamma talk connected with NIRVANA, and those meditators, being receptive and attentive and gathering their whole mind, were intent on listening to teaching. Then, on realizing the significance, the Buddha delivered this inspired utterance:
What would such a timeless place be like?
"Meditators, there is that base where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no air [the Four Elements]; no base consisting of the infinity of space, no base consisting of the infinity of consciousness, no base consisting of nothingness, no base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception [the Four Immaterial Absorptions]; neither this world nor another world nor both; neither sun nor moon. Here, meditators, I declare, there is no coming, no going, no staying, no ceasing, no rising. Not fixed, not movable, it has no support. Just this is the end of suffering" (Udana 8.1).
What could this sutra mean? It is clearly stating that there is something beyond the beyond -- beyond the "universe" that is the 31 Planes of Existence, which is divided into three spheres (lokas): our sensual sphere, the heavenly fine-material sphere, and the incomprehensible immaterial sphere. They are increasingly subtle until they peter out into an even more sublime situation where there is not even that which was already incomprehensible. It does not matter that it is incomprehensible BECAUSE it is experienceable, personally verifiable, a truth attainable here and now, not in another rebirth (in heaven or otherwise), not in an afterlife, but here and now in this very life. So nirvana should be embraced as practical, excellent, and worthy of knowing-and-seeing directly, and not dismissed as theoretical or unknowable. Let's look at the original Pali canon wording:
Paṭhama-nibbāna-suttaṃ
1. Evaṃ me sutaṃ: ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṃ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. Tena kakho pana samayena bhagavā bhikkū nibbānapaṭisaṃyuttāya dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṃseti. Te ca bikkū aṭṭhi katvā [1] manasi katvāsabbaṃ cetaso [2] samannāharatvā ohitasotā dhammaṃ suṇanti.
2. Atha kho bhagavā etamattaṃ viditvā tāyaṃ velāyaṃ imaṃ udānaṃ udānesi: - "Atti bhikkave, tadāyatanaṃ, yattha neva paṭhavi, na āpo, na tejo, na vāyo, na ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ, na viññānañcāyatanaṃ, na ākiñcaññāyatanaṃ, na nevasaññānāsaññāyatanaṃ, nāyaṃ loko, na paraloko, na ubho candimasuriyā. Tatrāpāhaṃ bhikkhave, neva āgatiṃ vadāmi, na gatiṃ, na ṭhitiṃ, na cutiṃ, na upapattiṃ. Appatiṭṭhaṃ appavattaṃ anārammaṇamevetaṃ. Esevanto dukkhassā"ti.
Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly edited by Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly
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For years, Zen came to Pasadena through PasaDharma -- under the auspices of Founder Roshi Jeff Albrizze (aka Rev. Lotus Peace) and successor Meditation Guide Seven and PasaDharma's friends at:
perplexing riddles to help us overcome rigid and limiting habits of mind and get us thinking outside the box (koans),
questions and answers, and
an open group discussion.
Sensei completed his Hossenshiki ceremony in Japan, a necessary step for a Sotoshu novice to take toward becoming a full-fledged Zen Buddhist priest, as he became Zagen (pictured above), then Osho. He is also the author of a very helpful Guide to Zen:
With 4.3 out of 5 stars (38 reviews), this 2021 Simon & Schuster introduction to Zen is unlike any readers have ever seen — inspired by manga and graphic novels. It offers a comprehensive overview of Soto Zen Buddhism in a delightfully captivating way.
Complete with dynamic, detailed illustrations, American Soto Zen Priest Seigaku Amato uses a semi-narrative style to take readers on a visual tour of Buddhism and, using specifics to illuminate universals, dives deeply into the practices and forms of Soto Zen.
In honor of our teacher the Buddha Shakyamuni
Whether we are just taking our first step or have been practicing Zen for years, this creative and profound book can serve as a constant companion and guide on the journey as it explores topics such as:
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