Zen Buddhism

Home > Philosophy and Religion > Eastern Religions > Buddhism

Zen and the body Zen (Chinese: Ch'an) Buddhism flourished in China and Japan during the formative period in Tang-era China in the seventh and eighth centuries; during the Sung era from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; and during Kamakura-era Japan in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. Zen does not appear to put an emphasis on the body, as it is generally referred to as the ‘mind’ school of traditional East Asian philosophy. In its early development in Tang China Zen was closely associated with textual studies of the works of the Yogacara Buddhist school of idealism imported from India, particularly the Lankavatara Sutra, which asserted the inseparability of mind and reality, or of subjective response and external phenomena. Later Zen thought, especially in medieval Japan, developed the doctrine of the One Mind (isshin), which encompasses all aspects of existence, including humans and nature, being and time, and truth and illusion, by drawing on Mahayana Buddhist conceptions of the universal, primordial Buddha-nature.

However, the very emphasis on the unity or nonduality of mind and reality indicates a focus on the role of the body. In that regard, Zen can be considered a ‘body’ school — or a ‘mind/body’ school — because it maintains that mind and body do not exist in opposition but are interrelated on every level. The Zen view of body is articulated in several key doctrines, including the oneness of body-mind (shinjin ichinyo), just-sitting in zazen or meditation-only (shikan taza), and the casting off of body-mind (shinjin datsuraku). These doctrines concerning the body exerted a strong influence on many other aspects of East Asian culture, including the literary, martial and fine arts.

Zen maintains the inseparability, identity, and equalization of mind and body, which invariably and inextricably interact and interpenetrate one another. To some extent, the Zen view derives from the early Buddhist notion of the unity of cognition and bodily sensations (nama-rupa), which stresses that thought formation in the mind is inseparable from the reception of corporeal sense impressions; thus the attachment and ignorance of unenlightenment (samsara) stem from the polarity of pleasant or unpleasant sensations, and the freedom and compassion of enlightenment (nirvana) are based on neutralizing the extreme response that the sense impressions ordinarily undergo. Zen also builds, however, on the East Asian, especially the Taoist, naturalist view that ultimate reality is manifested in each and every concrete phenomenon, including animate and inanimate beings. It is said that there is no difference between the mind/body of oneself and that of all other aspects of existence. The cycles and images of nature are a macrocosm incorporated in the microcosm of the individual body and reflective of either a disturbed or composed mind.

The Zen doctrine of identity is not merely, or even primarily, intended as an abstract ideological argument. Rather it is firmly rooted in a life of religious praxis in which a specific bodily posture — sitting in zazen — takes priority over and serves as the basis of philosophical reflection. The word zazen refers to ‘sitting meditation’ with an emphasis on the somatic component or on composure of the body that fosters the ability to discipline and concentrate the mind. According to the Zen approach, zazen is the fundamental, all-encompassing spiritual activity that vitiates the need for following precepts, prayers, ritual, iconography, and so forth, although many of these elements of religious life are incorporated into the monastic routine. Zazen is not merely the act of sitting but is associated with the practice of gyôjû zaga (walking, standing, sitting, lying) whereby all gestures and postures of the body throughout the 24-hour daily cycle are considered a form of meditation. Eating is an opportunity for contemplation and the hours of sleep are referred to as ‘reclining meditation’. The discipline of zazen serves as the basis for the composition of poetry (according to poet and literary critic Fujiwara Teika), the actor's performance in Noh theatre (according to playwright and theorist Zeami), the training of the samurai warrior (according to bushidô master Takuan Soho), or the ceremonial etiquette of the tea ritual (according to master Rikyu).

Zen also emphasizes the subitaneous experience of spiritual realization or enlightenment. From this standpoint, the body as well as the mind is a domain that may be inauthentic prior to spiritual pursuit, but is eminently correctible by virtue of partaking of the universal Buddha-nature, and is perfectable through meditative discipline. The sudden enlightenment experience is known as the casting off of (the very distinction) of body and mind, as expressed in the fascicle of the Shôbôgenzô on the topic of Genjôkôan (Spontaneous Realization) by Japanese Zen master Dôgen (1200–53):
To study the Buddhist Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the myriad phenomena of the universe. To be enlightened by the myriad phenomena of the universe is to cast off the body-mind of self and the body-mind of others. With this experience, the traces of enlightenment are eliminated and a life of traceless enlightenment is limitlessly renewed.

Steven Heine

Bibliography

Kim, H. J. (1975). Dôgen Kigen–mystical realist. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Yuasa, Y. (1987). The body: toward an Eastern mind–body theory. SUNY Press, Albany.

Zen Buddhism Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen ) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its central tenet the practice of meditation, rather than adherence to a particular scripture or doctrine.

The founder of Zen in China was the legendary Bodhidharma, who came to China from India in the late 5th cent. AD He taught the practice of "wall-gazing" and espoused the teachings of the Lanka-Vatara Sutra (whose chief doctrine is that of "consciousness-only" ; see Yogacara ), which he passed on to his successor Hui-k'o (487–593).

According to tradition, Hui-neng (638–713) became the sixth patriarch of Chinese Zen by superseding his rival in the intuitive grasp of the truth of enlightenment, even though he was illiterate. The Platform Sutra, attributed to Hui-neng, defines enlightenment as the direct seeing of one's "original Mind" or "original Nature," which is Buddha, and this teaching has remained characteristic of Zen. A number of teaching lineages arose after Hui-neng, all claiming descent from him, and teaching the method of "sudden enlightenment" best known in the West by the term satori. In its formative period Zen was influenced by both Taoism and elements of Prajna-Paramita Buddhism (see sunyata ).

The 8th and 9th cent. were the "golden age" of Zen, producing such great masters as Ma-tsu, Nan-chuan, Huang-po, Lin-chi, and Chao-chou. The unique Zen teaching style developed, stressing oral instruction and using nonrational forms of dialogue, from which the later koan was derived. In some cases physical violence was used to jolt the student out of dependence on ordinary forms of thought and into the enlightened consciousness. Scholarly knowledge, ritual, and performing good deeds were considered of comparatively little spiritual value.

After the great persecution of Buddhism in 845, Zen emerged as the dominant Chinese sect, due partly to its innate vitality and partly to its isolation in mountain monasteries away from centers of political power. Two main schools of Zen, the Lin-chi (Jap. Rinzai) and the Ts'ao-tung (Jap. Soto), flourished and were transmitted to Japan in the 14th cent. The Rinzai sect placed greater emphasis on the use of the koan and effort to attain sudden enlightenment, while the Soto patriarch Dōgen (1200–1253) emphasized sitting in meditation ( zazen ) without expectation and with faith in one's own intrinsic state of enlightenment or Buddha-nature.

The austere discipline and practical approach of Zen made it the Buddhism of the medieval Japanese military class. Zen monks occupied positions of political influence and became active in literary and artistic life. Zen monasteries, especially the main temples of Kyoto and Kamakura, were educational as well as religious centers.

The Zen influence on Japanese aesthetics ranges from poetry, calligraphy, and painting to tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and landscape gardening, particularly the distinctive rock-and-sand temple gardens. Japanese Zen declined in the 16th and 17th cent., but its traditional forms were revived by the great Hakuin (1686–1769), from whom all present-day Rinzai masters trace their descent. Zen thought was introduced to the West by the writings of D. T. Suzuki , and interest in the practice of Zen meditation blossomed after World War II, resulting in the establishment of Zen centers in many parts of the United States.

Bibliography: A vast popular literature has grown up around this movement; important works include E. Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery (1971) and R. M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1984). See also E. Fromm, ed., Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis (1960, repr. 1970); D. T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism (new ed., 3 vol., 1971), A Manual of Zen Buddhism (1950, repr. 1960), An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (2d ed. 1957), and Essentials of Zen Buddhism (1962, repr. 1973); H. Dumoulin, A History of Zen Buddhism (1963), and Zen Enlightenment (1979); P. Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (1967); R. F. Sasaki, tr., The Record of Lin-Chi (1975); P. Haskel, tr., Bankei Zen (1984); J. R. Mcrae, The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism (1986).

Zen Buddhism (Jap., zenna or zenno, from reading Chin., ch'an-na or ch'an, a Chin. version of dhyāna). A coalition of related ways for attaining realization, even beyond enlightenment, of the true nature underlying all appearance including one's own—and above all, that there is no duality within appearances, but only the one buddha-nature (buddhatā, busshō).

Chʾan emerged as part of the Mahāyāna development, though naturally it traces its lineage back to the Buddha Śākyamuni. Bodhidharma is recognized as the key figure in the transition to China. Conflict set in over the sixth patriarch, leading to the division into Southern and Northern schools, with the difference of emphasis summarized in the saying, ‘Suddenness of South, gradualness of North’. The Southern school developed into many independent schools, often in relation to other forms of Chinese Buddhism. Tsung-mi lists seven schools (though he includes the Northern school as one), but of these, only two developed important and continuing lines, those established by Ma-tsu Tao-i and by Shihtou Hsi-ch'ien, in the third generation after Hui-neng. Ma-tsu was dynamic and kōan-based); Shih-tou was quieter and more reflective. From these two derive the ‘Five Houses and Seven Schools’ (goke-shichishū), replicating these differences of emphasis: from Shih-tou, Tsao-tung (Jap., Sōtō), Yün-men (Ummon) and Fa-yen (Hogen); and from Ma-tsu, Kueiyang (Igyo) and Lin-chi (Rinzai); Lin-chi produced two further divisions (hence the ‘seven schools’), Yang-chi (Yōgī) and Hüang-lung (Ōryu).

As Chʾan faded in China, the different schools and emphases flowed into Korea and into Japan, as indicated in the equivalent names above, but the two which have been of the greatest importance are Rinzai and Sōtō. Foundation figures for Rinzai were Eisai and Enni Benʾen; the dominant figure is that of Hakuin who led the revival of the 18th cent. Sōtō adherents regard Dōgen as the key figure. The general truth to be realized is that there is only the buddha-nature underlying all appearance; when one realizes that this also is what one is, all differentiation ceases and one rests in that nature. To know this intellectually is very different from realizing it as experienced truth; and Zen developed many ways of seeking and seeing that unity—hence the immense cultural consequences of Zen. See also ZAZEN; ART.

Zen Japanese school of Buddhism, initially developed in China, where it is known as Ch'an. Instead of doctrines and scriptures, Zen stresses mind-to-mind instruction from master to disciple in order to achieve satori (awakening of Buddha-nature). There are two major Zen sects. Rinzai (introduced to Japan from China in 1191) emphasizes sudden enlightenment and meditation on paradoxical statements. The Soto sect (also brought from China, in 1227) advocates quiet meditation. In its secondary emphasis on mental tranquillity, fearlessness, and spontaneity, Zen had a great influence on Japanese art and architecture. Zen priests also inspired Japanese literature, the tea ceremony, and the No drama. In recent decades, a number of Zen groups emerged in Europe and the USA.

Zen. The Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word ‘Ch'an’, meaning ‘meditation’. This word stands not only for a particular religious technique, but is an umbrella term for the various schools of zen in Japan: Rinzai, Sōtō, Ōbaku, and Fuke. Besides specific reference to the above-named Japanese schools (and their American and European derivatives), the term is also used to cover the entire tradition from which Japanese Zen arose in China, and all of the other derivatives of Ch'an in other countries such as Sŏn in Korea.

Zen a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures. Zen Buddhism was introduced to Japan from China in the 12th century, and has had a profound cultural influence. The aim of Zen is to achieve sudden enlightenment (satori) through meditation in a seated posture (zazen), usually under the guidance of a teacher and often using paradoxical statements (koans) to transcend rational thought.

Zen / zen/ (also Zen Bud·dhism) • n. a Japanese school of Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition. DERIVATIVES: Zen Bud·dhist n.

Zen See BUDDHISM.

Zen •Adrienne, again, amen, Ardennes, Behn, Ben, Benn, Bren, cayenne, Cévennes, Dairen, den, en, fen, gen, glen, Glenn, Guyenne, Gwen, hen, julienne, Karen, ken, Len, Loren, men, Nene, Ogaden, paren, pen, Penn, Phnom Penh, Rennes, Shenzhen, Sun Yat-sen, ten, then, Tlemcen, when, wren, yen, zazen, Zen •Chechen • Nurofen • peahen •moorhen • Origen • allergen • admen •bagmen, ragmen, swagmen •packmen • gasmen • taxmen •jazzmen • ramen • yardmen • legmen •chessmen • repairmen • flamen •mailmen • cavemen • he-men •freedmen • milkmen • linkmen •middlemen • wingmen • hitmen •handymen • bogeymen • hymen •icemen • conmen • strongmen •lawmen, strawmen •cognomen, nomen, praenomen, snowmen •patrolmen • oilmen • Shumen •newsmen •frontmen, stuntmen •firemen, wiremen •anchormen • newspapermen •cameramen • motormen •weathermen • mermen • playpen •pigpen • fountain pen • bullpen •samisen • Leuven • Ceinwen •somewhen