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'When the true mind of reality manifests, the clouds of delusion dissipate and the moon of the mind shines bright.'
-Zen master Keizan, Zazen Yojinki. |
What is Zen?
Zen is a Buddhist tradition which strongly emphasises the role of meditation practice.
According to the legend of the founding of Zen, the tradition began when the Indian teacher Bodhidharma came to China and found that the Buddhism that had so far been established in the country was dominated by scholastic study and debate, and lacked a strong foundation of practice. When the Chinese emperor asked Bodhidharma how much merit he had made by building many Buddhist temples, Bodhidharma replied 'None whatsoever!' He then retreated to a cave near the famous Shaolin temple, and reputedly sat facing a wall in meditation for the next nine years.
The essence of Bodhidharma's teaching is simple, captured in this verse which is attributed to him:
A special transmission outside the scriptures
Not founded upon words and letters
A direct pointing to one's own mind
Seeing true nature, becoming Buddha
Kensho: Seeing one's true nature
Who are you, really? Are you your physical body? How can you be, when it is changing all the time, growing older, gradually moving toward death? Are you your emotions, your preferences, your ideas about the world? Your memories, experiences, deep beliefs? Is there anything at all within you which is fixed, unchanging, which can really be called your fundamental essence? And if not, what is your true nature? Who are you, really?
In Zen practice, we explore these questions, and more, through the active investigations of koan meditation, the quiet reflection of Silent Illumination, and the dynamic, embodied energy practices of the Rinzai lineage of Zen.
Ordinarily, we see the world through a certain conventional conceptual frame - we live in a world of duality, a world of separate things in perpetual conflict with one another, a world of scarcity, alienation and suffering. But through Zen practice we can come to see things from an entirely different perspective - one of non-separateness, of harmony, contentment and ease. And ultimately this can become our lived experience of the world, even as we remain engaged with our daily lives and the people around us - no need to retreat to a mountain cave or a monastery. We come to live in our true nature, what Zen master Bankei called our Unborn Buddha-Mind.
At first, our task is to catch a glimpse of who we really are - to see our true nature, our Buddha Nature. This is most rapidly achieved through koan practice, and in particular through the 64-hour Breakthrough to Zen retreats run by my teacher Daizan Roshi. Beyond that initial glimpse, however, our on-going task is to integrate what we have seen into our lives, and come to embody what we have discovered. Ultimately, we must let go even of our own awakening, and become completely one with the Great Way of Zen, expressing our truest nature unselfconsciously in our every thought, word and deed.
Another approach is that offered by Zen master Bankei, also a Rinzai teacher, but one who proposed a gentler, awareness-based form of practice that he called Resting in the Unborn. I have a free book by the same name which delves into Bankei's approach to practice in detail, since it's my own preferred approach (although I've also found great value in koan practice and the Zenways retreats mentioned above).
Zen is a Buddhist tradition which strongly emphasises the role of meditation practice.
According to the legend of the founding of Zen, the tradition began when the Indian teacher Bodhidharma came to China and found that the Buddhism that had so far been established in the country was dominated by scholastic study and debate, and lacked a strong foundation of practice. When the Chinese emperor asked Bodhidharma how much merit he had made by building many Buddhist temples, Bodhidharma replied 'None whatsoever!' He then retreated to a cave near the famous Shaolin temple, and reputedly sat facing a wall in meditation for the next nine years.
The essence of Bodhidharma's teaching is simple, captured in this verse which is attributed to him:
A special transmission outside the scriptures
Not founded upon words and letters
A direct pointing to one's own mind
Seeing true nature, becoming Buddha
Kensho: Seeing one's true nature
Who are you, really? Are you your physical body? How can you be, when it is changing all the time, growing older, gradually moving toward death? Are you your emotions, your preferences, your ideas about the world? Your memories, experiences, deep beliefs? Is there anything at all within you which is fixed, unchanging, which can really be called your fundamental essence? And if not, what is your true nature? Who are you, really?
In Zen practice, we explore these questions, and more, through the active investigations of koan meditation, the quiet reflection of Silent Illumination, and the dynamic, embodied energy practices of the Rinzai lineage of Zen.
Ordinarily, we see the world through a certain conventional conceptual frame - we live in a world of duality, a world of separate things in perpetual conflict with one another, a world of scarcity, alienation and suffering. But through Zen practice we can come to see things from an entirely different perspective - one of non-separateness, of harmony, contentment and ease. And ultimately this can become our lived experience of the world, even as we remain engaged with our daily lives and the people around us - no need to retreat to a mountain cave or a monastery. We come to live in our true nature, what Zen master Bankei called our Unborn Buddha-Mind.
At first, our task is to catch a glimpse of who we really are - to see our true nature, our Buddha Nature. This is most rapidly achieved through koan practice, and in particular through the 64-hour Breakthrough to Zen retreats run by my teacher Daizan Roshi. Beyond that initial glimpse, however, our on-going task is to integrate what we have seen into our lives, and come to embody what we have discovered. Ultimately, we must let go even of our own awakening, and become completely one with the Great Way of Zen, expressing our truest nature unselfconsciously in our every thought, word and deed.
Another approach is that offered by Zen master Bankei, also a Rinzai teacher, but one who proposed a gentler, awareness-based form of practice that he called Resting in the Unborn. I have a free book by the same name which delves into Bankei's approach to practice in detail, since it's my own preferred approach (although I've also found great value in koan practice and the Zenways retreats mentioned above).