Zen Buddhism
1.
Chan
in
a.
Images of Bodhidharma - sitting
meditation, brusque, Western facial features, earring
2.
Zen
in Japan - a simplification of approach, focusing on meditation experience of
Siddhartha Gautama.
3.
This-worldly attitude. Monastic
ideal: all of life in meditation.
a.
Work and Ordinary Life. Manual labor: gardening, cleaning the
monastery, cooking.
b.
Spend every moment in meditation.
Control
4.
Zazen:
sitting meditation, at the center of Zen.
Leading to greater contact with reality.
Like the Buddha.
a.
Several hours, morning and evening.
b.
Sitting in silence, back erect,
body still, concentrating on breath
c.
Quieting the mind and focusing it
in the moment
d.
Directness and Spontaneity: one
comes to experience things directly, in a series of "nows," flowing
together, each particular; one's true nature revealed in abiding awareness --
one’s Buddha Nature -- with long practice.
e.
Normal ways of understanding the
world are misleading: special techniques to break these.
5.
Koan:
riddles, mind-problems. Technique for
attaining awareness. Given by Zen
Master, the monk’s understanding is tested.
a.
Questions that do not allow easy,
logical response
b.
Proper answers may seem
nonsensical, sometimes non-verbal -- a sound, taking off shoes, a facial
expression
1.
Why is a mouse when it spins? What was the shape of your original face
before you were born? What is the sound
of one hand clapping?
c.
Wrestled with, unlock one's
thinking from mistaken perceptions, open up into immediate experience.
6.
Satori:
realization in experience
a.
Begins with awareness of the
reality that there is no separation between oneself and the rest of the
universe. Notions that suggest a
separation -- me, you, yours, mine, this and that --
are artificial.
b.
Enlightenment is accompanied by
less anxiety over life goals, death.
Awareness of the moment
7.
Arts: art and religion fused.
a.
Martial arts: swordsmanship,
archery -- hitting the target without aiming.
b.
Flower arrangements, calligraphy
and painting, gardening (racked gardens of rock )
c.
Tea ceremony: tea pavilion (small
hut), friends gathered and served green tea and sweets. Ritualized process,
limited conversation, create atmosphere of harmony, beauty, tranquility.