Zen (Japanese: Zen, 禅; Chinese: Chán;, 禪; Korean: Seon, 선; Sanskrit: dhyā
na, ध्यान) is a branch of MahāyānaBuddhism, practiced especially in China, Japan, and Korea, that incorporates Taoist thought. It stresses the role of meditation in pursuing enlightenment. Because Zen is the name for this branch in Japanese as well as in English, this article will concern itself with both traditional Zen in Japan and with Zen as an international phenomenon. For information specific to Asian countries other than Japan, please follow the appropriate links below.
According to these traditional accounts, an Indian monk named Bodhidharma brought Zen Buddhism to China in the fifth century. Later, Korean monks studying in China learned of Zen and spread it as far as to Japan around the seventh century.
Zen teachings often criticize textual study and worldlyaction, concentrating primarily on meditation in pursuit of an unmediated awareness of the processes of the world and the mind. However, these teachings are themselves also deeply rooted in the Buddhist textual tradition, drawing primarily on Mahāyāna sutras composed in India and China, and on the recorded teachings of masters in the various Zen traditions themselves.
Zen meditation is called zazen. Zazen translates approximately to "sitting meditation", although it can be applied to practice in any posture. During zazen, practitioners usually assume a lotus, half-lotus, burmese, or seiza position. Rinzai practitioners typically sit facing the center of the room, while Soto practitioners sit facing a wall. Awareness is directed towards complete cognizance of one's posture and breathing. In this way, practitioners seek to transcend thought and be directly aware of the universe.
In Soto, shikantaza meditation, sometimes translated as "just-sitting," i.e., a meditation with no objects, anchors, "seeds," or content, is the primary form of practice. Considerable textual, philosophical, and phenomenological justification of this practice can be found in Dogen's Shobogenzo.
The Zen schools (especially but not exclusively Rinzai) also employ koans (Japanese; Chinese: gongan; Korean: gong'an). The term is borrowed from that for a signpost used in ancient China, on which new laws were announced to the public. In much the same sense, a koan embodies a realized principle, or law of reality. Koans, which are often paradoxical are not meant to be apprehended rationally but rather to be realized in experience.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (ISBN 0834800799), Shunryu Suzuki. A good introduction to the practice of Zen.
Zen Keys (ISBN 0385475616) and Heart of Buddha's Teaching (ISBN 0767903692), by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment, Philip Kapleau (ISBN 0385260938). A comprehensive guide to the practice of Zen
Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery (ISBN 0312207743), Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community (ISBN 0312209452) and After Zen: Experiences of a Zen Student Out On His Ear (ISBN 0312272618), the Zen trilogy by Janwillem van de Wetering
