RELG 402 - World's Living Religions
Zen Buddhism
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Zen (known in China as Chan) is a form of Buddhism which started in China with the monk Bodhidharma, and was brought to Japan, where it developed its presnt distinctive practices. It stresses Zazen (meditation) more than other forms of Buddhism.
The Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism was brought from China by the monk Eisai in 1191. The Rinzai school used zazen (sitting meditation) and the use of koans. A koan is a short saying used to help focus the mind.
The Soto school of Zen Buddhism was brought from China by the monk Dogen in 1227. The Soto school was called Caodong in China, after its founders Caoshan and Dongshan. The Soto school also used zazen, especially shikantaza, which has the aim of clearing the mind of all thought.
The Obaku school of Zen was founded in Japan in 1654 by the monk Ingen. The Obaku school is of lesser importance than the Rinzai and Soto schools.
The Fuke school was introduced into Japan in 1254, but was abolished in 1871.
Zen Buddhism was taught by the monks Eisai and Dogen during the time of the Kamakura shogunate (1185-1333), and was favored by upper-class Japanese (alomg with Pure Land Buddhism). These two forms of Buddhism had a great impact on Japanese culture.
Eisai (1141-1215) was a Japanese monk from the earlier Tendai school of Buddhism in Japan. To further his studies, he travelled to China, where he encountered the new Zen school. He returned to Japan, bringing with him many Zen texts. He taught that one can rely upon nothing but one's own true self, and that everyone has the potential to become a Buddha, but that our Buddha-nature is hidden because of our illusions. The aim of Zen is to throw off one's illusions and see directly into the nature of one's being. So one will awaken to oneself and realize one's Buddha-nature.
Dogen (1200-1253) also went to China to study Zen, and returned to Japan to establish Soto Zen. Soto Zen stresses zazen (sitting in meditation) as the sole means of reaching enlightenment by realizing our true selves.
Zen increased its influence during the Ashikaga shogunate (1336-1573). Zen rejects all scriptural and temporal authority, and stresses moral character rather than intellectual attainments, so it was favored by the military class of the shogunate.
In the early years of Zen there were no formal schools, but teachers used various methods to illustrate the true nature of the mind (known as Buddha-nature), with the aim of helping their disciples see their true nature as so become Buddhas (enlightened ones).
However, the minds of the general populace were so complicated by the society in which they lived that they did not progress far along the path of enlightenment. So the masters of the Zen schools developed koans - these were techniques intended to awaken the student to the truth of the mind. Such techniques were the repetition of particular words or phrases, and shouting, roaring laughter, gestures, and being hit with the master's staff. Often the master would ask a question intended to shock the student into deeper thought. Students were told to nurture a gentle feeling of doubt or questioning, and to clear the mind of seeing, hearing, feeling, knowing, until it came to a place of constant rest. The use of a koan was to put just one thought into the mind, in hopes that the student could eliminate that one thought and so reach singleness of mind and the realization of the self-mind.
Examples of typical koans are questions such as "What was your original face before your mother gave birth to you?", "When you die and your corpse is cremated, and your ashes are scattered to the winds, where are you?" Koans are designed to be insoluble by intellectual reasoning, so as to short out the intellectual process and lead to a reality beyond thought. The questions were to be answered immediately, without using any reasoning process, because Zen was seen not as a philosophy but as a way of life.
Meanwhile, the Tang dynasty of China became weak, and China was invaded by the Mongols. The new master of China, Kublai Khan, founded the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), and sent messengers to Japan demanding submission and tribute. The Japanese court answered by referring to the divine origin of the Japanese Emperor, and sent the messengers away with a rejection of the demands. The Mongols replied by invading Japan in 1274, with a combined force of Mongol, Chinese, and Korean troops. This was met by a group of samurai warriors, who might have been beaten except that on the first day of the attack a sudden typhoon blew in and wrecked the Mongol fleet. Kublai Khan tried to attack again in 1281, and that invasion lasted for seven weeks before another typhoon blew in and destroyed the Mongol fleet.
As a consequence of the Mongol attacks, and the increasing piracy on the sea between Japan and the mainland, the Japanese closed themselves off from outsiders, and Zen Buddhism developed along its own lines without further influences from China or Korea.
Zazen is the practice of sitting in silent meditation. In Zen temples and monasteries there is usually a meditation hall, called as zendo where practitioners sit as a group. In some schools (for example, Rinzai) the members of the group face towards one another; in other schools (Soto) they sit facing a wall or curtain. Usually one sits on a cushion (zafu) on a mat (zabuton). One sits with a straight spine, with folded hands and legs. The eyes are lowered and half-shut, and one breathes from the belly rather than the top of the lungs (a similar technique to that of classical singers). There are various ways in which the legs may be folded - a full-lotus, a half-lotus, a Burmese (with the ankles together in front of the sitter), or kneeling on a cushion or bench.
One bows to others in the group before and after sitting. The start of a period of zazen is signalled by ringing a bell three times (shijosho), and the end is signalled by ringing a bell once or twice (hozensho). The Master of a group may use a flat wooden slat to stop students from dozing off and to keep them awake. The periods of zazen may last from half-an-hour to an hour, and are interspersed with periods of walking meditation, work around the monastery, meals, or sleep. Such sessions of extended zazen may last several days of even a week.
Walking meditation (kinhin) may also be practiced by itself.
Zen gardens are an aid to meditation which has caught on in the West. They usually feature dry rocks and gravel or small stones raked into a pattern, and are closed off from their surroundings. There is usually a seat or bench for a viewer to gaze at the garden and meditate. The pattern of rocks and gravel represents the world, with islands and seas. The gravel is raked into specific patterns daily, intended to mimic the pattern of a flowing river. A fence around the garden shuts off outer distractions.
Time Line
ca. 420 - Bodhidharma arrives in China, probably from India or central Asia.
538 or 532 (accounts vary) - Buddhism entered Japan from Korea.
1141-1215 - Zen Master Esai.
1191 - Eisai brought the Rinzai school of Zen to Japan from China.
1200-1253 - Zen Master Dogen.
1227 - Dogen brought the Soto school of Zen to Japan from China.
1499 - The Zen garden of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto was created. It is still in existence and use.
1868 - Meiji Restoration - Shinto was made the state religion, and Buddhism was out of favor.
1872 - Edict ending Buddhist precepts as state law, and allowing monks to marry and to eat meat.
Copyright © 2015 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
