Briefly about the philosophy of Zen Buddhism

What it is

Zen is one of the directions of Mahayana Buddhist thought, which is firmly rooted in East Asia: in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese spaces and especially in Japan. It is curious that the same philosophy is called differently in different languages:

in Japanese - Zen;
in Chinese - chan;
in Vietnamese - Thien;
in Korean - dream.

The rest of the world is familiar with the Japanese name – “Zen”. But whatever you call it, it has Sanskrit roots and comes from the word “dhyana”. “Dhyana” is translated as “contemplation”, “highest concentration”, “profound thought”, which perfectly reveals the essence of the teaching.

The Zen teaching sometimes goes by other names:

“Buddha's Heart” is inextricably linked with the idea of mahakaruna, which proclaims an all-encompassing feeling of love and empathy;
School of Buddha Consciousness.

Zen philosophy was originally a school of contemplation through which one can achieve enlightenment, the main goal of the Buddhist path. Zen is a search for the inner prophet who lives in each of us.

Zen Buddhism - books

Each religious school and method of scientific knowledge has its own literary works that allow even inexperienced beginners to understand its concept. Zen philosophy also involves familiarity with a whole library of books, which includes:

A group of authors with comments by Alexei Maslov “Classical Zen Texts”
. One book includes the works of the first teachers of Chan Buddhism, which touch on all spheres of human life - both in ancient times and in modern life in Asian countries.
Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"
. It reveals the content of conversations between an experienced mentor and his American students. Shunryu managed not only to understand what Zen is, but also to learn to focus on the main goals.
Vaughn Kew-Kit, Encyclopedia of Zen
. The book is devoted to the difficulties of understanding existence, the simplest understanding of its laws and concepts. The path of Zen, according to the author, ends with the mystical experience of experiencing the Absolute - a flash of comprehension outside of time and space.
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Keys of Zen
. The work of the Japanese author contains exclusively commentaries on the sutras and koans of southern Buddhism.
Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings
. Warrior Musashi 300 years ago wrote a monograph on managing the state, people and one’s own emotions. The medieval fencer considered himself a Zen teacher, so the book is written in the format of a conversation with student readers.

A little history

The seeds of Zen teaching were sown by Buddha Shakyamuni himself, when he transmitted the awakened state to his supporter Mahakashyap. The transmission of revelation was done without any words or sounds, with the help of a lotus flower, connecting one heart and its impulses with another heart.

Later, philosophy “migrated” from India to China thanks to the great Bodhidharma, an important figure in the history of Buddhism, a symbol of Buddhist thought and awakening. Already by the 5th-6th centuries, Zen philosophy covered the entire Celestial Empire, largely incorporating the ideas of Taoism, which had previously dominated.

Gradually, the philosophy spread, reaching the borders of other countries of the Far East. In China, Vietnam, Korea, it found recognition and continued to develop, and in each country it followed its own path.

Imprints of the Zen Buddhist way of thinking can be found in art, music, literature and even medicine.

But Zen especially influenced Japanese culture. For almost a millennium, Zen has been associated with the Land of the Rising Sun - ever since it came here at the end of the 12th century. Every fifth Buddhist temple in Japan belongs to the Zen tradition.

Here it is presented in different directions:

Obaku;
Rinzai;
Soto;
Fouquet.

Already from the mid-19th century, when hitherto “closed” Japan began to gradually open its doors to other cultures, Zen became known to Westerners. He, incredibly flexible and adaptive, was liked by Westerners who so needed peace, spiritual enrichment and knowledge of the inner world.

By the mid-20th century, it gained great popularity in America and European countries. Zen followers united in communities, built temples, universities, and deeply studied its theoretical and practical aspects.

To this day, this interest has not faded: the number of adherents of this worldview is constantly growing, and world literature is increasingly replenished with books that introduce the inexperienced reader to the wonderful world in the spirit of Zen.

Practical use

Spiritual experience and growth in Zen Buddhism is not tied to the study of specialized literature. Practice in this religion is the basis of all changes in human consciousness. This is why Zen is so popular all over the world, because in order to become a follower of this teaching, the country of residence, political views and social status are not important.

The teaching can be practiced by both lawyers and lawyers from the United States, as well as poor fishermen in Vietnam. And each of them has every chance to achieve enlightenment and harmony.

As psychological training, teachers often offer followers stories from the lives of famous patriarchs (koans). Their goal is to question the rationality of thinking, thereby making the mind more flexible.

Meditation is a leading practice in Zen Buddhism, a true symbol of liberation. These classes help solve the following problems:

Get rid of anger and hatred. A person learns not to do bad things by succumbing to negative emotions. Meditation allows you to eradicate the source of evil within yourself and remain calm in any situation.
Karma. The purpose of practical exercises is to come to terms with the current state of affairs and accept all the circumstances that happen to a person. This approach allows you to more competently “work out” your karma.
Refusal of excess. Most surrounding things, objects, people, based on the concept of Zen Buddhism, certainly bring suffering, so the goal of every follower of the teaching is to achieve independence from all this.
Harmony with your Tao. The path that is destined for a person by a higher power is perceived by the student in Zen Buddhism as inevitable. It is part of spiritual growth and its rejection will make it much more difficult to achieve satori.

Daily practice, carried out under the unobtrusive guidance of a teacher, as well as the lack of emphasis on studying special literature, allows Zen Buddhism to confidently walk around the globe.

Fundamentals of Philosophy

Zen philosophy helps a person to penetrate and understand the deep nature of his own mind. To achieve this, you do not need to include thought processes and use the capabilities of the intellect. It follows the natural mind.

The concept of "Tao" is central to Chinese Zen practice, a path that everyone should follow. This is what gives rise to everything that exists. This, to some extent, is the mind.

Focusing on a specific subject helps to free your thoughts - in other words, meditation. She is an important guide to self-knowledge and comprehension of satori.

Zen teaching, like other branches of Buddhism, emphasizes the importance of the generally accepted four noble truths, the three jewels. But at the same time, it says that truth cannot be understood through words, scriptures, texts, prescribed doctrines - it can only be felt with the heart, understood with the gut, because truth is inexpressible.

Therefore, Zen denies the study of sutras and sacred scriptures in its practices, and this is its main difference from other branches of Buddhism.

The founder of the teaching, Bodhidharma, said that Zen is “a direct transition to the awakened state, bypassing tradition and sacred texts.”

Zen suggests purifying the heart through certain penetrations and actions.

Penetrations are 2 areas of practice that are performed simultaneously:

zhu li - direction inward, through the principle, which means studying the true essence of oneself;
zhu shi - direction outward, through deeds, which means calming the mind when performing all actions.

Direction to the outside world, zhu shi, involves 4 actions:

Refusal of hatred and bad deeds

Bad actions have consequences - bao. The right thing to do is to understand evil and not worry about future troubles.

Following karma

Everything that awaits us in the future is the result of the actions of the past and present. Karma is inevitable, so you just have to accept it.

Giving up desires and attachments

The Buddha bequeathed that desires are the root cause of all suffering, therefore, on the path to awakening, one must abandon them.

Achieving Harmony with Dharma and Tao

You should take the right path, examine yourself, get rid of bad thoughts, and open up to the eternal.

Ignorance, hatred and attachment are the three poisons known to every Buddhist. Zen encourages eradicating them through meditative practices. They will help expand the facets of the world, see that all things are not dual, as is commonly thought, and understand the essence of Buddha.

This non-dual essence of things can be seen by understanding that at the core of all things, Zen sees emptiness. Emptiness cannot be seen with the eyes or described with language - it can only be comprehended.

At the same time, emptiness in Buddhism does not mean the absence of something, unfulfillment. Rather, on the contrary: it says that a person and the world around him are not separated by any boundaries.

Such a revelation can be comprehended by abandoning the subjective vision of phenomena, which distorts the real picture of the world. The moment a person has completely given up selfishness and illusions, he can see the true Self.

Zen is built on four principles that adherents must follow:

Understand Buddhist philosophy without the help of scriptures.
Refuse words and text.
Directly refer to your consciousness.
Contemplate the inner nature of man and strive for the state of satori.

The teaching does not accept violence against oneself, which can be expressed in a sharp rejection of absolutely all human desires. It accustoms one to a harmonious lifestyle, understanding of internal and external nature and gradual knowledge of the truth through the path of meditation, study of the mind, and contemplation.

Why is Zen the most effective psychotherapy?

When a Zen teacher was once asked what Zen is, he replied, “Your daily thoughts.”

Zen is a form of Buddhism, but it does not have its own philosophy. The chief characteristic of Zen is its method, which grows naturally out of its attitude towards life and Truth as the manifestation of life.

Zen captures the deepest essence of life in the most decisive and direct way. If Zen is fully understood, the mind will come to a state of absolute peace, but man will not live in absolute harmony with nature. Because harmony and life are incompatible.

Usually, in Zen they believe that in our conscious life we have chosen the wrong path of excessive thinking.

We produce ideas, feelings and words, taking them for reality. They are so deeply rooted in our nature that we cannot imagine life without them.

Long ago, the Sanskrit word “dhyana” (contemplation, “seeing with the mind”, “intuitive vision”, meditation, concentration, reflection) was transliterated by the Chinese as “channa”, then shortened to “chan”, which in Japanese became pronounced “zen”. .

Zen does not teach us anything in the sense of mental analysis, nor does it offer any specific doctrine as a guide for its followers.

Followers of Zen may have their own doctrines, but these doctrines are of a purely personal, individual nature and do not owe their origin to Zen. Therefore Zen does not deal with any “scriptures” or dogmas, nor does it contain any symbols by which its meaning is revealed.

Then if you were to ask what Zen teaches, the answer might be that it teaches nothing.

Whatever teachings are contained in Zen, they come only from the minds of their creators. We create our own teachings. Zen is only a direction of movement.

The basic principles of the Zen school are the following: “Look into your nature and you will awaken” and “Awakening is transmitted in a special way from heart to heart without relying on written signs.”

Zen is not a religion because in Zen there is no god to worship and there are no ceremonial rituals.

Zen is generally free from dogmatic and religious entanglements.

A devout person may be shocked to hear that in Zen there is no God, but this does not mean that Zen denies the existence of God.

Zen deals neither with affirmation nor with negation. When something is denied, the negation itself already includes the opposite element. The same can be said about affirmation. In logic this is inevitable.

Zen strives to rise above logic and find the highest affirmation that has no antithesis. Therefore Zen does not deny God or affirm his existence. Zen is neither a religion nor a philosophy.

“One evening the mentor was chilling on the veranda. I again brought him my poems on enlightenment, and he said: “Confusion and nonsense!” I, teasing him, also shouted: “Confusion and nonsense!” He grabbed me, punched me twenty to thirty times and threw me off the veranda. I fell into the mud, almost lost consciousness, and all my thoughts disappeared. I couldn't move my leg or arm. And the mentor stood on the veranda and laughed loudly.”

To know Zen is to influence your mind through insight into the true nature of the mind so that it becomes its own master. This insight into the true nature of the mind or soul is the main goal of Zen Buddhism.

Therefore Zen is more than meditation. Zen practice aims to open the eye of the soul - and see the basis of life.

Rumination is an artificially induced state; it is not a natural property of the mind. What are the birds of the sky thinking about? What are the sea creatures thinking about? - They fly, they swim. Isn't that enough?

This is what Zen says: “After all things have been reduced to one, to what can that one be reduced?” Zen aims to free the mind from all obstacles. Even the very idea of unity and integrity is an obstacle or trap that threatens the natural freedom of the spirit.

In Zen it is enough to feel that the fire is hot and the ice is cold, because when we are cold, we rejoice in the warmth. All our theories are far from reality.

Zen must be elusive regarding its external aspects. Otherwise, the brain will create a construct that will replace Zen. If you think you have caught Zen, then know that it is no longer Zen. From a distance he seems easy to reach, but as soon as you approach him, you will see that he has moved away from you even more.

The uniqueness of Zen as practiced in Japan lies in the systematic training of the mind. Conventional mysticism suffers from excessive impulsiveness and isolation from our everyday life.

Zen manifests itself in the most ordinary and uninteresting life of a simple person, immersed in noise and turmoil. Zen offers systematic training of the mind and teaches us to see something even in this seething cauldron. He reveals to man the greatest secret of life in its daily and hourly manifestation. The human heart begins to beat in time with the heart of eternity.

No matter what question he was asked about Zen, Gutei simply showed his middle finger. One day he had a servant, whom a visitor asked: “What is the main thing in the Master’s teaching?” The boy showed him the finger. Seeing this, Gutei cut off his finger with a knife. When the boy, screaming in pain, rushed out of the room, Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned his head, Gutei showed him the finger. The boy tried to do the same, but somehow he couldn’t do it with his cut off finger. It was then that he suddenly achieved enlightenment. Before his death, Gutei told the assembled monks: “I received my one-finger Zen from Tenryu. I’ve used it all my life, but it never ran out.”

Here and now is the most important keyword: The most important thing is the present. Most of us have a tendency to think fearfully about the past or future, instead of devoting our full attention to current actions, words and thoughts. You must be completely present in every movement: focus on the Here and Now - this is what Zen teaches us. Just as central is the expression “just sitting,” “without interest, without purpose or desire for gain.”

You don't have to go to Japan to find authentic Zen teachings. True Zen is here and now, in our body and our mind. With correct posture and breathing, the mind will find its way back to its normal state.

Usually we see illusion on one side and awakening (satori) on the other. But what is satori? Satori is not some special state, but a person’s return to his normal, original state, a return to it with every cell of his body.

Satori cannot be pushed into any category and cannot be understood with the mind. Language cannot describe it.

There is no point in imitating others. Initial conditions and environment lead to differences between us.

Based on this point, you need - here and now - to create yourself and achieve the highest embodiment of life. If we have a goal, then we do not move forward - if we don’t have it, then we understand that we are NOTHING. And then we can calm down.

Sitting meditation is called zazen.

Even if the place where we practice deepening is very small, it still contains the entire universe. Even if our mind is limited, it still contains limitlessness.

Shito Xiqian

The secret of Zen is that during practice one should not want to achieve anything, whatever it may be.

Everything you do during the day can be practice. If you are here and now and enjoy being in your body.

Breathing plays a very important role. First of all, the breath strives to create a slow, natural and powerful rhythm.

If you concentrate on a plastic, long and deep exhalation and direct your attention to the pose, then the inhalation will occur in a completely natural way.

The air comes out quietly and slowly, while the pressure created by exhalation is forcefully pushed down into the abdomen.

You “press on the intestines” and thus create a healing massage of the internal organs.

Zen masters compare Zen breathing to the mooing of a cow or the exhalation of a baby screaming immediately after birth.

Correct breathing can only come from correct posture.

At the same time, mental posture naturally comes from deep concentration on body posture and breathing.

He who has BREATH lives long, intensely and happily.

Practicing proper breathing allows you to resolve all nervous tension. Brain circulation improves in an interesting way.

The cerebral cortex rests, and the conscious flow of thoughts subsides, while the blood penetrates into the deeper layers of the brain.

So well supplied with blood, they awaken from half-sleep, and their new activity brings well-being, joy and peace, as in deep sleep, and at the same time you are absolutely awake.

The nervous system relaxes, the brain stem, thalamus and hypothalamus work at full capacity. You are completely receptive and attentive with every cell of your body.

You unconsciously think with your whole body, all duality, all opposites are overcome, without you straining.

The so-called primitive peoples retained their deep layers of the brain in a very active state.

By creating our type of civilization, although we have developed, refined and complicated our intellect, we have forgotten the strength, intuition and wisdom associated with the inner center of the brain.

This is why Zen has very great value for modern people.

During practice, you need to allow all the pictures and thoughts that come out of the subconscious to pass by, like clouds in the sky - without resisting them, without clinging to them.

Everything passes by like shadows in front of a mirror - it flows out of the subconscious, returns and eventually disappears.

In this way one reaches the deep subconscious, which has no thoughts, beyond all thinking, true purity.

Zen lies in this one act of effort and repetition—like life itself.

The progress of a Zen practitioner along the path to enlightenment, from his first steps, and subsequent return to human society, is represented in the famous ten images of the search for the bull.

These ten images of the search for the bull, accompanied by a poem, trace the 10 stages of formation in the practice of Zen and other spiritual practices.

However, as always, some practitioners' experiences may vary.