Zen Part three: Zazen

As I mentioned yesterday, Zen is very individual and is unique to each practitioner. Of all the forms of Buddhism, this is the one where it is most import to know yourself. How do you get to ‚Äúknow yourself?‚Äù For students of Zen, it’s done primarily through a process called ‚Äúzazen.‚Äù

Zazen is the practice of ‚Äújust sitting‚Äù and clearing the mind of all thought. Once your mind in unhindered by distraction is it far easier to attain enlightenment. There are specific postures and positions for this form of meditation, but it has been modified to suit all ability levels. Essentially, the Buddhist just sits, clearing their mind and focusing on their breathing, attempting to eliminate distractions and stray thoughts. Once you try it, you’ll experience just how difficult it is to think about… nothing.

I was going to write a lengthy explanation of zazen, but there are many excellent pages already written on the subject. Here are two that I think will be helpful.

Here is a video of the proper zazen sitting posture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rh8Fc3ecd8

And here is a link showing modifications for those who can’t do that:

http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php

Personally, I cannot do the lotus positions, so I sit in a manner similar to the ‚ÄúBurmese Position‚Äù shown on the second link. Although some purists say you must do the full lotus and all the various positions, it’s better to begin in the best way that YOU can; it’s better to meditate in your own way than not to do it at all. Still, monks and practitioners have been doing this for centuries, and this is the way they have decided is best. Do what you can, but keep in mind that there is a “right way” to be doing this that you should eventually strive for.

Most Buddhists do some form of meditation similar to this. Take a look at the video and the pictures on the other link and we’ll talk more about this tomorrow.

Now we start on the form of Buddhism with which I am most familiar, Zen.

The teachings of the Buddha have been handed down from teacher to student. Zen is a lineage tradition; a master has a student who follows him for years, observing and learning at the Master’s feet. There is a one-to-one transmission of the teachings, and it is assumed that the same teaching is handed down in a long unbroken line. The Master comes to know the student very well and vice-versa. This mutual knowledge allows for some very individual ways of teaching.

Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this combination was the Ch’an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch’an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called Zen Buddhism.

Zen emphasizes dharma practice and experiential wisdom‚Äîparticularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen‚Äîin the attainment of awakening. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of direct individual assessment of one’s own experience.

Tibetan Buddhism

We talked about Tibetan Buddhism a little bit a few weeks ago, so if you don’t remember, go back to http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/19 (Podcast Episode 4: Tibet) for a quick review. I am not going to explain the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan occupation again today, but these concepts are very important to Tibetan Buddhism. If you are a new subscriber, check out the link above to read that material.

For the most part, Tibetan Buddhism was limited to Tibet and the surrounding regions until the occupation of Tibet by China in 1950. Tibetan Buddhists were forced into exile, and their beliefs quickly spread outward to the rest of the world. It is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and America.

Tibetan Buddhism uses tantras, much like Vajrayanas, and they break Buddhist practices into four successively more difficult steps. The steps work on the individual’s personal ego, the spiritual self, and personal Truth.

There are two major sub-schools of Tibetan, known commonly as “red hat” and “yellow hat” schools. When you see pictures of Buddhist monks in the big red or yellow hats, you can be pretty sure they are Tibetan monks. The specific differences between the two are mostly due to different lineages, which we discussed a bit yesterday.

Tibetan is one of the more popular forms of Buddhism in the West, and several well-known celebrities follow the Tibetan way, including Richard Gere, Steven Seagal, Jet Li, and Alan Ginsberg.

Tantric Buddhism / Vajrayana

I’ll be honest here; I don’t know that much about this group. Most of the material in this section is taken from Wikipedia. It’s a lot more ‚Äúmystic‚Äù than most of the other groups, and I have no real experience with it.

Tantric Buddhism is also know as Vajrayana Buddhism as well as other names, such as Mantrayana and the Diamond Vehicle. Vajrayana is sometimes considered a third major form of Buddhism, alongside Theravada and Mahayana, but some scholars consider it a sub-school of Mahayana. That’s not really too important, so we won’t debate it here.

The most distinguishing thing about Tantric Buddhism is the use of tantras. What is a tantra? I’m going to use the Wikipedia explanation here:

Rather than a single coherent system, Tantra is an accumulation of practices and ideas which has among its characteristics the use of ritual, energy work, the use of the mundane to access the supramundane and the identification of the microcosm with the macrocosm The Tantric practitioner seeks to use the divine power that flows through the universe (including their own body) to attain purposeful goals. These goals may be spiritual, material or both.

A practitioner of tantra considers mystical experience or the guidance of a Guru imperative. In the process of working with energy the Tantric has various tools at their disposal. These include yoga‚Äîto actuate processes that will yoke the practitioner to the divine. Also important are the use of visualizations of the deity and verbalisation or evocation through mantras‚Äîwhich may be construed as seeing and singing the power into being; identification and internalisation of the divine is enacted‚Äîoften through a total identification with a deity, such that the aspirant “becomes” the deity, the Ishta-Devata.

Put more simply, Vajrayana is the group that is heavily into mantras and yoga. It is heavily influenced by Hinduism, moreso even than other forms of Buddhism. There are many gods and deities, as well as many rituals, some of which are “secrets” passed down from teacher to student.

Teachers of Vajrayana are often called gurus, and the teachings are passed down from a teacher to a student is called the lineage. A lineage tradition can often traced back through a line of teachers to see which traditions are observed. We’ll get into the details of lineage a bit more thoroughly when we talk about Zen, but I wanted to introduce the idea here since it applies to Vajrayana as well.

Pure Land

Before we get into the belief of Pure Land Buddhism, we need to introduce a new character. Amida Buddha (also called Amitabha) was a monk who attained enlightenment. This is probably a good time to point out that every time you see the word Buddha, we are NOT necessarily talking about the original Buddha. There have been many people who have attained enlightenment, and many of them are called Buddhas. We will be encountering many Buddhas as we move forward. Anyway, Amida Buddha reached enlightenment, and shortly thereafter set up a “Pure Land” somewhere in the west, far beyond our own world. The Pure Land was a perfect place, and impossible to reach here on Earth.

Practitioners who call upon the name of Amida Buddha as few as ten times can be reborn in the Pure Land after they die. Upon being reborn in the Pure Land, they receive further instruction and may return to our world as a bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva is a person who has attained enlightenment, but rather than end the cycle of rebirth, has chosen to stay here in this world in order to help others learn the truth.

It is also believed that attaining enlightenment on one’s own is extremely difficult, and that it is easier to reach with the help of Amida Buddha. Instead of meditation, adherents to Pure Land believe that Amida Buddha will lead them to the Pure Land where they will automatically gain Enlightenment.

Another practice of Pure Land people is to repeat or chant the nembutsu, ‚Äúnamo Amida Butsu‚Äù or ‚ÄúI trust in the Buddha of immeasurable light.‚Äù This is repeated over and over, sometimes hundreds of times, and is intended to bestow Amida Buddha’s ‚Äúblessing‚Äù on the chanter.

Does some of this sound familiar? A messiah has come and if you call upon his name, you will be reborn in ‚Äúheaven.‚Äù You might not be able to be saved without his help. Yes, Pure Land is often derogatorily called ‚ÄúChristian Buddhism‚Äù due to the similarities between this form of Buddhism and Christianity. This form of Buddhism is growing very quickly around the world, probably due to the simplicity of their doctrine. Do the chants and have faith in Amida Buddha, and you’re all set.

Most of what we discuss here on the Daily Buddhism does NOT apply to this group. I am once again oversimplifying, but if it doesn’t seem like this stuff fits in with the rest of Buddhism, then I think we’re on the same page.

“Denominations” of Buddhism: Theravada & Mahayana

Theravada Buddhism is the oldest form of Buddhism, and is probably the closest to the core teachings of the original Buddha. Most of the other schools have added significant new elements to Buddhism, but Theravada is as close to “plain vanilla” Buddhism as possible.

Theravada Buddhism explains that your enlightenment will come from your experience, coupled with your critical thinking and reasoning skills. By the strictest ideals of Theravada teachings, it is unlikely that laypeople can reach enlightenment on their own; monks are far more likely to reach enlightenment. Generally, the role of laymen is to feed and support the monks while the monks meditate and work toward their own enlightenment. Good laypeople who do their duty in this lifetime may get lucky and become a monk in a future lifetime. I’m oversimplifying a bit, but if you don’t want to become a monk in a monastery, this one probably isn’t for you.

Theravada Buddhism is often called Hinayana, the “Small Vehicle,” Buddhism. This is in contrast to Mahayana Buddhism, which is the “Great Vehicle.” There are far fewer Theravada Buddhists than Mahayanists, and all the rest of the flavors of Buddhism we will discuss fall under the main category of Mahayana.

Mahayana Buddhism is a blanket term for most other (non-Theravada) forms of Buddhism. By far the majority of the world’s Buddhists fall into this category. General beliefs include the idea that anyone, not just monks, can become Buddhas. We all have a little bit of Buddha inside us. Some of the schools of Mahayana that we’ll be discussing this week are Pure Land, Tibetan, Zen, and Tantric Buddhism. There are many, many other sub-schools of Buddhism, but these are the main forms.