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What is zen ?

jlljll Veteran
in Buddhism Basics
What is zen ?

Zen is a popular word. But how many people knows what it means?

Comments

  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    edited February 2014
    I know its a school of mahayana buddhism - I think it means 'meditative absorption'

    And Zazen is zen in the lotus position.
  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran
    Bodhidharma has something to say about this:

    "Seeing your nature is Zen. Unless you see your nature, it’s not Zen...The true Way is sublime. It can’t be expressed in language."

    "Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen."
  • GuiGui Veteran
    Zen is a word.
    how
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    Gui said:

    Zen is a word.

    hey you should have posted that comment in my word game thread

    TheswingisyellowBunks
  • matthewmartinmatthewmartin Amateur Bodhisattva Suburbs of Mt Meru Veteran
    edited February 2014
    Zen is Japanese Chan, which is the Chinese way of pronouncing jhana, which in turn means something like "meditative absorption"

    Zen is also a Kamakura era so-called "single practice" form of Buddhism, so called because it emphasize meditation at the expense of just about everything else. For example, nembutsu (chanting the Buddhas names) is about unheard of in Zen, but is a big part of Chan-- also Chan gives emphasis to a lot of other typical Mahayana practices which Japanese Zen dispenses with or ignores.

    Because of DT Suziki coming to the USA and selling it (misrepresenting it?**) as a some what obscurantist but thoroughly modern & superstition free religion, it has become one of the 3 or 4 major schools of Buddhism in the US (the others being Tibetan, Vipassana/Midnfulness, and maybe Nichiren/SGI)

    ** Zen has evolved a lot, at recently as before World War II, even Japanese Zen included belief in Shinto spirits, Boddhisatvas, and all the other things that annoy the modern secular mindset.
    Cinorjerlobsterwangchuey
  • VastmindVastmind Memphis, TN Veteran
    edited February 2014
    Are you asking me...or telling me?

    Most people who practice it knows what it means.
    What is your knowledge of the meaning?
    Would the number of people make a difference to the
    meaning? Right or wrong?
    I'm confused as to what your trying to say/ask here.....



    how
  • VastmindVastmind Memphis, TN Veteran
    edited February 2014
    ^^^^Hahaha...Don't you start!
    You drop 'zen' bundles on us all the time.....
    Good ones too, I might add ;)
  • NevermindNevermind Bitter & Hateful Veteran
    It's a religion
  • betaboybetaboy Veteran
    genkaku said:

    Most people who practice it knows what it means.
    Forty years of practice ... boy, did I miss the boat!

    No, son, the boat missed you.
    -Zen Master Hitachi Mitsubishi
  • howhow Veteran Veteran

    Nothing containable!
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    Snow falling softly onto my face.

    Do you hear that?

    Ahhh.
    VastmindInvincible_summer
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    Placing a shoe on my head so that the cat doesn't die.

    It dies anyways, but the shoe stays.
  • zenffzenff Veteran
    edited February 2014
    jll said:

    What is zen ?

    What is here and now; as it is before I even label it as “here” or "now” ; without comparing it to something else.


  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    Ummon was pretty good ... "When you can't say it, it's there. When you don't say it, it's missing."
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    Is Zen an Onomatopoeia?
    wangchuey
  • wangchueywangchuey Veteran
    Well if you say zen 3 times or more it does sound like an engine lol
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    edited February 2014
    jll said:

    What is zen ?
    Zen is a popular word.

    yes, yes it is popular in india - zen is a model name of a car manufactured in india. but wait a minute, which website is this - oh newbuddhist - then the above is not what you wanted to know - or is it :)
  • jlljll Veteran
    zen was also the name of a line of mp3 players before it was wiped out by ipod.
    misecmisc1 said:

    jll said:

    What is zen ?
    Zen is a popular word.

    yes, yes it is popular in india - zen is a model name of a car manufactured in india. but wait a minute, which website is this - oh newbuddhist - then the above is not what you wanted to know - or is it :)
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    Thoughts and construct flow
    On and on without a hold
    Wonder where they go
    anataman
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