Zen Buddhism

anna

I get the feeling that if I was to go further into looking at Buddhism that Zen Buddhism might appeal, but I don't really know much about it. Does anyone here practice this. There seem to be so many different types of Buddhism, it's difficult to work out what's what sometimes.

DhammaDhatu

Hi Anna

The Zen way is trusting in ordinary mind, accepting & non-judging.

The Hsin Hsin Ming (Verses on the Mind of Absolute Trust) is a reknowned instruction for practise:

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.

Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.

As long as you remain in one extreme or the other,
you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.

To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.

Here is a detailed commentary, With a Guide to Ch'an Practice by Master Sheng-Yen .

Kind regards

DD

Floating_Abu

anna wrote: »

I get the feeling that if I was to go further into looking at Buddhism that Zen Buddhism might appeal, but I don't really know much about it. Does anyone here practice this. There seem to be so many different types of Buddhism, it's difficult to work out what's what sometimes.

Hi Anna

I practice Zen Buddhism, I suppose. There are people on Zen Forum International who you might also ask questions of. Sometimes the best way is just to visit a local centre and try it out for yourself. Don't worry, everyone there has been where you are, whatever tradition you choose.

Best wishes,
Abu

fivebells

Generally speaking, there is more difference between teachers of the same sect than there are systematic practical differences between sects. Consider investigating meditation teachers regardless of sect before settling on one.

TheFound

I have a lot of Zen!

Linc

My best suggestion is to pick up "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" and give it a read. That's really opened my eyes.

anna

Floating_Abu wrote: »

Hi Anna

I practice Zen Buddhism, I suppose. There are people on Zen Forum International who you might also ask questions of. Sometimes the best way is just to visit a local centre and try it out for yourself. Don't worry, everyone there has been where you are, whatever tradition you choose.

Best wishes,
Abu

Thanks for replying (I am so slow at this)

It appears that there's no centres or anything like that near me that I can find. There's an NKT meditation class about 15 miles away which I go to already, but that's it.

I'm really dumb, as when I first got interested in Buddhism about a decade ago, I lived on the same street as a large Buddhist centre but never got round to going in. Now I live outside the cities it's not so easy.

anna

Lincoln wrote: »

My best suggestion is to pick up "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" and give it a read. That's really opened my eyes.

thank you I will look into it.

...and thank you DD for the enlightening verse