Zen Buddhism Day 2 Review

Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism

- zazen meditation while sitting facing the middle of the hall

- use koans

Soto sect of Zen Buddhism

- zazen meditation while sitting facing the wall

- do not use koans

abbot

the head of a monastery

keisaku

"awakening stick"

a flat wooden stick or slat used during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration.

Mindfulness

What a Zen monk should be practicing whilst accomplishing other tasks such as:

- gardening

- calligraphy

- tea service

- martial arts

Huston Smith quotes

"may order their disciples to rip their scriptures to shreds"

"avoid words like 'Buddha' and 'nirvana' like smut"

"They intend no disrespect." Masters are trying to "blast their novices out of solutions that are only verbal"

Zen Master Danxia Tianran

Chinese Zen Master

sarira

relics, specifically the leftover bone fragments from a cremated arhat (monk who has attained nirvana)

enzo

drawing that symbolizes sunyata

sunyata

emptiness

non-dualism

Sanskrit: advaya

a doctrine holding that the essential unity of all is real whereas duality and plurality are illusion

Quote from the Heart Sutra about non-dualism

"Ill-being [dukkha] .... the End of Ill-being [nirvana].... are .... not separate self entities."

Two central doctrines presented in the Heart Sutra

- emptiness (sunyata)

- non-dualism (advaya)

Famous quote from the Heart Sutra about sunyata

- "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form"

(Also translated as "this Body itself is Emptiness

and Emptiness itself is this Body")

Buddha-mind

- Your original mind

- Your original nature

- Your natural, true self

- You just haven't realized it yet

Implications of non-dualism

You and I are one.

I have compassion for myself therefore I have compassion for you.

I am the Buddha.

You are the Buddha.

Samsara is nirvana.

Mahakasyapa

Bodhidharma

Zen Master Omori

Martial Arts & calligraphy master from The Long Search documentary

"When I bow to it (the bodhisattva), I bow to something in myself. That something I call compassion."

Abbot of a Rinzai Zen monastery in Kobe, Japan

"Sitting in zazen, I become nothing and everything becomes nothing. That is to say I and everything melt into one... All things become I. There is no greater love than this."