Even today there are very few non-Buddhist Zen teachers and fewer organizations to support non-Buddhist practice. Zen is often described as a way of life not dependent on one's particular culture.Īt the same time, the institutions that support Zen practice have historically all been Buddhist and uphold the fundamental teachings of Gautama Buddha. Zen is considered by some as not necessarily a Buddhist religion as a number of non-Buddhists, particularly Christians, have been formally acknowledged as Zen masters. Zen is also associated with Japanese tea ceremony. In particular an American Soto Zen priest Brian Victoria has exposed a number of instances where Buddhist teachings were used to justify acts of killing. Some Japanese Zen sects and teachers have also been criticized for their involvement in Japanese militarism and nationalism especially during World War II. They assert that almost all Japanese temples have become family businesses handed down from father to son, and the Zen priest's function has largely been reduced to officiating at funerals.
Some contemporary Japanese Zen teachers, such as Daiun Harada and Shunryu Suzuki have criticized Japanese Zen as being a formalized system of empty rituals with very few Zen practitioners ever actually attaining realization.
Obaku was introduced in the 17th century by Ingen, a Chinese monk. Dogen, who studied under Eisai, would later carry the Caodong, or "Soto" Zen school to Japan from China.
Originally formulated by the eponymous Chinese master Linji (Rinzai in Japanese), the Rinzai school was introduced to Japan in 1191 by Eisai. The following Zen traditions still exist in Japan: Rinzai, Soto, and Obaku. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Zen had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration, and the practice of folk medicine. In India, the tradition of the mendicant (holy beggar, or bhikku in Pali) prevailed, but in China social circumstances led to the development of a temple and training-center system in which the abbot and the monks all performed mundane tasks. Suzuki maintained that a Zen satori (awakening) was the goal of the training, but that which distinguished the tradition as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. Although lineage lines in China, Korea, Japan and elsewhere appear to show direct descent from Bodhidharma, changes in belief and practice have inevitably appeared with the profusion of Chan/Seon/Zen. It is important to note, however, that Chan, Seon and Zen continued to develop separately in their home countries, and all maintain separate identities to this day. Korean monks then brought it to Japan around the seventh century, where it came to be called Zen. After the tradition was expanded to Korea, it came to be called Seon there (sometimes misspelled as Soen in the West). Later, Korean monks studying in China learned what was by then called Chan, and which had by then been influenced somewhat by Chinese Taoism. He then went to a monastery near Luoyang in eastern China and, according to legend, spent nine years meditating before a cliff wall before accepting any disciples.Īs a legendary culture hero Bodhidharma has also been linked to the Shaolin Temple and the subsequent spread of East Asian martial arts in the oral traditions of schools like Kung Fu and T'ai Chi Ch'uan, as well as in much popular wuxia fiction. He traveled from Conjeeveram, near Madras (now Chennai), India, to Guangdong (Canton), China in 520 CE, where he met the Liang-dynasty (502-557) emperor Wudi and had a famous exchange declaring that good deeds done with selfish intention were useless (conferred no merit) for gaining enlightenment. He was the 28th in the line of transmission from the Buddha's disciple Kasyapa. This name was transliterated into Chinese as Chán (禪 / simplified 禅) "Chán" was later borrowed into Korean as Seon, Vietnamese as Thiền and into Japanese as "Zen."Īccording to traditional accounts, Zen was founded in China by a Central Asian or Indian Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma ( Daruma in Japanese). Traditionally, Zen traces its roots back to Indian Buddhism, where it was known by " dhyāna" (ध्यान), a Sanskrit term for meditation.
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