Zen

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Zen

The enso, a symbol of Zen Buddhism. Zen or Chán or Son is a school of Mahayana Buddhism notable for its emphasis on mindful acceptance of the present moment, spontaneous action, and letting go of self-conscious, judgmental thinking

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

A broader term is the Sanskrit word "dhyana", which exists also in other religions in India.

The emergence of Chán (Zen) as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahayana Buddhist thought-among them the Yogacara and Madhyamaka philosophies and the Prajñaparamita literature-and of local traditions in China, particularly Taoism and Huáyán Buddhism. From China, Chán subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zen also began to establish a notable presence in North America and Europe.

Etymology

"Zen", pronounced in Japanese, is the Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese character ?, which is pronounced (pinyin: chán) in modern Standard Mandarin Chinese, but was likely pronounced [d?z?en] in Middle Chinese. The term "zen" is in fact a contraction of the seldom-used long form zenna (?; Mandarin: chánnà), a derivation from the Sanskrit term dhyana (Pali: jhana), which refers to a specific type or aspect of meditation. While "Zen" is the name most commonly known worldwide, it is also known as Chán in China, Seon in Korea, and Thi?n in Vietnam and dhyana in India.

See the chart below to see its more common spelling and pronunciation:

Japanese Chinese Korean Sanskrit 
Romaji Zen Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chán Revised Romanization Seon Romanization Dhyana 
Hiragana ? Mandarin Wade-Giles Ch’an McCune-Reischauer Son Devanagari ?? 
Kanji ? Cantonese Jyutping Sim3 Hangul ? Pali 
Vietnamese Shanghainese (Wu) Zeu [zø] Hanja ? Romanization Jhana 
Qu?c ng? Thi?n Traditional Chinese ?  Devanagari ? 
Hán t?? Simplified Chinese ? Sinhala ?

Zen teachings and practices

Basis

The Sixth Patriarch Tearing Up a Sutra by Liáng KaiZen asserts, as do other schools in Mahayana Buddhism, that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, the universal nature of inherent wisdom (Sanskrit prajna) and virtue, and emphasizes that Buddha-nature is not other than the nature of mind itself. The aim of Zen practice is to discover this Buddha-nature within each person, through meditation and mindfulness of daily experiences. Zen practitioners believe that this provides new perspectives and insights on existence, which ultimately lead to enlightenment.

In distinction to many other Buddhist sects, Zen deemphasizes reliance on religious texts and verbal discourse on metaphysical questions. Zen holds that these things lead the practitioner to seek external answers, rather than searching within their own minds for the direct intuitive apperception of Buddha-nature. This search within goes under various terms such as "introspection," "a backward step," "turning-about," or "turning the eye inward."

In this sense, Zen, as a means to deepen the practice and in contrast to many other religions, could be seen as fiercely anti-philosophical, iconoclastic, anti-prescriptive and anti-theoretical. The importance of Zen’s non-reliance on written words is often misunderstood as being against the use of words. However, Zen is deeply rooted in both the scriptural teachings of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama and in Mahayana Buddhist thought and philosophy. What Zen emphasises is that the awakening taught by the Buddha came through his meditation practice, not from any words that he read or discovered, and so it is through meditation that others too may awaken to the same insights as the Buddha.

The teachings on the technique and practice of turning the eye inward are found in many suttas and sutras of the Buddhist canon, but in its beginnings in China, Zen primarily referred to the Mahayana Sutras and especially to the Lankavatara Sutra. Ironically, since Bodhidharma taught the turning-about techniques of dhyana with reference to the Lankavatara Sutra, the Zen school was initially identified with that sutra. It was in part through reaction to such limiting identification with one text that Chinese Zen cultivated its famous non-reliance on written words and independence of any one scripture. However, a review of the teachings of the early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were all well versed in various scriptures. For example, in The Platform Sutra of the Sixth ancestor and founder Huineng, this famously "illiterate" Zen master cites and explains the Diamond Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Lankavatara Sutra.

When Buddhism came to China the doctrine of the three core practices or trainings, the training in virtue and discipline in the precepts (Sanskrit Sila), the training in mind through meditation (dhyana or jhana) sometimes called concentration (samadhi), and the training in discernment and wisdom (prajna), was already established in the Pali canon.(http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.088.than.html#trainings) In this context as Buddhism became adapted to Chinese culture, three types of teachers with expertise in each training practice developed. Vinaya masters were versed in all the rules of discipline for monks and nuns. Dhyana masters were versed in the practice of meditation. And Dharma, i.e., teaching or sutra, masters were versed in the Buddhist texts. Monastaries and practice centers were created that tended to focus on either the vinaya and training of monks or the teachings focused on one scripture or a small group of texts. Dhyana or chan masters tended to practice in solitary hermitages or to be associated with the Vinaya training monasteries or sutra teaching centers.

After Bodhidharma’s arrival in the late fifth century, the subsequent dhyana-chan masters who were associated with his teaching line consolidated around the practice of meditation and the feeling that mere observance of the rules of discipline or the intellectual teachings of the scriptures did not emphasize enough the actual practice and personal experience of the Buddha’s meditation that led to the Buddha’s awakening. Awakening like the Buddha, and not merely following rules or memorizing texts became the watchword of the dhyana-chan practitioners. Within 200 years after Bodhidharma at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the fifth generation Chan ancestor and founder Daman Hongren (601-674), the Zen of Bodhidharma’s successors had become well established as a separate school of Buddhism and the true Zen school.

The core of Zen practice is seated meditation, widely known by its Japanese name Zazen, and recalls both the posture in which the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, and the elements of mindfulness and concentration which are part of the Eightfold Path as taught by the Buddha. All of the Buddha’s fundamental teachings-among them the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the idea of dependent origination, the five precepts, the five aggregates, and the three marks of existence-also make up important elements of the perspective that Zen takes for its practice. While Buddhists generally revere certain places as a Bodhimandala (circle or place of enlightenment) in Zen wherever one sits in true meditation is said to be a Bodhimandala.

Additionally, as a development of Mahayana Buddhism, Zen draws many of its basic driving concepts, particularly the bodhisattva ideal, from that school. Uniquely Mahayana figures such as Guanyin, Mañjusri, Samantabhadra, and Amitabha are venerated alongside the historical Buddha. Despite Zen’s emphasis on transmission independent of scriptures, it has drawn heavily on the Mahayana sutras, particularly the Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra, Hredaya Pranyaparamita the Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom of the Diamond that Cuts through Illusion, The Vajrachedika Pranyaparamita the Lankavatara Sutra, and the "Samantamukha Parivarta" section of the Lotus Sutra.

Zen has also itself paradoxically produced a rich corpus of written literature which has become a part of its practice and teaching. Among the earliest and most widely studied of the specifically Zen texts, dating back to at least the 9th century CE, is the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, sometimes attributed to Huìnéng. Others include the various collections of koans and the Shobogenzo of Dogen Zenji.

Zen training emphasizes daily life practice, along with intensive periods of meditation. Practicing with others is an integral part of Zen practice. In explaining Zen Buddhism, Japanese Zen teachers have made the point that Zen is a "way of life". D.T. Suzuki wrote that aspects of this life are: a life of humility; a life of labor; a life of service; a life of prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation. The Chinese Chan master Baizhang (720-814 CE) left behind a famous saying which had been the guiding principle of his life, "A day without work is a day without food."

D.T. Suzuki asserted that satori (awakening) has always been the goal of every school of Buddhism, but that which distinguished the Zen tradition as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. In India, the tradition of the mendicant (bhikkhu) 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. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration, and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Zen had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life.

Zazen

Kodo Sawaki practicing shikantazaAs the name Zen implies, Zen sitting meditation is the core of Zen practice and is called zazen in Japanese (?; Chinese tso-chan [Wade-Giles] or zuòchán [Pinyin]). During zazen, practitioners usually assume a sitting position such as the lotus, half-lotus, Burmese, or seiza postures. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or put in the energy center below the navel (Chinese dan tian, Japanese tanden or hara). Often, a square or round cushion (zafu, ?) placed on a padded mat (zabuton, ?) is used to sit on; in some cases, a chair may be used. In Japanese Rinzai Zen tradition practitioners typically sit facing the center of the room; while Japanese Soto practitioners traditionally sit facing a wall.

In Soto Zen, shikantaza meditation ("just-sitting", ?) that is, a meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. Considerable textual, philosophical, and phenomenological justification of this practice can be found throughout Dogen’s Shobogenzo, as for example in the "Principles of Zazen" and the "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen". Rinzai Zen, instead, emphasizes attention to the breath and koan practice (q.v.).

The amount of time spent daily in zazen by practitioners varies. Dogen recommends that five minutes or more daily is beneficial for householders. The key is daily regularity, as Zen teaches that the ego will naturally resist, and the discipline of regularity is essential. Practicing Zen monks may perform four to six periods of zazen during a normal day, with each period lasting 30 to 40 minutes. Normally, a monastery will hold a monthly retreat period (sesshin), lasting between one and seven days. During this time, zazen is practiced more intensively: monks may spend four to eight hours in meditation each day, sometimes supplemented by further rounds of zazen late at night.

Meditation as a practice can be applied to any posture. Walking meditation is called kinhin. Successive periods of zazen are usually interwoven with brief periods of walking meditation to relieve the legs.

The Zen teacher

This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads "Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha". It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768)Because the Zen tradition emphasizes direct communication over scriptural study, the Zen teacher has traditionally played a central role. Generally speaking, a Zen teacher is a person ordained in any tradition of Zen to teach the Dharma, guide students of meditation, and perform rituals. An important concept for all Zen sects is the notion of dharma transmission: the claim of a line of authority that goes back to Sakyamuni Buddha via the teachings of each successive master to each successive student. This concept relates to the ideas expressed in a description of Zen attributed to Bodhidharma:

A special transmission outside the scriptures; (?)

No dependence upon words and letters; (?)

Direct pointing to the human mind; (?)

Seeing into one’s own nature and attaining Buddhahood. (?) The idea of a line of descent from Sakyamuni Buddha is a distinctive institution of Zen which Suzuki (1949:168) contends was invented by hagiographers to grant Zen legitimacy and prestige.

John McRae’s study "Seeing Through Zen" explores this assertion of lineage as a distinctive and central aspect of Zen Buddhism. He writes of this "genealogical" approach so central to Zen’s self-understanding, that while not without precedent, has unique features. It is "relational (involving interaction between individuals rather than being based solely on individual effort), generational (in that it is organized according to parent-child, or rather teacher-student, generations) and reiterative (i.e., intended for emulation and repetition in the lives of present and future teachers and students."

McRae offers a detailed criticism of lineage, but he also notes it is central to Zen. So much so that it is hard to envision any claim to Zen that discards claims of lineage. Therefore, for example, in Japanese Soto, lineage charts become a central part of the Sanmatsu, the documents of Dharma transmission. And it is common for daily chanting in Zen temples and monasteries to include the lineage of the school.

In Japan during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), some came to question the lineage system and its legitimacy. The Zen master Dokuan Genko (1630-1698), for example, openly questioned the necessity of written acknowledgment from a teacher, which he dismissed as "paper Zen." Quite a number of teachers in Japan during the Tokugawa period did not adhere to the lineage system; these were termed mushi dokugo (?, "independently enlightened without a teacher") or jigo jisho (?, "self-enlightened and self-certified"). Modern Zen Buddhists also consider questions about the dynamics of the lineage system, inspired in part by academic research into the history of Zen.

Honorific titles associated with teachers typically include, in Chinese, Fashi (?) or Chanshi (?); in Korean, Sunim (an honorofic for a monk or nun) and Seon Sa (?); in Japanese, Osho (?), Roshi (?), or Sensei (?); and in Vietnamese, Th?y. Note that many of these titles are not specific to Zen but are used generally for Buddhist priests; some, such as sensei are not even specific to Buddhism.

The English term Zen master is often used to refer to important teachers, especially ancient and medieval ones. However, there is no specific criterion by which one may be called a Zen master. The term is less common in reference to modern teachers. In the Open Mind Zen School, English terms have been substituted for the Japanese ones to avoid confusion of this issue. "Assistant Zen Teacher" is a person authorized to begin to teach, but still under the supervision of his teacher. "Zen Teacher" applies to one authorized to teach without further direction, and "Zen Master" refers to one who is a Zen Teacher and has founded his or her own teaching center.

Koan practice

Chinese character for "no thing." Chinese: wú (Korean/Japanese: mu). It figures in the famous Zhaozhou’s dog koanZen Buddhists may practice koan inquiry during sitting meditation (zazen), walking meditation, and throughout all the activities of daily life. A koan (literally "public case") is a story or dialogue, generally related to Zen or other Buddhist history; the most typical form is an anecdote involving early Chinese Zen masters. Koan practice is particularly emphasized by the Japanese Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line.

These anecdotes involving famous Zen teachers are a practical demonstration of their wisdom, and can be used to test a student’s progress in Zen practice. Koans often appear to be paradoxical or linguistically meaningless dialogues or questions. But to Zen Buddhists the koan is "the place and the time and the event where truth reveals itself" unobstructed by the oppositions and differientiations of language. Answering a koan requires a student to let go of conceptual thinking and of the logical way we order the world, so that like creativity in art, the appropriate insight and response arises naturally and spontaneously in mind.

Koans and their study developed in China within the context of the open questions and answers of teaching sessions conducted by the Chinese Zen masters. Today, the Zen student’s mastery of a given koan is presented to the teacher in a private interview (referred to in Japanese as dokusan (?), daisan (?), or sanzen (?)). Zen teachers advise that the problem posed by a koan is to be taken quite seriously, and to be approached as literally a matter of life and death. While there is no unique answer to a koan, practitioners are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the koan and of Zen through their responses. The teacher may approve or disapprove of the answer and guide the student in the right direction. There are also various commentaries on koans, written by experienced teachers, that can serve as a guide. These commentaries are also of great value to modern scholarship on the subject.

Chanting and liturgy

Zen Buddhists practicing zazen, at a zendo.See also: Buddhist chant

A practice in many Zen monasteries and centers is a daily liturgy service. Practitioners chant major sutras such as the Heart Sutra, the Avalokiteshvara Sutra, the Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness, the Great Compassionate Heart Dharani (Daihishin Dharani), and other minor mantras.

The Butsudan is the altar in a monastery where offerings are made to the images of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas. The same term is also used in Japanese homes for the altar where one prays to and communicates with deceased family members. As such, reciting liturgy in Zen can be seen as a means to connect with the Bodhisattvas of the past. Liturgy is often used during funerals, memorials, and other special events as means to invoke the aid of supernatural powers.

Chanting usually centers on major Bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara (Japanese: Kannon or Kanzeon) and Manjusri (Japanese: Monju). These celestial beings have taken extraordinary vows to liberate all beings from Samsara (the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth), while remaining in Samsara themselves. Since the Zen practitioner’s aim is to walk the Bodhisattva path, chanting can be used as a means to connect with these beings and realize this ideal within oneself. By repeatedly chanting the Avalokiteshvara sutra (??, Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumonbon?), for example, one instills the Bodhisattva’s ideals into ones mind. The ultimate goal is given in the end of the sutra, which states, "In the morning, be one with Avalokiteshvara, In the evening, be one with Avalokiteshvara,", Through the realization of the Emptiness of oneself, and the Mahayanist ideal of Buddha-nature in all things, one understands that there is no difference between the cosmic bodhisattva and oneself. The wisdom and compassion of the Boddhisattva one is chanting to is seen to equal the inner wisdom and compassion of the practitioner. Thus, the duality between subject and object, practitioner and Bodhisattva, chanter and sutra is ended.

One modern day Roshi justifies the use of chanting sutras by referring to zen master Dogen., Dogen is known to have refuted the statement "Painted rice cakes will not satisfy hunger". This means that sutras, which are just symbols like painted rice cakes, cannot truly satisfy one’s spiritual hunger. Dogen, however, saw that there is no separation between metaphor and reality. "There is no difference between paintings, rice cakes, or any thing at all". The symbol and the symbolized were inherently the same, and thus only the sutras could truly satisfy one’s spiritual needs.

To understand this non-dual relationship experientially, one is told to practice liturgy Intimately. In distinguishing between ceremony and liturgy, Dogen states, "In ceremony there are forms and there are sounds, there is understanding and there is believing. In liturgy there is only intimacy." The practitioner is instructed to listen to and speak liturgy not just with one sense, but with one’s "whole body-and-mind". By listening with one’s entire being, one eliminates the space between the self and the liturgy. Thus, Dogen’s instructions are to "listen with the eye and see with the ear". By focusing all of one’s being on one specific practice, duality is transcended. Dogen says, "Let go of the eye, and the whole body-and-mind are nothing but the eye; let go of the ear, and the whole universe is nothing but the ear." Chanting intimately thus allows one to experience a non-dual reality. The liturgy used is a tool to allow the practitioner to transcend the old conceptions of self and other. In this way, intimate liturgy practice allows one to realize Sunyata, or emptiness, which is at the heart of Buddhist teachings.

Other techniques

There are other techniques common in the Zen tradition which seem unconventional and whose purpose is said to be to shock a student in order to help him or her let go of habitual activities of the mind. Some of these are common today, while others are found mostly in anecdotes. These include the loud belly shout known as katsu. It is common in many Zen traditions today for Zen teachers to have a stick with them during formal ceremonies which is a symbol of authority and which can be also used to strike on the table during a talk.

Mythology

Bodhidharma. Woodcut print by Yoshitoshi, 1887.Within Zen, and thus from an emic perspective, the origins of Zen Buddhism are ascribed to what is called the Flower Sermon, in which Sakyamuni Buddha is supposed to have passed on special insight to the disciple Mahakasyapa. The sermon itself was a wordless one in which Sakyamuni merely held up a flower before the assembled disciples, among whom there was no reaction apart from Mahakasyapa, who smiled. The smile is said to have signified Mahakasyapa’s understanding, and Sakyamuni acknowledged this by saying:

I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahakasyapa.

Thus, a way within Buddhism developed which concentrated on direct experience rather than on rational creeds or revealed scriptures. Zen is a method of meditative religion which seeks to enlighten people in the manner that the Mahakasyapa experienced.

In the Song of Enlightenment (? Zhèngdào ge) of Yongjia Xuánjué (665-713)-one of the chief disciples of Huìnéng, the 6th patriarch of Chan Buddhism-it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahakasyapa, a disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha, and the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism:

Mahakasyapa was the first, leading the line of transmission; 
Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West; 
The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country; 
And Bodhidharma became the First Father here: 
His mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers, 
And by them many minds came to see the Light.

The idea of a line of descent from Sakyamuni Buddha is a distinctive institution of Zen which Suzuki (1949:168) contends was invented by hagiographers to grant Zen legitimacy and prestige. The earliest source for the legend of the "Flower sermon" is from 11th century China..

See also: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

Chán developed as an amalgam of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Dumoulin (2005) argues that Chán also has roots in yogic practices, specifically kamma?hana, the consideration of objects, and kasi?a, total fixation of the mind.

The entry of Buddhism into China was marked by interaction and syncretism with Taoic faiths, Taoism in particular. Buddhism’s scriptures were translated into Chinese with Taoist vocabulary, because it was originally seen as a kind of foreign Taoism. In the Tang period Taoism incorporated such Buddhist elements as monasteries, vegetarianism, prohibition of alcohol, the doctrine of emptiness, and collecting scripture into tripartite organisation. During the same time, Chán Buddhism grew to become the largest sect in Chinese Buddhism.

The establishment of Chán is traditionally credited to the Indian prince turned monk Bodhidharma (formerly dated ca 500 CE, but now ca early fifth century), who is recorded as having come to China to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words". Bodhidharma settled in the kingdom of Wei where he took among his disciples Daoyu and Huike. Early on in China Bodhidharma’s teaching was referred to as the "One Vehicle sect of India." The One Vehicle (Sanskrit Ekayana), also known as the Supreme Vehicle or the Buddha Vehicle, was taught in the Lankavatara Sutra which was closely associated with Bodhidharma. However the lable "One Vehicle sect" did not become widely used, and Bodhidharma’s teaching became known as the Chan sect for its primary focus on chan training and practice. Shortly before his death, Bodhidharma appointed Huike to succeed him, making Huike the first Chinese born patriarch and the second patriarch of Chán in China. Bodhidharma is said to have passed three items to Huike as a sign of transmission of the Dharma: a robe, a bowl, and a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra. The transmission then passed to the second patriarch (Huike), the third (Sengcan), the fourth patriarch (Dao Xin) and the fifth patriarch (Hongren).

The sixth and last patriarch, Huineng (638-713), was one of the giants of Chán history, and all surviving schools regard him as their ancestor. However, the dramatic story of Huineng’s life tells that there was a controversy over his claim to the title of patriarch. After being chosen by Hongren, the fifth patriarch, Huineng had to flee by night to Nanhua Temple in the south to avoid the wrath of Hongren’s jealous senior disciples. Later, in the middle of the 8th century, monks claiming to be among the successors to Huineng, calling themselves the Southern school, cast themselves in opposition to those claiming to succeed Hongren’s then publicly recognized student Shenxiu (?). It is commonly held that at this point-the debates between these rival factions-that Chán enters the realm of fully documented history. The Southern school eventually became predominant and their rivals died out. Modern scholarship, however, has questioned this narrative.

The following are the six Patriarchs of Chán in China as listed in traditional sources:

Bodhidharma (??) about 440 - about 528 
Huike (?) 487 - 593 
Sengcan (?) ? - 606 
Daoxin (?) 580 - 651 
Hongren (?) 601 - 674 
Huineng (?) 638 - 713 
Chán (Zen) in China

See also: Buddhism in the West

Although it is difficult to trace when the West first became aware of Zen as a distinct form of Buddhism, the visit of Soyen Shaku, a Japanese Zen monk, to Chicago during the World Parliament of Religions in 1893 is often pointed to as an event that enhanced its profile in the Western world. It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners, other than the descendants of Asian immigrants, pursuing a serious interest in Zen reached a significant level.

Zen and Western culture

In Europe, the Expressionist and Dada movements in art tend to have much in common thematically with the study of koans and actual Zen. The early French surrealist René Daumal translated D.T. Suzuki as well as Sanskrit Buddhist texts.

Eugen Herrigel’s book Zen in the Art of Archery (1953), describing his training in the Zen-influenced martial art of Kyudo, inspired many of the Western world’s early Zen practitioners. However, many scholars are quick to criticize this book. (eg see Yamada Shoji)

The British-American philosopher Alan Watts took a close interest in Zen Buddhism and wrote and lectured extensively on it during the 1950s. He understood it as a vehicle for a mystical transformation of consciousness, and also as a historical example of a non-Western, non-Christian way of life that had fostered both the practical and fine arts.

The Dharma Bums, a novel written by Jack Kerouac and published in 1959, gave its readers a look at how a fascination with Buddhism and Zen was being absorbed into the bohemian lifestyles of a small group of American youths, primarily on the West Coast. Beside the narrator, the main character in this novel was "Japhy Ryder", a thinly-veiled depiction of Gary Snyder. The story was based on actual events taking place while Snyder prepared, in California, for the formal Zen studies that he would pursue in Japanese monasteries between 1956 and 1968.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) the Trappist monk and priest was internationally recognized as having one of those rare Western minds that was entirely at home in Asian experience. Like his friend, the late D.T. Suzuki, Merton believed that there must be a little of Zen in all authentic creative and spiritual experience. The dialogue between Merton and Suzuki ("Wisdom in Emptiness" in: Zen and the Birds of Appetite, 1968) explores the many congruencies of Christian mysticism and Zen. (Main publications: The Way of Chuang Tzu, 1965; Mystics and Zen Masters, 1967; Zen and the Birds of Appetite, 1968).

Reginald Horace Blyth (1898-1964) was an Englishman who went to Japan in 1940 to further his study of Zen. He was interned during the II World War and started writing in prison. He was tutor to the Crown Prince after the war. His greatest work is the 5-volume "Zen and Zen Classics", published in the 1960s. In it, he discusses Zen themes from a philosophical standpoint, often in conjunction with Christian elements in a comparative spirit. His essays include titles such as "God, Buddha, and Buddhahood" or "Zen Sin, and Death". He is an enthusiast of Zen, but not altogether uncritical of it. His writings can be characterized as unorthodox and quirky.

While Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig, was a 1974 bestseller, it in fact has little to do with Zen as a religious practice. Rather it deals with the notion of the metaphysics of "quality" from the point of view of the main character. Pirsig was attending the Minnesota Zen Center at the time of writing the book. He has stated that, despite its title, the book "should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice." Though it may not deal with orthodox Zen Buddhist practice, Pirsig’s book in fact deals with many of the more subtle facets of Zen living and Zen mentality without drawing attention to any religion or religious organization.

A number of contemporary authors have explored the relationship between Zen and a number of other disciplines, including parenting, teaching, and leadership. Leadership expert Timothy H. Warneka uses a number of Zen stories, such as "Understanding Harmony" to explain leadership strategies:

Once upon a time in ancient Japan, a young man was studying martial arts under a famous teacher. Every day the young man would practice in a courtyard along with the other students. One day, as the master watched, he could see that the other students were consistently interfering with the young man’s technique. Sensing the student’s frustration, the master approached the student and tapped him on the shoulder. "What is wrong?" inquired the teacher. "I cannot execute my technique and I do not understand why," replied the student. "This is because you do not understand harmony. Please follow me," said the master. Leaving the practice hall, the master and student walked a short distance into the woods until they came upon a stream. After standing silently beside the streambed for a few minutes, the master spoke. "Look at the water," he instructed. "It does not slam into the rocks and stop out of frustration, but instead flows around them and continues down the stream. Become like the water and you will understand harmony." Soon, the student learned to move and flow like the stream, and none of the other students could keep him from executing his techniques.

Western Zen lineages

Over the last fifty years mainstream forms of Zen, led by teachers who trained in East Asia and their successors, have begun to take root in the West.

In North America, the Zen lineages derived from the Japanese Soto school are the most numerous. Among these are the lineages of the San Francisco Zen Center, established by Shunryu Suzuki and the White Plum Asanga, founded by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. Suzuki’s San Francisco Zen Center established the first Zen Monastery in America in 1967, called Tassajara in the mountains near Big Sur. Maezumi’s successors have created schools including Great Plains Zen Center, founded by Susan Myoyu Andersen, Roshi, the Mountains and Rivers Order, founded by John Daido Loori, the Zen Peacemaker Order, founded by Bernard Tetsugen Glassman and the Ordinary Mind school, founded by Charlotte Joko Beck. The Katagiri lineage, founded by Dainin Katagiri, has a significant presence in the Midwest. Note that both Taizan Maezumi and Dainin Katagiri served as priests at Zenshuji Soto Mission in the 1960s.

Taisen Deshimaru, a student of Kodo Sawaki, was a Soto Zen priest from Japan who taught in France. The International Zen Association, which he founded, remains influential. The American Zen Association, headquartered at the New Orleans Zen Temple, is one of the North American organizations practicing in the Deshimaru tradition.

Soyu Matsuoka, served as superintendent and abbot of the Long Beach Zen Buddhist Temple and Zen Center. The Temple was headquarters to Zen Centers in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Everett, Washington. He established the Temple at Long Beach in 1971 where he resided until his passing in 1998.

The Sanbo Kyodan is a Japan-based reformist Zen group, founded in 1954 by Yasutani Hakuun,

Yasutani and Philip Kapleau circa 1957.which has had a significant influence on Zen in the West. Sanbo Kyodan Zen is based primarily on the Soto tradition, but also incorporates Rinzai-style koan practice. Yasutani’s approach to Zen first became prominent in the English-speaking world through Philip Kapleau’s book The Three Pillars of Zen (1965), which was one of the first books to introduce Western audiences to Zen as a practice rather than simply a philosophy. Among the Zen groups in North America, Hawaii, Europe, and New Zealand which derive from Sanbo Kyodan are those associated with Kapleau, Robert Aitken, and John Tarrant.

In the UK, Throssel Hole Abbey was founded as a sister monastery to Shasta Abbey in California by Master Reverend Jiyu Kennett Roshi and has a number of dispersed Priories and centres. Jiyu Kennett, an English woman, was ordained as a priest and Zen master in Shoji-ji, one of the two main Soto Zen temples in Japan (her book The Wild White Goose describes her experiences in Japan). The Order is called the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives. The lineage of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi is represented by the White Plum Sangha UK, while Taisen Deshimaru Roshi’s lineage is known in the UK as IZAUK (Intl Zen Assoc. UK). The Zen Centre in London is connected to the Buddhist Society. The Western Chan Fellowship is an association of lay Chan practitioners based in the UK. They are registered as a charity in England and Wales, but also have contacts in Europe, principally in Norway, Poland, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland and the USA.

There are also a number of Rinzai Zen centers in the West. In North America, some of the more prominent include Rinzai-ji founded by Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji established by Eido Shimano and Kyudo Nakagawi Roshi, and Chozen-ji founded by Omori Sogen Roshi. In Europe there is Egely Monastery established by a Dharma Heir of Eido Shimano, Denko Mortensen.

Not all the successful Zen teachers in the West have been from Japanese traditions. There have also been teachers of Chan, Seon, and Thien Buddhism. In addition, there are a number of Zen teachers who studied in Asian traditions that because of corruption or political issues decided to strike out on their own. One organization of this type is Open Mind Zen in Melbourne, Florida.

Covering over 480 acres of land and located in Talmage, California, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas was founded by Hsuan Hua.The first Chinese master to teach Westerners in North America was Hsuan Hua, who taught Zen, Chinese Pure Land, Tiantai, Vinaya, and Vajrayana Buddhism in San Francisco during the early 1960s. He went on to found the City Of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a monastery and retreat center located on a 237 acre (959,000 m²) property near Ukiah, California. Another Chinese Zen teacher with a Western following is Sheng-yen, a master trained in both the Caodong and Linji schools (equivalent to the Japanese Soto and Rinzai, respectively). He first visited the United States in 1978 under the sponsorship of the Buddhist Association of the United States, and, in 1980, founded the Chan Meditation Center in Queens, New York..

The most prominent Korean Zen teacher in the West was Seung Sahn. Seung Sahn founded the Providence Zen Center in Providence, Rhode Island; this was to become the headquarters of the Kwan Um School of Zen, a large international network of affiliated Zen centers.

Two notable Vietnamese Zen teachers have been influential in Western countries: Thich Thien-An and Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Thien-An came to America in 1966 as a visiting professor at UCLA and taught traditional Thien meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh was a monk in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, during which he was a peace activist. In response to these activities, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1966, he left Vietnam in exile and now resides at Plum Village, a monastery in France. He has written more than one hundred books about Buddhism, which have made him one of the very few most prominent Buddhist authors among the general readership in the West. In his books and talks, Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes mindfulness (sati) as the most important practice in daily life.

Pan-lineage organizations

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.

In the United States, two pan-lineage organizations have formed in the last few years. The oldest is the American Zen Teachers Association which sponsors an annual conference. North American Soto teachers in North America, led by several of the heirs of Taizan Maezumi and Shunryu Suzuki, have also formed the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.