Zen Buddhism

-

Zazen

Zazen, Sanzen, and Samu are three important factors in the Zen Monastery.

Before I decide which of the three I consider the greatest importance, I want to give a brief description of each of the three techniques in the Zen Monastery starting with Zazen.

Zazen
Zazen is a form of sitting meditation with a cross-legged posture in Japanese Zen Buddhism. 

Regarded as an insight to the nature of existence, the purpose of zazen for the meditator is to suspend any judgmental thinking and "completely focus his conscious on the existential reality of the moment, and stay with that" (Bresnan 496).

In Japanese, this technique is called shikantaza, as it allows the meditator to fully grasp the moment.



Below is a quick beginner's tutorial of Zazen meditation:


Sanzen

Sanzen
Sanzen is a type of "meeting in dokusan with the roshi" (Bresnan 512).

In other words, Sanzen is a private interview between master and student.

In a Sanzen, a student would be let in to a roshi's room and after bowing deeply will await the roshi's questions to answer.

Arranged meetings often occur during the Zazen period, although it doesn't need to occur everyday as the meetings can be infrequent.

According to the Zen community, "it is believed that an experienced master can quickly and intuitively determine the state of mind of the student, and can thus recommend exactly the right thing for that person to be working on" (Bresnan 512). 


Samu

Samu refers to the physical volunteer work of the Zen Monastery. 

Works can include manual labor or other forms of useful work because in a Zen community, everybody "seek to be self-sufficient as it possibly can be" (Bresnan 512).

Samu
Samu can be included as a form of meditation because "working for the good of the community is an expression of the mutual support and love that the individual members share with one another" (Bresnan 513) as this also brings a sense of joy.

Between Zazen, Sanzen, and Samu; the one I believe to be of the greatest importance would have to be Samu.

The reason for why I believe Samu is the most important is because the manual labor also helps protect the environment and the work is done for the good of the community.



Works Cited:

Bresnan, Patrick S. Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought, 6th ed., 

    Routledge, 2018.

Hazy Moon Zen Center. "How to Meditate - Beginners Introduction to Zazen." Youtube, 10, Oct. 2010.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDJ_wbjBL6c. Accessed 29 November 2021.

“Meeting with a Teacher.” Bright Way Zen, 26 June 2021, 

    https://brightwayzen.org/practice/zen-teachers/meeting-with-a-teacher/. Accessed 29 November 2021.

“Practicing Samu.” Practicing Samu | Zen Meditation, https://meditation-zen.org/en/meditation-samu.

    Accessed 29 November 2021.

“What Do Zen Buddhists Practice?” Buddhism for Beginners, 25 Apr. 2020.

    https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/what-do-zen-buddhists-practice/. Accessed 29 November 2021.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daoism and Confucianism

-
Image
  Confucius Introduction In 255 BCE, the Zhou Dynasty would reach it's end due to the Period of Warring States, where the country of China was ravaged by constant feudal warfare, ruined crops, armies and conquest, and the suffering of the peasants. By the end of the Zhou Dynasty, history would "see the appearance of many new social philosophies, all of them seeking to be a blueprint for the right ordering of society and government. That was a natural response to the turmoil of the times" (Bresnan 304). Because of this, the Period of Warring States would also be known as the Period of a Hundred Philosophies. Two that were mentioned in Patrick Bresnan's  Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought were Confucianism and Daoism (also known as Taoism) with Confucianism being one of the earlier schools founded by Confucius. After reading both chapters on Confucianism and Daoism, there were specific questions about Confucius from the book that caught my atte
Read more

Buddhism: The Story of Theravada and Mahayana

-
Image
Introduction Buddhism In Patrick Bresnan's Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought , chapters 11 and 12 speak about two different types of Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism respectively. At one point in history, "Buddhism is broadly divided between two great traditions, Theravada (also known as Hinayana) and Mahayana"  (Bresnan 243). Although "Mahayana would become the larger and historically more influential movement"  (Bresnan 243), Theravada would precede the Mahayana for its well-organized movement. Throughout reading through both of these chapters, there were specific questions from the book that I would like to address. I find that by addressing these, we'd come to learn more about both types of Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism The first question I would like to address is the differences between samatha and vippasana meditation. Samatha meditation is a type of meditation appropriate for beginners as "it promotes
Read more