What is zen?

Answer 1

Zen is a school of Buddhism that places emphasis on practice and experiential wisdom, especially as it relates to meditation. Zen (Ch'an in Chinese and Seon in Korean) and is the Japanese pronunciation of the same word. It is short for Zenna (Ch'anna, Seonna) the Japanese word for the Sanskrit term dhyāna, a type of Indian mediation.

Depending on the school of Zen, there are difrent practices and ideas, but none are wrong or more correct. The reason for various styles of Zen (or Buddhism in general) is that what woks for me may not work for you, in other words, one size does NOT fit all.

Some of the more common practices of Zen are:

Seated Meditation - The core practice of Zen - There are various methods of meditation. In some methods the meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and then pass without focusing on the thought itself. Other methods include counting ones breath or focusing on a single thought or trying to understand a lesson that was recently learned.

The Koan (gong-an in Chinese or Kong'an in Korean) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement taken from Zen history and tradition that contain aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, but are accessible by intuition. For example:
- A monk asked Dongshan Shouchu, (a famous Chinese Zen teacher) "What is Buddha?" Dongshan said, "Three Pounds of Flax"

(In essence, he is saying Buddha is everything...Or is he saying that everything is Buddha? Or that Buddha isn’t important?) You decide.

Another practice is Chanting. Most Zen schools will chant different sutras such as the Heart Sutra, the Great Dharani, the Thousand Eyes and Hands Sutra or any number of other sutras. Chanting is not so much about what you are chanting, but rather the act of chanting itself and being present in the moment.

There are other practices, but these are the main Zen practices you will encounter. In Zen, people do read the Sutras and other texts, but this not stresses and found to be rather unimportant as Zen teaches that through direct individual experience and practice enlightenment (awakening to one's own true nature) can be brought about.

Also, in some forms of Buddhism, the ultimate goal is to awaken to your true nature (your tie nature and Buddha-nature are one and the same.) and thus liberate yourself from Samsara (the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth). Zen emphasizes the Bodhisattva path, this is the path that leads to liberating all beings from Samsara while remaining in Samsara yourself. In other words, many schools of Buddhism focus on the ending of suffering so you can enter Nirvana. Zen focuses on leading others to Nirvana while reaming here until the last being has is no longer suffering.

Anyway, if you have any more questions, add me as a contact to your network and I'll answer what I can, or post here and if I see it, I'll see if I can help. Take Care.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Like Zen Buddhism?

Answer 3

Zen is a sect of Buddhism. You may hear many people using zen as if it was a term for minimalist interior decorating. It is an incorrect use of the term, but it's hard to correct such a wide-spread error. Recently I have heard people discuss a less-cluttered room as being zen. That was a gross misstatement.

Answer 4

zen is a form of buddhism

Answer 5

A plato or restful place in your mind. A place of personal satisfaction.

Answer 6

it means like being aloaf
or like distant
or like being Cool
and as if u dont care about anything.
and u actin cool