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Zen Pathways: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Practice of Zen Buddhism

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Bret W Davis

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“All sutras claim to be the teachings of the Buddha, yet they were all were written down much later. Even the earliest sutras, the ones that make up the Pali Canon of the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which has thrived in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, were first written down four centuries after the Buddha died. The sutras that form the scriptural basis of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, which has thrived in Central and East Asia, were composed starting in the first century bce, many being translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by the end of the second century of the Common Era. When these scriptures were brought from India to China, the different schools of Chinese Buddhism distinguished themselves from one another by claiming that one sutra or another is the pinnacle of the Buddha's teaching. The Zen school, however, is different. While Zen Buddhists do study and chant many sutras and other texts, the Zen school is unique in that it does not claim to be based on any written teachings at all; rather, it is based on the Buddha's actual experience of enlightenment. This experience of enlightenment is aid to be attainable by all human beings, insofar as the Buddha-nature or Buddha-mind is universal. In other words, all human beings have the same underlying nature and mind as the Buddha. Yet this Buddha-nature or Buddha-mind must be realized, awakened to, and actualized, and the best method for doing so is the one that the Buddha himself used: meditation.”

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“The Japanese word zen in fact means "meditation" or "state of meditative concentration." In Chinese, zen is pronounced chan. Chan is short for channa, which is how the CHinese pronounced dhyana, the Sanskrit word used in India for practices or rarified states of meditative concentration.”

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“Inspired by Zen, the avant-garde composer John Cage shocked the music world in 1952 when he composed a piece that entailed just sitting in silence at a piano or other instrument(s) without playing a single note for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. He wanted the audience to hear the music that is going on around us all the time.”

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“It is true that, as contemporary critics are fond of pointing out, there is much magic and mischief to be found in the history and lore of the Zen tradition, just as there is in all religious traditions. As we attempt to figure out what Zen has meant for others and what it can mean for us, we have to constantly ask ourselves: What is the vital core, the beating heart of the teachings and practices of Zen? What are the teachings and practices that may well challenge and change the way we think and live? And what are the extrinsic limbs that happen to have grown out of, or been attached to, Zen in particular times and places? What aspects of the tradition may need to be altered, or even amputated, in order to fruitfully realize Zen here and now?”

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“The importance of meditation for Zen is readily apparent in the fact that the word zen itself means "meditation." Zen (Chan in Chinese) is the school of Buddhism that more than any other prioritizes the practice of "seated meditation," called zazen in Japanese. The seminal thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master Dogen at times went so far as to claim that "you no longer have need for incense-offerings, doing prostrations, calling on the name of Amida Buddha, penance disciplines, or reading sutras. Just sit in zazen and cast off your body and mind.”

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“One might wonder: "What good is Zen then, at least as a religion, if it cannot provide us with knowledge about what happens after we die?" But does anyone really know what happens after we die? Of course, one may believe in a Heaven and a Hell, or in rebirth as a human or other kind of being; or one may not believe in such things. But does anyone really know? One may desperately desire there to be an afterlife, and one may give this desperate desire a nice name like "hope" or "faith" rather than a naughty one like "craving" or "attachment." In any case, we have to admit that we don't really know what happens to us after death—or even if anything at all does happen to us. I think the harder and deeper question about death is this: Once we admit that no one really knows what happens, what comportment should we take toward death? Is there a wisdom in the face of death that is not a matter of knowledge about the afterlife?”

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“Whereas some schools of Buddhism distinguish more sharply between the preparatory practice of concentration and the liberating practice of insight, Zen views concentration and insight as two sides of the same coin: when the mind is cleared, settled, and focused, it naturally attains insight and manifests its innate wisdom.”

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“If the average American were to jump right into week long retreat in a Zen monastery, it would certainly feel like an excruciatingly painful practice of extreme asceticism—but so would trying to run a full marathon on the first day one decides to take up jogging. It may be the case that many Zen monasteries tilt too far in the direction of asceticism, even more than is necessary as a corrective to our more hedonistic lifestyle. But it is no doubt true that many of our lifestyles tilt too far in the direction of indulging various desires, an indulgence that multiplies and distorts our natural desires into unnatural cravings.”

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