Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The word ''Zen'' is from the Japanese (but also Cantonese) pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán (禪), which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word ''dhyāna'', which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state".

Zen emphasizes experiential wisdom in the attainment of enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge in favor of direct self-realization through meditation and dharma practice. The teachings of Zen include various sources of Mahāyāna thought, including the Prajñāpāramitā literature, Yogācāra and the Tathāgatagarbha Sutras.

The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam, and east to Korea and Japan. As a matter of tradition, the establishment of Zen is credited to the South Indian Pallava prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma, who came to China during the rise of Tamil Buddhism in Tamilakam to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures, not founded on words or letters".

Zen origins (pre-700 CE)

The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chán history no longer exist. Theories about the influence of other schools in the evolution of Chán are widely variable and rely heavily on speculative correlation rather than on written records or histories. Some scholars have argued that Chán developed from the interaction between Mahāyāna Buddhism and Taoism, while others insist that Chán has roots in yogic practices, specifically '''', the consideration of objects, and '''', total fixation of the mind. A number of other conflicting theories exist.

Tradition and legends

The Flower Sermon

The origins of Zen Buddhism are ascribed to the Flower Sermon, the earliest source for which comes from the 14th century. It is said that Gautama Buddha gathered his disciples one day for a Dharma talk. When they gathered together, the Buddha was completely silent and some speculated that perhaps the Buddha was tired or ill. The Buddha silently held up and twirled a flower and twinkled his eyes; several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though none of them was correct. One of the Buddha's disciples, Mahākāśyapa, silently gazed at the flower and broke into a broad smile. The Buddha then acknowledged Mahākāśyapa's insight by saying the following:

Thus, through Zen there developed a way which concentrated on direct experience rather than on rational creeds or revealed scriptures. Wisdom was passed, not through words or concepts, but through a lineage of one-to-one direct transmission of experience from teacher to student. It is commonly taught that such lineage continued all the way from the Buddha's time to the present.

Bodhidharma

The establishment of Chán is traditionally credited to the Tamil prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma (formerly dated ca. 500 CE, but now ca. early 5th century), who is recorded as having come to China to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words".

Bodhidharma is associated with several other names, and is also known by the name ''Bodhitara''. He was given the name Bodhidharma by his teacher known variously as Panyatara, Prajnatara, or Prajñādhara. He is said to have been the son of a southern Indian Pallava king, and with the rise of Tamil Buddhism on the continent, utilized the Kanchipuram port of his residence in Tamilakam to reach China at a time when the two nations enjoyed strong trade with one another.

Bodhidharma arrived in China and visited Canton and Luoyang. In Luoyang, he is reputed to have engaged in nine years of silent meditation, coming to be known as "the wall-gazing Brahman". This epithet is referring to him as an Indian holy man.

Bodhidharma settled in the kingdom of Wei where he took among his disciples Daoyu and Huike (慧可). 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 ''''. The transmission then passed to the second patriarch (Huike), the third (Sengcan), the fourth (Daoxin), and the fifth (Hongren).

Several scholars have suggested that Bodhidharma as a person never actually existed, but was a combination of various historical figures over several centuries.

In the ''Song of Enlightenment'' (證道歌 ''Zhèngdào gē'') of Yǒngjiā Xuánjué (永嘉玄覺, 665–713)—one of the chief disciples of Huìnéng, the 6th patriarch of Chán Buddhism—it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of Śākyamuni Buddha, and the first patriarch of Chán Buddhism:

Often attributed to Bodhidharma is the Bloodstream Sermon, which was actually composed quite some time after his death.

Another famous legend involving Bodhidharma is his meeting with Emperor Wu of Liang. Emperor Wu took an interest in Buddhism and spent a great deal of public wealth on funding Buddhist monasteries in China. When he had heard that a great Buddhist teacher, Bodhidharma, had come to China, he sought an audience with him. When they met, Emperor Wu asked how much karmic merit he had gained from his noble support of Buddhism. Bodhidharma replied "None at all." The Emperor asked "Then what is the truth of the teachings?" Bodhidharma replied, "Vast emptiness, nothing holy." So the emperor asked "Then who are you standing in front of me?" Bodhidharma replied "I am nothing," and walked out.

Another legend involving Bodhidharma is that he visited the Shaolin Temple in the kingdom of Wei, at some point, and taught them a series of exercises which became the basis for the Shaolin martial arts.

Ancestral Founders and lineage

Bodhidharma settled in the kingdom of Wei. Shortly before his death, Bodhidharma appointed a disciple named Huike to succeed him, making Huike the first Chinese-born ancestral founder and the second ancestral founder 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 ''''. The transmission then passed to the second ancestral founder Huike, the third Sengcan, the fourth ancestral founder Daoxin, and the fifth ancestral founder Hongren.

The sixth and last ancestral founder, Huineng (惠能; 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 ancestral founder, 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 (神秀; ?-706). It is commonly held that it is at this point — that is, the debates between these rival factions — that Chán enters the realm of fully documented history.

Aside from disagreements over the valid lineage, doctrinally the Southern school is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is sudden, while the Northern School is associated with the teaching that enlightenment is gradual. The Southern school eventually became predominant and their Northern school rivals died out. Modern scholarship, however, has questioned this narrative, since the only surviving records of this account were authored by members of the Southern school.

The following are the six ancestral founders of Chán in China as listed in traditional sources: # Bodhidharma () ca. 440 – ca. 528 # Huike () 487–593 # Sengcan () ?–606 # Daoxin () 580–651 # Hongren () 601–674 # Huineng () 638–713

Zen history (post-700 CE)

The Five Houses of Zen

Developing primarily in the Tang dynasty in China, Classic Zen is traditionally divided historically into the Five Houses (Ch. 五家) of Zen or five "schools". These were not originally regarded as "schools" or "sects", but historically, they have come to be understood that way. In their early history, the schools were not institutionalized, they were without dogma, and the teachers who founded them were not idolized.

The Five Houses of Zen are:

Guiyang school (潙仰宗), named after masters Guishan Lingyou (771–854) and Yangshan Huiji (813–890)

Linji school (臨濟宗), named after master Linji Yixuan (died 866)

Caodong school (曹洞宗), named after masters Dongshan Liangjie (807–869) and Caoshan Benji (840–901)

Yunmen school (雲門宗), named after master Yunmen Wenyan (died 949)

Fayan school (法眼宗), named after master Fayan Wenyi (885–958)

Most Zen lineages throughout Asia and the rest of the world originally grew from or were heavily influenced by the original five houses of Zen.

Chán in China

In the centuries following the introduction of Buddhism to China, Chán (禪) grew to become the largest sect in Chinese Buddhism, and produced the largest body of literature in Chinese history of any sect or tradition. The teachers claiming Huineng's posterity began to branch off into numerous different schools, each with their own special emphasis, but all of which kept the same basic focus on meditation practice, personal instruction, and personal experience. The proliferation of the Chán school during this time in the Tang Dynasty is described in a famous saying:

:''"Look at the territory of the house of Tang —'' :''The whole of it is the realm of the Chán school."''

During the late Tang and the Song periods, the tradition continued, as a wide number of eminent teachers, such as Mazu, Shitou, Baizhang, Huangbo, Linji, and Yunmen developed specialized teaching methods, which would variously become characteristic of the Five Houses of Chán. The traditional five houses were Caodong, Linji, Guiyang, Fayan, and Yunmen. This list does not include earlier schools such as the Hongzhou school (洪州宗) of Mazu.

It was scholar D.T. Suzuki's contention that a spiritual awakening was always the goal of Chán's training, but that part of what distinguished the tradition as it developed through the centuries in China was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists. In Indian Buddhism, the tradition of the mendicant prevailed, but Suzuki explained that 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 (or community direction), and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Chán had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life.

Over the course of Song Dynasty (960–1279), the Guiyang, Fayan, and Yunmen schools were gradually absorbed into the Linji. During the same period, the various developments of Chán teaching methods crystallized into the gōng'àn (koan) practice which is unique to this school of Buddhism. According to Miura and Sasaki, "[I]t was during the lifetime of Yüan-wu's successor, Dahui Zonggao (大慧宗杲; 1089–1163) that Koan Zen entered its determinative stage." Gōng'àn practice was prevalent in the Linji school, to which Yuanwu and Dahui belonged, but it was also employed on a more limited basis by the Caodong school. The teaching styles and words of the classical masters were collected in such important texts as the ''Blue Cliff Record'' (1125) of Yuanwu, ''The Gateless Gate'' (1228) of Wumen, both of the Linji lineage, and the ''Book of Equanimity'' (1223) of Wansong, of the Caodong lineage. These texts record classic gōng'àn cases, together with verse and prose commentaries, which would be studied by later generations of students down to the present.

Chán continued to be influential as a religious force in China, and thrived in the post-Song period, with a vast body of texts being produced up and through the modern period. While traditionally distinct, Chán was taught alongside Pure Land Buddhism in many Chinese Buddhist monasteries. In time much of the distinction between them was lost, and many masters taught both Chán and Pure Land.

Chán Buddhism enjoyed something of a revival in the Ming Dynasty with teachers such as Hanshan Deqing (憨山德清), who wrote and taught extensively on both Chán and Pure Land Buddhism; Miyun Yuanwu (密雲圓悟), who came to be seen posthumously as the first patriarch of the Ōbaku Zen school; as well as Yunqi Zhuhong (雲棲祩宏) and Ouyi Zhixu (蕅益智旭).

After further centuries of decline, Chán was revived again in the early 20th century by Hsu Yun (虛雲), a well-known figure of 20th century Chinese Buddhism. Many Chán teachers today trace their lineage back to Hsu Yun, including Sheng-yen (聖嚴) and Hsuan Hua (宣化), who have propagated Chán in the West where it has grown steadily through the 20th and 21st century.

Chán was repressed in China during the recent modern era in the early periods of the People's Republic, but has more recently been re-asserting itself on the mainland, and has a significant following in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as among Overseas Chinese.

Thiền in Vietnam

Thiền Buddhism (禪宗 Thiền Tông) is the Vietnamese name for the school of Zen Buddhism. Thiền is ultimately derived from the Chinese ''Chán Zōng'' (禪宗).

According to traditional accounts of Vietnam, in 580, an Indian monk named Vinitaruci () traveled to Vietnam after completing his studies with Sengcan, the third patriarch of Chinese Chán. This, then, would be the first appearance of Vietnamese Thiền Buddhism. The sect that Vinitaruci and his lone Vietnamese disciple founded would become known as the oldest branch of Thiền. After a period of obscurity, the Vinitaruci School became one of the most influential Buddhist groups in Vietnam by the 10th century, particularly so under the patriarch Vạn-Hạnh (died 1018).

Other early Vietnamese Zen schools included the Vô Ngôn Thông, which was associated with the teaching of Mazu, and the Thảo Đường, which incorporated ''nianfo'' chanting techniques; both were founded by Chinese monks. A new school was founded by one of Vietnam's religious kings; this was the Trúc Lâm school, which evinced a deep influence from Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Nevertheless, Trúc Lâm's prestige waned over the following centuries as Confucianism became dominant in the royal court. In the 17th century, a group of Chinese monks led by Nguyên Thiều established a vigorous new school, the Lâm Tế, which is the Vietnamese pronunciation of ''Linji''. A more domesticated offshoot of Lâm Tế, the Liễu Quán school, was founded in the 18th century and has since been the predominant branch of Vietnamese Thiền.

Zen master Thích Thanh Từ is credit for renovating Thien Trúc Lâm in Việt Nam. He is one of the most prominent and influential figure of Viet Nam zen masters currently alive. He was a disciple of Master Thích Thiện Hoa.

The most famous practitioner of syncretized Thiền Buddhism in the West is Thích Nhất Hạnh who has authored dozens of books and founded Dharma center Plum Village in France together with his colleague Chan Khong, Bhikkhuni and Zen Master.

Seon in Korea

Seon was gradually transmitted into Korea during the late Silla period (7th through 9th centuries) as Korean monks of predominantly Hwaeom (華嚴) and Consciousness-only (唯識) background began to travel to China to learn the newly developing tradition. During his lifetime, Mazu had begun to attract students from Korea; by tradition, the first Korean to study Seon was named Peomnang (法朗). Mazu's successors had numerous Korean students, some of whom returned to Korea and established the nine mountain (九山) schools. This was the beginning of Chán in Korea which is called Seon.

Seon received its most significant impetus and consolidation from the Goryeo monk Jinul (知訥) (1158–1210), who established a reform movement and introduced koan practice to Korea. Jinul established the Songgwangsa (松廣寺) as a new center of pure practice. It was during the time of Jinul the Jogye Order, a primarily Seon sect, became the predominant form of Korean Buddhism, a status it still holds. which survives down to the present in basically the same status. Toward the end of the Goryeo and during the Joseon period the Jogye Order would first be combined with the scholarly 教 schools, and then be relegated to lesser influence in ruling class circles by Confucian influenced polity, even as it retained strength outside the cities, among the rural populations and ascetic monks in mountain refuges.

Nevertheless, there would be a series of important Seon teachers during the next several centuries, such as Hyegeun (慧勤), Taego (太古), Gihwa (己和) and Hyujeong (休靜), who continued to develop the basic mold of Korean meditational Buddhism established by Jinul. Seon continues to be practiced in Korea today at a number of major monastic centers, as well as being taught at Dongguk University, which has a major of studies in this religion. Taego Bou (1301–1382) studied in China with Linji teacher and returned to unite the Nine Mountain Schools. In modern Korea, by far the largest Buddhist denomination is the Jogye Order, which is essentially a Zen sect; the name Jogye is the Korean equivalent of Caoxi (曹溪), another name for Huineng.

Seon is known for its stress on meditation, monasticism, and asceticism. Many Korean monks have few personal possessions and sometimes cut off all relations with the outside world. Several are near mendicants traveling from temple to temple practicing meditation. The hermit-recluse life is prevalent among monks to whom meditation practice is considered of paramount importance.

Currently, Korean Buddhism is in a state of slow transition. While the reigning theory behind Korean Buddhism was based on Jinul's "sudden enlightenment, gradual cultivation", the modern Korean Seon master, Seongcheol's revival of Hui Neng's "sudden enlightenment, sudden cultivation" has had a strong impact on Korean Buddhism. Although there is resistance to change within the ranks of the Jogye order, with the last three Supreme Patriarchs' stance that is in accordance with Seongcheol, there has been a gradual change in the atmosphere of Korean Buddhism.

The Kwan Um School of Zen, one of the largest Zen schools in the West, teaches a form of Seon Buddhism. Soeng Hyang Soen Sa Nim (b. 1948), birth name Barbara Trexler (later Barbara Rhodes), is Guiding Dharma Teacher of the international Kwan Um School of Zen and a successor of the late Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim.

Zen in Japan

The schools of Zen that currently exist in Japan are the Sōtō (), Rinzai (), and Ōbaku (). Of these, Sōtō is the largest and Ōbaku the smallest. Rinzai is itself divided into several subschools based on temple affiliation, including Myoshin-ji, Nanzen-ji, Tenryū-ji, Daitoku-ji, and Tofuku-ji.

Zen was not introduced as a separate school until the 12th century, when Myōan Eisai traveled to China and returned to establish a Linji lineage, which is known in Japan as Rinzai. Decades later, (1235–1308) also studied Linji teachings in China before founding the Japanese Otokan lineage, the most influential branch of Rinzai. In 1215, Dōgen, a younger contemporary of Eisai's, journeyed to China himself, where he became a disciple of the Caodong master Tiantong Rujing. After his return, Dōgen established the Sōtō school, the Japanese branch of Caodong. The Ōbaku lineage was introduced in the 17th century by Ingen, a Chinese monk. Ingen had been a member of the Linji school, the Chinese equivalent of Rinzai, which had developed separately from the Japanese branch for hundreds of years. Thus, when Ingen journeyed to Japan following the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the Manchus, his teachings were seen as a separate school. The Ōbaku school was named for Mount Ōbaku (Ch. 黄檗山; ''Huángbò Shān''), which had been Ingen's home in China.

In the year 1410 a Zen Buddhist monk from Nanzen-ji, a large temple complex in the Japanese capital of Kyoto, wrote out a landscape poem and had a painting done of the scene described by the poem. Then, following the prevailing custom of his day, he gathered responses to the images by asking prominent fellow monks and government officials to inscribe it, thereby creating a shigajiku poem and painting scroll. Such scrolls emerged as a preeminent form of elite Japanese culture in the last two decades of the fourteenth century, a golden age in the phenomenon now known as Japanese Zen culture.

Criticism

Some contemporary Japanese Zen teachers, such as Daiun Harada and Shunryu Suzuki, have criticized Japanese Zen as being a formalized system of empty rituals in which very few Zen practitioners ever actually attained realization. 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, a practice sarcastically referred to in Japan as .

The Japanese Zen establishment — including the Sōtō sect, the major branches of Rinzai, and several renowned teachers — has also been criticized for its involvement in Japanese militarism and nationalism during World War II and the preceding period. A notable work on this subject was ''Zen at War'' (1998) by Brian Victoria, an American-born Sōtō priest. One of his findings was that some Zen masters known for their post-war internationalism and promotion of "world peace" were open nationalists in the inter-war years. Among them as an example Haku'un Yasutani, the founder of the Sanbo Kyodan School, even voiced anti-semitic and nationalistic opinions after World War II. On the other hand it was commented that this involvement was not limited to the Zen schools, as all orthodox Japanese schools of Buddhism supported the militarist state.

Zen in the Western world

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 teachings and practices

Principles and doctrine

Zen asserts, as do other schools in Mahāyāna Buddhism, that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature (Skt. ''Buddhadhātu'', ''Tathāgatagarbha''), the universal nature of transcendent wisdom (Skt. ''prajñā''), and emphasizes that Buddha-nature is nothing other than the essential nature of the mind itself. The aim of Zen practice is to discover this Buddha-nature within each person, through meditation and practice of the Buddha's teachings. The ultimate goal of this is to become a Completely Enlightened Buddha (Skt. ''Samyak­saṃbuddha''). As a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Zen draws many of its basic driving concepts from that tradition, such as the bodhisattva ideal. Buddhas and bodhisattvas such as Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Kṣitigarbha are also venerated alongside Gautama Buddha.

The Zen tradition holds that in meditation practice, notions of doctrine and teachings necessitate the creation of various notions and appearances (Skt. ''saṃjñā''; Ch. 相, ''xiāng'') that obscure the transcendent wisdom of each being's Buddha-nature. This process of rediscovery goes under various terms such as "introspection", "a backward step", "turning-about" or "turning the eye inward". The importance of Zen's non-reliance on written words is often misunderstood as being against the study of Buddhist texts. However, Zen is deeply rooted in the teachings and doctrines of Mahāyāna Buddhism. What the Zen tradition emphasizes is that enlightenment of the Buddha came not through intellectual reasoning, but rather through self-realization in Dharma practice and meditation. Therefore, it is held that it is primarily through Dharma practice and meditation that others may attain enlightenment and become buddhas as well.

In its beginnings in China, Zen primarily referred to the Mahāyāna sūtras and especially to the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra''. As a result, early masters of the Zen tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' teaches the doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (Skt. ''Ekayāna''), the early Zen school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School". In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Zen is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, ''Léngqié Zōng''). Accounts recording the history of this early period are to be found in ''Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters'' (Ch. 楞伽師資記, ''Léngqié Shīzī Jì'').

During the Tang Dynasty, the Zen school's central text shifted to the ''Diamond Sūtra'' (''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra''). Thereafter, the essential texts of the Zen school were often considered to be the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' and the ''Diamond Sūtra''. However, a review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were all well-versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras. For example, in the ''Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch'', Huineng cites and explains the ''Diamond Sūtra'', the ''Lotus Sūtra'' (''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra''), the ''Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra'', the ''Śūraṅgama Sūtra'', and the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra''.

When Buddhism came to China, there were three divisions of training: the training in virtue and discipline in the precepts (Skt. ''śīla''), the training in mind through meditation (Skt. ''dhyāna'') to attain deep states of meditation (Skt. ''samādhi''), and the training in the recorded teachings (Skt. ''Dharma''). It was in this context that Buddhism entered into Chinese culture. Three types of teachers with expertise in each training practice developed: Vinaya masters specialized in all the rules of discipline for monks and nuns, Dhyāna masters specialized in the practice of meditation, and Dharma masters specialized in mastery of the Buddhist texts. Monasteries 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. Dhyāna (Ch. ''Chán'') masters tended to practice in solitary hermitages, or to be associated with Vinaya training monasteries or the Dharma teaching centers. The later naming of the Zen school has its origins in this view of the threefold division of training.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren (601–674), the Zen school had become well established as a separate school of Buddhism. Subsequently, the Zen tradition 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 Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch'', attributed to Huineng. Others include the various collections of ''kōans'' and the ''Shōbōgenzō'' of Dōgen Zenji.

As the Zen school grew in China, the monastic discipline also became distinct, focusing on practice through all aspects of life. Temples began emphasizing labor and humility, expanding the training of Zen to include the mundane tasks of daily 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 Chán 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".

Zen meditation

Sitting meditation

As the name Zen implies, sitting meditation is a core aspect of Zen practice. In Japanese this is called ''zazen'', and in Chinese it is called ''zuòchán'' (坐禅), both simply meaning "sitting dhyāna". During this sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the lotus position, 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 (see also anapanasati). Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit on; in some other cases, a chair may be used.

In the Soto school of Zen, 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 Dōgen's ''Shōbōgenzō'', as for example in the "Principles of Zazen" and the "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen".

Intensive group practice

Zen traditions include periods of intensive group meditation in a monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery may require monks to meditate for several hours each day, during this intensive period they devote themselves almost exclusively to the practice of sitting meditation. The numerous 30–50 minute long meditation periods are interleaved with short rest breaks, meals, and sometimes, short periods of work should be performed with the same mindfulness; nightly sleep is kept to a minimum: 7 hours or less. In modern Buddhist practice in Japan, Taiwan, and the West, lay students often attend these intensive practice sessions, which are typically 1, 3, 5, or 7 days in length. These are held at many Zen centers, especially in commemoration of the Buddha's attainment of ''Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi''. One distinctive aspect of Zen meditation in groups is the use of a flat wooden slat used to keep meditators focused and awake.

Koan practice

Zen Buddhists may practice koan inquiry during sitting meditation (zazen), walking meditation, and throughout all the activities of daily life. 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.

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. 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 differentiations 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 the 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 (独参), daisan (代参), or sanzen (参禅)). 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

A practice in many Zen monasteries and centers is a daily liturgy service. Practitioners chant major sutras such as the Heart Sutra, chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra (often called 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 (see also Guan Yin) and Manjusri. According to Mahayana Buddhism, Bodhisattvas are beings who have taken vows to remain in Samsara to help all beings achieve liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. 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 , 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 emptiness and the Mahayana notion that all things have Buddha-nature, one understands that there is no difference between the cosmic bodhisattva and oneself. The wisdom and compassion of the Bodhisattva 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.

John Daido Loori justified the use of chanting sutras by referring to Zen master Dōgen. Dōgen 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. Dōgen, 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, Dōgen 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, Dōgen'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. Dōgen 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 emptiness (sunyata), which is at the heart of Zen Buddhist teachings.

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. The now defunct Fuke Zen sect was also well known for practicing suizen, musical meditation with the shakuhachi flute, which some Zen Buddhists today also practice.

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 Kyūdō, inspired many of the Western world's early Zen practitioners. However, many scholars, such as Yamada Shoji, are quick to criticize this book.

The British 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 Catholic 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 explores the many congruencies of Christian mysticism and Zen.

Robert Kennedy (roshi), a Catholic Jesuit priest, professor, psychotherapist and Zen roshi in the White Plum lineage has written a number of books about what he labels as the benefits of Zen practice to Christianity. He was ordained a Catholic priest in Japan in 1965, and studied with Yamada Koun in Japan in the 1970s. He was installed as a Zen teacher of the White Plum Asanga lineage in 1991 and was given the title Roshi in 1997.

In 1989, the Vatican released a document which states some Catholic appreciations around the use of Zen in Christian prayer. According to the text none of the methods proposed by non-Christian religions should be rejected out of hand simply because they are not Christian.

Reginald Horace Blyth (1898–1964) was an Englishman who went to Japan in 1940 to further his study of Zen. He was interned during World War II 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".

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 nor with motorcycle maintenance for that matter. 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. This typically involves the use of Zen stories to explain leadership strategies.

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.

Derived from Japan

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, Zen Mountain Monastery, founded by John Daido Loori, Great Vow Zen Monastery founded by Chozen Bays, the Zen Peacemaker Order, founded by Bernard Tetsugen Glassman, Heart Circle Sangha founded by Nicolee Jikyo McMahon and Joan Hogetsu Hoeberichts, 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. Matsuoka created several dharma heirs, three of whom are still alive and leading Zen Teachers within the lineage. These are: Hogaku ShoZen McGuire, Zenkai Taiun Michael Elliston Sensei, and Kaiten JohnDennis Govert. Hogaku established Daibutsuji Zen Temple in Cloudcroft and the Zen Center of Las Cruces, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. So Gozen is now the Abbot of Daibutsuji and the Zen Center of Las Cruces. So Daiho Hilbert left Daibutsuji to establish the Order of Clear Mind Zen, a socially engaged sangha in New Mexico. Taiun Elliston Sensei established the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and is working to establish an order honoring Matsuoka.

The Sanbo Kyodan is a Japan-based reformist Zen group, founded in 1954 by Yasutani Hakuun, 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 Chán 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 Roshi in California, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji established by Eido Shimano Roshi and Soen Nakagawa Roshi in New York, Chozen-ji founded by Omori Sogen Roshi in Hawaii, Daiyuzenji founded by Dogen Hosokawa Roshi (a student of Omori Sogen Roshi) in Chicago, Illinois, and Chobo-Ji founded by Genki Takabayshi Roshi in Seattle, Washington. In Europe there is Egely Monastery established by a Dharma Heir of Eido Shimano, Denko Mortensen.

Derived from China

The first Chinese master to teach Westerners in North America was Hsuan Hua, who taught Chán and other traditions of Chinese 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 Chán teacher with a Western following is Sheng-yen, a master trained in both the Caodong and Linji schools. He first visited the United States in 1978 under the sponsorship of the Buddhist Association of the United States, and, in 1980, founded the Chán Meditation Center in Queens, New York. The Fo Guang Shan organization, which has branches worldwide, also belongs to the Chan school; its founder, the Venerable Master Hsing Yun is a lineage holder in the Linji (Rinzai) tradition.

Derived from Vietnam

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

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.

See also

List of Zen teachers

Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

References

External links

Zen Guide

The Zen Site

Sacred-text.com's collection of Zen texts

Buddhanet's collection of Zen texts

Booklets from Fo Guang Shan

Zen Buddhism WWW Virtual Library

The International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism

Joint Council for Rinzai and Obaku Zen

Website on Soto Zen

Shambhala Sun Zen Articles

A Study on the Origin of Chán Buddhism

Buddhism and Confucianism in Chan Sudden Approach: A Cunning Cultural Paradigm

Category:Philosophy of life Category:Buddhism

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Region	Eastern Philosophy
Era	Contemporary philosophy
Color	#B0C4DE
Name	Alan Wilson Watts
birth date	January 06, 1915
birth place	Chislehurst, Kent, England
death date	November 16, 1973
death place	Mt. Tamalpais, California, USA
School tradition	Zen Buddhism Hinduism Pantheism Religious naturalism Taoism
Main interests	Personal identity Higher consciousnessAesthetics Public Ethics
Influenced	}}

Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest but left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.

Living on the West Coast, Watts gained a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a volunteer programmer at KPFA, a Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley. Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion, introducing the then-burgeoning youth culture to ''The Way of Zen'' (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism. In ''Psychotherapy East and West'' (1961), Watts proposed that Buddhism could be best thought of as a form of psychotherapy, not just a religion. Like Aldous Huxley before him, he explored human consciousness in the essay, "The New Alchemy" (1958), and in the book, ''The Joyous Cosmology'' (1962).

Towards the end of his life, he divided his time between a houseboat in Sausalito and a cabin on Mount Tamalpais. His legacy has been kept alive with the help of his son, Mark Watts, and many of his recorded talks and lectures have found new life on the Internet. Critic Erik Davis notes the freshness, longevity, and continuing relevance of Watts's work today, observing that his "writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity."

Early years

Watts was born to middle class parents in the village of Chislehurst, Kent, in 1915, living at 3 (now 5) Holbrook Lane. His father was a representative for the London office of the Michelin Tyre Company, his mother a housewife whose father had been a missionary. With modest financial means, they chose to live in pastoral surroundings and Alan, an only child, grew up playing at brookside, learning the names of wildflowers and butterflies. Probably because of the influence of his mother’s religious family the Buchans, an interest in "ultimate things" seeped in. But it mixed with Alan’s own interests in storybook fables and romantic tales of the mysterious Far East.

Watts also later wrote of a mystical vision he experienced while ill with a fever as a child. During this time he was influenced by Far Eastern landscape paintings and embroideries that had been given to his mother by missionaries returning from China. The few Chinese paintings Watts was able to see in England riveted him, and he wrote "I was aesthetically fascinated with a certain clarity, transparency, and spaciousness in Chinese and Japanese art. It seemed to float...". These works of art emphasized the participative relationship of man in nature, a theme that stood fast throughout his life.

Buddhism

By his own assessment, Watts was imaginative, headstrong, and talkative. He was sent to boarding schools (which included both academic and religious training of the Muscular Christianity sort) from early years. Of this religious training, he remarked “Throughout my schooling my religious indoctrination was grim and maudlin…” During holidays in his teen years, Francis Croshaw, a wealthy Epicurean with strong interests in both Buddhism and the exotic little-known aspects of European culture, took Watts on a trip through France. It was not long afterward that Watts felt forced to decide between the Anglican Christianity he had been exposed to and the Buddhism he had read about in various libraries, including Croshaw’s. He chose Buddhism, and sought membership in the London Buddhist Lodge which had been established by Theosophists, and was now run by the barrister Christmas Humphreys. Watts became the organization’s secretary at 16 (1931). The young Watts explored several styles of meditation during these years.

Education

Watts attended the King's School next door to Canterbury Cathedral. Though he was frequently at the top of his classes scholastically, and was given responsibilities at school, he botched an opportunity for a scholarship to Oxford by styling a crucial examination essay in a way that was read as presumptuous and capricious.

Hence, when he graduated from secondary school, Watts was thrust into the world of employment, working in a printing house and later a bank. He spent his spare time involved with the Buddhist Lodge and also under the tutelage of a "rascal guru" named Dimitrije Mitrinović. (Mitrinović was himself influenced by Peter Demianovich Ouspensky, G. I. Gurdjieff, and the varied psychoanalytical schools of Freud, Jung and Adler.) Watts also read widely in philosophy, history, psychology, psychiatry and Eastern wisdom. By his own reckoning, and also by that of his biographer Monica Furlong, Watts was primarily an autodidact. His involvement with the Buddhist Lodge in London afforded Watts a considerable number of opportunities for personal growth. Through Humphreys, he contacted eminent spiritual authors (e.g., Nicholas Roerich, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan) and prominent theosophists like Alice Bailey. In 1936, aged 21, he attended the World Congress of Faiths at the University of London, heard D.T. Suzuki read a paper, and afterwards was able to meet this esteemed scholar of Zen Buddhism. Beyond these discussions and personal encounters, Watts absorbed, by studying the available scholarly literature, the fundamental concepts and terminology of the main philosophies of India and East Asia.

Influences and first publication

In 1936, Watts' first book was published, ''The Spirit of Zen'', which he later acknowledged to be mainly digested from the writings of Suzuki.

In 1938 he and his bride left England to live in America. He had married Eleanor Everett, whose mother Ruth Fuller Everett was involved with a traditional Zen Buddhist circle in New York. A few years later, Ruth Fuller married the Zen master (or "roshi"), Sokei-an Sasaki, and this Japanese gentleman served as a sort of model and mentor to Watts, though he chose not to enter into a formal Zen training relationship with Sasaki. During these years, according to his later writings, Watts had another mystical experience while on a walk with his wife.

Watts' fascination with the Zen (or Chan) tradition—beginning during the 1930s—developed because that tradition embodied the spiritual, interwoven with the practical, as exemplified in the subtitle of his ''Spirit of Zen: A Way of Life, Work, and Art in the Far East''. "Work," "life," and "art" were not demoted due to a spiritual focus.

Priesthood and after

Watts left formal Zen training in New York because the method of the teacher didn't suit him. He was not ordained as a Zen monk, but he felt a need to find a professional outlet for his philosophical inclinations. He entered Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, an Anglican (Episcopalian) school in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied Christian scriptures, theology, and Church history. He attempted to work out a blend of contemporary Christian worship, mystical Christianity, and Asian philosophy. Watts was awarded a master's degree in theology in response to his thesis, which he published as a popular edition under the title ''Behold the Spirit''. The pattern was set, in that Watts did not hide his dislike for religious outlooks that he decided were dour, guilt-ridden, or militantly proselytizing—no matter if they were found within Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, or Buddhism.

All seemed to go reasonably well in his next role, as Episcopalian priest (beginning in 1945, aged 30), until an extramarital affair resulted in his young wife having their marriage annulled. It also resulted in Watts leaving the ministry by 1950. He spent the New Year getting to know Joseph Campbell; his wife, Jean Erdman; and John Cage.

In early 1951, Watts moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Here he taught alongside Saburō Hasegawa, Frederic Spiegelberg, Haridas Chaudhuri, lama Tokwan Tada, and various visiting experts and professors. Hasegawa, in particular, served as a teacher to Watts in the areas of Japanese customs, arts, primitivism, and perceptions of nature. Besides teaching, Watts served for several years as the Academy's administrator.

Watts also studied written Chinese and practiced Chinese brush calligraphy with Hasegawa as well as with some of the Chinese students who enrolled at the Academy. While Watts was noted for an interest in Zen Buddhism, his reading and discussions delved into Vedanta, "the new physics", cybernetics, semantics, process philosophy, natural history, and the anthropology of sexuality.

Middle years

After heading up the Academy for a few years, Watts left the faculty for a freelance career in the mid 1950s. In 1953, he began what became a long-running weekly radio program at Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley, which continued until his death in 1973. Like other volunteer programmers at the listener-sponsored station, Watts was not paid for his broadcasts; they did, however, gain him a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area. These programs were later carried by additional Pacifica stations, and were re-broadcast many times over in the decades following his death. The original tapes are currently held by the Pacifica Radio Archives, based at KPFK in Los Angeles, and at the Electronic University archive founded by his son, Mark Watts (alanwatts.org).

In 1957 when 42, Watts published one of his best known books, ''The Way of Zen'', which focused on philosophical explication and history. Besides drawing on the lifestyle and philosophical background of Zen, in India and China, Watts introduced ideas drawn from general semantics (directly from the writings of Alfred Korzybski and also from Norbert Wiener's early work on cybernetics, which had recently been published). Watts offered analogies from cybernetic principles possibly applicable to the Zen life. The book sold well, eventually becoming a modern classic, and helped widen his lecture circuit.

Around this time, Watts toured parts of Europe with his father, meeting the renowned psychiatrist Carl Jung. In relation to modern psychology, Watts's instincts were closer to Jung's or Abraham Maslow's than to those of Freud.

Experimentation

When he returned to the United States, he began to dabble in psychedelic drug experiences, initially with mescaline given to him by Dr. Oscar Janiger. He tried LSD several times with various research teams led by Drs. Keith Ditman, Sterling Bunnell, and Michael Agron. He also tried marijuana and concluded that it was a useful and interesting psychoactive drug that gave the impression of time slowing down. Watts’ books of the ’60s reveal the influence of these chemical adventures on his outlook. He would later comment about psychedelic drug use, "When you get the message, hang up the phone."

For a time, Watts came to prefer writing in the language of modern science and psychology (''Psychotherapy East and West'' is a good example), finding a parallel between mystical experiences and the theories of the material universe proposed by 20th-century physicists. He later equated mystical experience with ecological awareness, and typically emphasized whichever approach seemed best suited to the audience he was addressing.

Supporters and critics

Watts's explorations and teaching brought him into contact with many noted intellectuals, artists, and American teachers in the human potential movement. His friendship with poet Gary Snyder nurtured his sympathies with the budding environmental movement, to which Watts gave philosophical support. He also encountered Robert Anton Wilson, who credited Watts with being one of his 'Light[s] along the Way' in the opening appreciation of ''Cosmic Trigger''.

Though never affiliated for long with any one academic institution, he did have a fellowship for several years at Harvard University. He also lectured to many college and university students. His lectures and books gave him far-reaching influence on the American intelligentsia of the 1950s–1970s, but he was often seen as an outsider in academia. When questioned sharply by students during his talk at University of California Santa Cruz in 1970, Watts responded that he was not an academic philosopher but rather "a philosophical entertainer."

Watts has been criticized by Buddhists such as Roshi Philip Kapleau, John Daido Loori, and D. T. Suzuki for allegedly misinterpreting several key concepts of Zen Buddhism. Examples of the criticisms by those who believe that zazen can only be achieved by a strict and specific means of sitting as opposed to a cultivated state of mind available at any moment in any situation would be when Kapleau claimed that Watts dismissed zazen on the basis of only half a koan. In regard to the aforementioned koan, Robert Baker Aitken reports that Suzuki told him "I regret to say that Mr. Watts did not understand that story." In Loori's translation of Dogen's The True Dharma Eye, the author also mentions this and expands further to suggest that Zen in its essence ''is'' zazen, and cannot be grasped without the practice. This had been the predominant interpretation of Zen in the West before Alan Watts began to write. One major point raised today, however, is that the state of Zen is like that of dog, always in the moment, regretting nothing. Although in one Koan Zhaozhou is said to have answered that a Dog does not have Buddha nature, in a different Koan from the same period Zhaozhou answered the same question in the positive, demonstrating the disagreements between the sects of 'walking monks' and 'sitting monks' that go back thousands of years. In his talks, Watts addressed the issue of defining zazen practice when he said, "A cat sits until it is tired of sitting, then gets up, stretches, and walks away."

He did, however, have his supporters in the Zen community, including Shunryu Suzuki, the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. As David Chadwick recounted in his biography of Suzuki, when a student of Suzuki's disparaged Watts by saying “we used to think he was profound until we found the real thing," Suzuki "fumed with a sudden intensity," saying, "You completely miss the point about Alan Watts! You should notice what he has done. He is a great bodhisattva."

Applied aesthetics

Watts often wrote about, or sometimes alluded to, a group of neighbors in Druid Heights (near Mill Valley, California), who had endeavored to combine architecture, gardening, and carpentry skills to make a beautiful and comfortable life for themselves. These neighbors accomplished this by relying on their own talents and using their own hands, as they lived in what has been called "shared bohemian poverty." Druid Heights was founded by the writer Elsa Gidlow, and Watts dedicated his book ''The Joyous Cosmology'' to the people of this neighborhood.

Regarding his intentions, Watts attempted to lessen the alienation that accompanies the experience of being human that he felt plagued the modern Westerner, and (like his fellow British expatriate and friend, Aldous Huxley) to lessen the ill will that was an unintentional by-product of alienation from the natural world. He felt such teaching could improve the world, at least to a degree. He also articulated the possibilities for greater incorporation of aesthetics (for example: better architecture, more art, more fine cuisine) in American life. In his autobiography he wrote, "… cultural renewal comes about when highly differentiated cultures mix".

In his last novel ''Island'' (1962), Aldous Huxley mentions the religious practice of maithuna as being something like what Roman Catholics call "coitus reservatus". A few years before, Alan Watts had discussed the theme in his own book ''Nature, Man and Woman''. There, he discusses the possibility of the practice being known to early Christians and of it being kept secretly by the Church.

Later years

In his writings of the 1950s, he conveyed his admiration for the practicality in the historical achievements of Chán (Zen) in the Far East, for it had fostered farmers, architects, builders, folk physicians, artists, and administrators among the monks who had lived in the monasteries of its lineages.

In his mature work, he presents himself as "Zennist" in spirit as he wrote in his last book, ''Tao: The Watercourse Way''. Child rearing, the arts, cuisine, education, law and freedom, architecture, sexuality, and the uses and abuses of technology were all of great interest to him.

Though known for his Zen teachings, he was equally if not more influenced by ancient Hindu scriptures, especially Vedanta, and spoke extensively about the nature of the divine Reality Man that Man misses, how the contradiction of opposites is the method of life and the means of cosmic and human evolution, how our fundamental Ignorance is rooted in the exclusive nature of mind and ego, how to come in touch with the Field of Consciousness and Light, and other cosmic principles. These are discussed in great detail in dozens of hours of audio that are in part captured in the ‘Out of Our Mind’ series.

On the personal level, Watts sought to resolve his feelings of alienation from the institutions of marriage and the values of American society, as revealed in his classic comments on love relationships in "Divine Madness" and on perception of the organism-environment in "The Philosophy of Nature".

In looking at social issues he was quite concerned with the necessity for international peace, for tolerance and understanding among disparate cultures. He also came to feel acutely conscious of a growing ecological predicament; as one instance, in the early 1960s he wrote: “Can any melting or burning imaginable get rid of these ever-rising mountains of ruin – especially when the things we make and build are beginning to look more and more like rubbish even before they are thrown away?" These concerns were later expressed in a television pilot made for NET filmed at his mountain retreat in 1971 in which he noted that the single track of conscious attention was wholly inadequate for interactions with a multi-tracked world.

Political stance

Distrusting both the established political left and right, Watts found political inspiration in the Chinese sage Chuang-Tzu . He disliked much in the conventional idea of "progress." He hoped for change, but personally he preferred amiable, semi-isolated rural social enclaves, and also believed in tolerance for urban tenderloins, social misfits, and eccentric artists. Watts decried the suburbanization of the countryside and the way of life that went with it.

In one campus lecture tour, which Watts titled "The End to the Put-Down of Man", Watts presented positive images for both nature and humanity, spoke in favor of the various stages of human growth (including the teenage years), reproached excessive cynicism and rivalry, and extolled intelligent creativity, good architecture and food .

On spiritual and social identity

Watts felt that absolute morality had nothing to do with the fundamental realization of one’s deep spiritual identity. He advocated social rather than personal ethics. In his writings, Watts was increasingly concerned with ethics applied to relations between humanity and the natural environment and between governments and citizens. He wrote out of an appreciation of a racially and culturally diverse social landscape.

He often said that he wished to act as a bridge between the ancient and the modern, between East and West, and between culture and nature.

Watts led some tours for Westerners to the Buddhist temples of Japan. He also studied some movements from the traditional Chinese martial art T'ai Chi Ch'uan, with an Asian colleague, Al Chung-liang Huang.

Worldview

In several of his later publications, especially ''Beyond Theology'' and ''The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are'', Watts put forward a worldview, drawing on Hinduism, Chinese philosophy, pantheism, and modern science, in which he maintains that the whole universe consists of a cosmic self playing hide-and-seek (Lila), hiding from itself (Maya) by becoming all the living and non-living things in the universe, forgetting what it really is; the upshot being that we are all IT in disguise. In this worldview, Watts asserts that our conception of ourself as an "ego in a bag of skin" is a myth; the entities we call the separate "things" are merely processes of the whole.

Internet phenomenon

As part of his growing popularity, Matt Stone and Trey Parker – creators of the animated series South Park – have also contributed a video tribute by animating some of his lectures. This has spawned a culture of user animated videos all around the net.

Personal life

Alan Watts married three times and had seven children, five daughters and two sons. His oldest son, Mark Watts, currently serves as curator of his father's work.

He met Eleanor Everett in 1936, when her mother, Ruth Fuller Everett, brought her to London to study piano. They met at the Buddhist Lodge, were engaged the following year, and married in April 1938. A daughter, Joan, was born November 1938, and another, Anne, was born in 1943. Their marriage ended eleven years later, but Watts continued after that to correspond with his ex-mother-in-law.

After leaving Eleanor in 1950 Alan Watts married Dorothy DeWitt and moved to San Francisco in early 1951 to teach. They began a family that grew to include five children: Tia, Mark, Richard, Lila, and Diane. However the couple separated in the early sixties after Watts met Mary Jane Yates King while lecturing in New York. After a difficult divorce he married Mary Jane in 1964.

Watts lived with his wife Mary Jane in Sausalito, California in the mid-60s. He lived his later years at times on a houseboat in Sausalito called the Vallejo, and at times in a secluded cabin on Mount Tamalpais. Laden with social and financial responsibilities, he struggled increasingly with alcohol addiction, which may have contributed to his premature death.

In October 1973, Watts returned from an exhausting European lecture tour. There is currently no evidence proving the cause of Watt's death .

Books

1936 ''The Spirit of Zen'', Paperback. 1969 ISBN 0-8021-3056-9 A preview from Google Books

1937 ''The Legacy of Asia and Western Man''

1940 ''The Meaning of Happiness'', Paperback. 1970, ISBN 0-06-080178-6

1944 ''Theologica Mystica of St. Dionysius'', (translation from Greek of pseudo-Dionysius, available online)

1948 ''Behold the Spirit:A Study in the Necessity of Mystical Religion'', Vintage ed. 1972, ISBN 0-394-71761-9

1950 ''Easter – Its Story and Meaning''

1950 ''The Supreme Identity'', Vintage ed. 1972, ISBN 0-394-71835-6

1951 ''The Wisdom of Insecurity'', Vintage ed. 1968, ISBN 0-394-70468-1

1953 ''Myth and Ritual in Christianity'', Beacon Press 1971, ISBN 0-8070-1375-7

1957 ''The Way of Zen'', Vintage Spiritual Classics 1999, ISBN 0-375-70510-4

1958 ''Nature, Man, and Woman'', Vintage reissue 1991, ISBN 0-679-73233-0

1959 ''Beat Zen Square Zen and Zen'', Paperback, ASIN B000F2RQL4

1960 ''"This Is It" and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience'', Vintage reprint 1973, ISBN 0-394-71904-2

1961 ''Psychotherapy East and West'', Vintage ed. 1975, ISBN 0-394-71609-4 An excerpt

1962 ''The Joyous Cosmology – Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness''

1963 ''The Two Hands of God – The Myths of Polarity''

1964 ''Beyond Theology – The Art of Godmanship'', Vintage 1973, ISBN 0-394-71923-9

1966 ''The Book – On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are'', Vintage reissue 1989, ISBN 0-679-72300-5 An excerpt

1967 ''Nonsense'', ISBN 0-525-47463-3. (This book is a spiritual application of literary nonsense).

1970 ''Does It Matter?: Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality'', Vintage ed. 1971, ISBN 0-394-71665-5

1971 ''Erotic Spirituality – The Vision of Konarak''

1972 ''The Art of Contemplation''

1972 ''In My Own Way – An Autobiography 1915–1965'', Vintage 1973, ISBN 0-394-71951-4 A preview from Google Books

1973 ''Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal'', Vintage 1974, ISBN 0-394-71999-9

Posthumous publications

1974 ''The Essence of Alan Watts'', Celestial Arts 1977, ISBN 0-89087-210-4

1975 ''Tao: The Watercourse Way'', with Al Chung-liang Huang, Pantheon 1977, ISBN 0-394-73311-8

1976 ''Essential Alan Watts''

1978 ''Uncarved Block, Unbleached Silk: The Mystery of Life''

1979 ''Om: Creative Meditations''

1982 ''Play to Live''

1983 ''Way of Liberation: Essays and Lectures on the Transformation of the Self''

1985 ''Out of the Trap''

1986 ''Diamond Web''

1987 ''The Early Writings of Alan Watts'', Paperback. 1995, ISBN 0-89087-794-7

1990 ''The Modern Mystic: A New Collection of Early Writings''

1994 ''Talking Zen''

1995 ''Become What You Are'', Shambhala Expanded ed. 2003, ISBN 1-57062-940-4

1995 ''Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion'' A preview from Google Books

1995 ''The Philosophies of Asia''

1995 ''The Tao of Philosophy'', edited transcripts, Tuttle Publishing 1999, ISBN 0-8048-3204-8

1996 ''Myth and Religion''

1997 ''Taoism: Way Beyond Seeking''

1997 ''Zen and the Beat Way''

1998 ''Culture of Counterculture''

1999 ''Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion'', edited transcripts, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 0-8048-3203-X

2000 ''What Is Zen?'', editor: Mark Watts, New World Library, ISBN 0-394-71951-4 A preview from Google Books

2000 ''What Is Tao?'', ed. Mark Watts, New World Library, ISBN 1-57731-168-X

2000 ''Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation'', ed. Mark Watts, New World Library, ISBN 1-57731-214-7

2000 ''Eastern Wisdom'', ed. Mark Watts, MJF Books, ISBN 1-56731-491-0, three books in one volume: ''What is Zen?'', ''What is Tao?'', and ''An Introduction to Meditation'' (''Still the Mind''). These were assembled from transcriptions of audio tape recordings made by his son Mark, of lectures and seminars given by Alan Watts during the last decade of his life. They constitute simplified introductions to the philosophies he taught.

Audio and video works, essays

Including recordings of lectures at major universities and multi-session seminars: Many of his works have made it easier for western people to apprehend eastern esoteric thinking which until now required western people to travel to Asia and spend years learning the subtle nuances of the profound traditions.

1960 ''Eastern Wisdom in Modern Life'', television series, (here)

1960 ''Essential Lectures'', audio recordings, (here)

1960 ''Nature of Consciousness'', essay, (here)

1960 ''The Value of Psychotic Experience''

1960 ''The World As Emptiness''

1960 ''From Time to Eternity''

1960 ''Lecture On Zen''

1960 ''The Cross of Cards''

1960 ''Taoism''

1962 ''This Is IT''

1968 "Psychedelics & Religious Experience", in ''California Law Review'' (here)

1969 ''Why Not Now: The Art of Meditation''

1971 ''A Conversation With Myself'' (part 1 part 2part 3)

1994 ''Zen: The Best of Alan Watts'' (VHS)

2005 ''Do You Do It, or Does It Do You?: how to let the universe meditate you'' (CD)

2007 ''Zen Meditations with Alan Watts'', DVD, (here)

Other books

''Genuine Fake: a Biography of Alan Watts'', by Monica Furlong, Published by Heinemann, 1986

Academic connections

Saybrook University offers the only course on Watts in the United States and perhaps the world (HTP 3075: The Life of Alan Watts). Saybrook also has the only Watts academic chair in the world, which is held by Stanley Krippner, Executive Faculty Member.

Notes

References

Aitken, Robert. ''Original Dwelling Place''. Counterpoint. Washington, D.C. 1997. ISBN 1-887178-41-4 (paperback)

Charters, Ann (ed.). ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Penguin Books. New York. 1992. ISBN 0-670-83885-3 (hard cover); ISBN 0-14-015102-8 (paperback)

Furlong, Monica, ''Zen Effects: The Life of Alan Watts'' Houghton Mifflin. New York. 1986 ISBN 0-395-45392-5, Skylight Paths 2001 edition of the biography, with new foreword by author: ISBN 1-893361-32-2

Kapleau, Philip. ''Three Pillars of Zen'' (1967) Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-5975-7

Stirling, Isabel. "Zen Pioneer: The Life & Works of Ruth Fuller Sasaki" Shoemaker & Hoard. 2006. ISBN 978-1-59376-110-3

Watts, Alan, ''In My Own Way'' New York. Random House Pantheon. 1973 ISBN 0-394-46911-9 (his autobiography)

External links

The Alan Watts Electronic University – Alan Watts audio and video courses, co-founded by Alan Watts, Mark Watts, and Henry Jacobs in 1973.

Alan Watts Podcast – The official Podcast of Alan Watts

Master Enlightenments Arts Seminars and Lectures by Alan Watts – Looking at many different forms of enlightenment – Recorded by Henry Jacobs in 1964/65 who set up the original Alan Watts radio network.

Alan Watts Online – Project Unicorn (also via Archive.org)

Watts essay on Nothingness (This link no longer functions.)

Alan Watts audio archive from the DIY Dharma website

Alan Watts Lectures and Essays Audio, video, essays and articles – resources from deoxy.org

Alan Watts Resource Compilation A collection of audio and video links of Alan Watts lecture and essays

Alan Watts on YouTube, South Park Interview with Mark Watts on the resurgence of his father's work

watts.progressiveradionetwork.org Gary Nulls online station with Alan Watts show including some archived audio lectures.

Alan Watts. The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Category:1915 births Category:1973 deaths Category:20th-century philosophers Category:Buddhism in the United States Category:Converts to Buddhism Category:Buddhist philosophers Category:Mahayana Buddhists Category:English Buddhists Category:English philosophers Category:English spiritual teachers Category:English spiritual writers Category:English Taoists Category:Harvard Fellows Category:Metaphysicians Category:Modern Buddhist writers Category:People associated with the Human Potential Movement Category:Western mystics Category:American Episcopal priests

cs:Alan Watts de:Alan Watts es:Alan Watts eo:Alan Watts fr:Alan Watts it:Alan Watts he:אלאן ווטס nl:Alan Watts no:Alan Wilson Watts pl:Alan Watts pt:Alan Watts ru:Уотс, Алан fi:Alan Watts tr:Alan Watts

Background	#FFD068 | color black
Name	Shodo Harada
Alias	Harada Roshi
Birth date	c. 1940
Birth place	Nara, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Religion	Zen Buddhism
School	Rinzai
Title	Rōshi
Location	SogenjiOne Drop Zendo (Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery)
Predecessor	Mumon Yamada
Website	http://onedropzendo.org/http://www.ensohouse.org/ }}

, or Harada Rōshi, is a Rinzai priest, author, and head abbot of Sogenji—a three hundred year old temple in Okayama, Japan. He has become known as a teacher of teachers, with masters from various lineages coming to sit sesshin with him in Japan or during his trips to the United States and Europe. He began his training in 1962 under Rinzai master and Japanese calligrapher Mumon Yamada, from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1982. He frequently holds retreats at One Drop Zendo on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington. Were he to take residence there, as has been planned over the years, it would mark a major step for the establishment of the Rinzai sect in the United States. Among those Western teachers that study with Harada Roshi are Hogen Bays, Jan Chozen Bays, and Paul Haller.

Biography

Shodo Harada was born into a Zen temple in 1940 in Nara, Japan. While still in high school he encountered his teacher, Mumon Yamada, while running an errand for his father to Myōshin-ji. He was impressed by how little he knew of Buddhism at this encounter, so after college he entered Shofukuji and trained under Mumon. Sometime during the 1980s he was sent by Mumon to Sogen-ji to help an elderly abbot tend to the building and training schedules. In 1989, Harada came to the United States to provide instruction for students and in 1995 founded One Drop Zendo (or, Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery) on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington (where the practice mirrors the practices found at Sogen-ji). Nearby the Tahoma One Drop Monastery, Harada has opened a hospice known as Enso House in 2001.

Bibliography

See also

Buddhism in Japan

List of Rinzai Buddhists

Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

Notes

References

External links

Video about zen, Teaching of zen, Shodo Harada Roshi in America

Video of a public talk by Harada Roshi

http://onedropzendo.org/

http://www.ensohouse.org/

Website Shodo Harada english

Website Shodo Harada danish

Website Shodo Harada hungarian

Website Shodo Harada germany

One Drop Zen Hamburg, Germany

Website Shodo Harada germany

Website Shodo Harada russian

One Drop India - The International Buddhist Youth Organization, Nagpur, India

One Drop Mazatlan Mexico

Category:Modern Buddhist writers Category:Rinzai Buddhists Category:Zen Buddhism writers Category:Zen Buddhist monks and priests Category:Japanese Zen Buddhists Category:Living people

de:Shōdō Harada pl:Shōdō Harada