Zen

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Zen Buddhism is a Connection Framework, and Authentic Spirituality designed to help the Bodily Ego free itself of Wrong Thought (e.g., fears, distractions, conceptions, concepts, archetypes, and ideas) in order to open a straight and unobstructed Connection) to one's Spiritual Ego.

List of Connection Frameworks

Arica School, Baha'i, Buddhism, Eupsychian Theory, Gnosticism, Holistic Nursing, Jainism, Karma Yoga, LP Connection Framework, Monastic Christianity, Neo-Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, Shattari, Sufism, Taoism, The Lightning Path, Theosophy, Transpersonal Psychology, Wicca, Yoga, Zen

Zen Terms

Zen > Ansho no zen, Ashi, Daigo, Dharma, Japam, Kensho, Mushi-dokugo, Original Face, Pure Land, Satori, Shogo, Shukkejin, Sufism, Yako Zen, Zaikejin, Zanmai, Zazen

Notes

https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/szotar/szotar.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Buddhi


Zen meditational practice specifically contributes to connection by releasing "stress and tension," helping individuals "more in control," helping individuals open up, helping them attain better control of their thought processes (an essential requirement for controlled Connection), helping them achieve a less judgmental stance towards self and others [1].

"Whatever teachings there are in Zen, they come out of one's own mind. We teach ourselves; Zen merely points the way."[2]

"Zen is the spirit of man [sic]. Zen believes in its inner purity and goodness. Whatever is superadded or violently torn away, injures the wholesomeness of the spirit. [3]

"Zen wants to have one's mind free and unobstructed; even the idea of oneness or allness is a stumbling block and a strangling snare which threatens the original freedom of spirit."[4]

"The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do so in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded. Therefore, anything that has the semblance of an external authority is rejected by Zen. Absolute faith is placed in man's [sic] own inner being. For whatever authority there is in Zen, all comes from within....even the reasoning faculty is not considered final or absolute. On the contrary, it hinders the mind from coming into the directest communication with itself. The intellect accomplishes its mission when it works as an intermediary, and Zen has nothing to do with the intermediary except when it desires to communicate itself to others....Zen professes itself to be the spirit of Buddhism, but in fact it is the spirit of all religions and philosophies. When Zen is thoroughly undestood, absolute peace of mind is attained, and a man [sic] lives as he out to live." [5]

"Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism.... The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence."[6]

"Satori is the raison d'etre of Zen without which Zen is no Zen. Therefore every contrivance, disciplinary and doctrinal, is directed towards satori. Zen masters could not remain patient for satori to come by itself; that is, to come sporadically or at its own pleasure. IN their earnestness to aid their disciplines in the search of the truth of Zen their manifestly enigmatic presentations were designed to create in their disciplines a state of mind which would more systematically open the way to enlightenment. [7]

"...what makes Zen unique as it is practised in Japan is its systematic training of the mind. Ordinary mysticism has been too erratic a product and apart from one's ordinary life; this has Zen revolutionized. What was up in the heavens, Zen has brought down to earth. With the development of Zen, mysticism has ceased to be mystical; it is no more the spasmodic product of an abnormally endowed mind. for Zen reveals itself in the most uninteresting and uneventful life of a plain man of the street, recognizing the fact of living in the midst of life as it is lived. Zen systematically trains the mind to see this; it opens a man's eye to the greatest mystery as it is daily and hourly performed; it enlarges the heart to embrace eternity of time and infinity of space in its every palipitation; it makes us live in the world as if walking in the garden of Eden; and all this spiritual feats are accomplished without resorting to any doctrine but by simply asserting in the most direct way the truth that lies in our inner being.[8]

"The great truth of Zen is possessed by everybody. Look into your own being and seek it not through others."[9]

"Hush the dualism of subject and object, forget both, transcend the intellect, sever yourself from the understanding, and directly penetrate deep into the identity of the Buddha-mind; outside of this there are no realities...When the mind is distrubed, the understanding is stirred, things are recognizes, notions are entertained, ghostly spirits are conjured, and prejudices grow rampant. Zen will then forever be lost in the maze."[10]

"There is but one straight passage open and unobstructed through and through. This is so when you surrender all--your body, your life, and all that belongs to your inmost self. This is where you gain peace, ease, non-doing, and inexpressible delight. All the sutras and shastras are no more than communications of this fact; all sages, ancient as well as modern, have exhausted their ingenuity and imagination to no other purpose than to point the way to this.[11]

Footnotes

  1. Shapiro Jr., Dean. “Behavioral and Attitudinal Changes Resulting from a ‘Zen Experience’ Workshop and Zen Meditation.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 18, no. 3 (1978): 21.
  2. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 7. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  3. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 9. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  4. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 11. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  5. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 15. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  6. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 10. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  7. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 50. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  8. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 16. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  9. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 51. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  10. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 17-18. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG
  11. Suzuki, D.T. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Grove Press, 1994. p. 19. https://amzn.to/2Tp6gWG