![zen_500[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/xercvwC.jpg "zen_500[1].jpg")
Can someone attempt to explain Zen Buddhism to me? Every book I've tried to read on it says it is unexplained but that doesn't make any sense. Probably because I am a filthy westerner but can someone who knows a lot about it try to explain it?
The incommunicable experience of is-ness.
You can't explain it or intellectualize it. Just meditate.
>>914635
this looks promising
Kasulis, T. P. Zen Action/Zen Person. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1981.
>An insightful philosophical survey of Zen practice, thought, and personhood, reaching back to Nāgārjuna and Taoism but discussing Japanese Zen approaches from Eihei Dōgen, Hakuin Ekaku, and others.
>>914641
Then why does zen Buddhists usually have teachers if it is simply meditation?
Also isn't Nirvana/Satori achieved randomly in Zen? How would meditation lead to something random?
>>914673
You don't need to achieve satori to get a handle on what they're talking about.
You can be enlightened by anything, but meditation is mosy conducive to it for most people, which is why you need teachers to instill discipline and structure like any practice
>That feel when someone tries to fit your entire essence into a descriptive box
>>914764
From what little I know about meditation, it seems it can be done by either focusing very hard on something or completely clearing your mind, which kind do zen Buddhists usually do? Or does it not matter?
>tfw westerners bought into "zen" without getting a read on what buddhism is
>>914799
Zen Buddhists are more of the "clear your mind" type than the focussing ones iirc.
It's probably better if you get a glimpse at a monk's daily life, so here's a 28 min documentary in English, featuring a German who became a Zen monk in Japan, in one of the few "open" monasteries that welcome total noobs who want to experience the monastic life for a few days, at that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYWn3UqIri4
>>914799
Get comfortable somewhere. breathe in and out at a natural rhythm. Count your breaths if you have to. The goal is not to never think but to not engage with the thoughts that will inevitably arise in any way. Always bring it back to your breath. Feel it about one or two fingers below your navel. Don't be discouraged by how chatty and distracting your mind is, that's normal. Just back to the breath. Start with 5 min a day and work up to 30.
These are just preliminary practices that will give you an idea of what Zen is. There are other more advanced techniques but ultimately all based on present moment awareness
The origin of zen is with "the flower sermon", so think about this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Sermon
>[Buddha] gives a wordless sermon to his disciples (sangha) by holding up a white flower. No one in the audience understands the Flower Sermon except Mahākāśyapa, who smiles. Within Zen, the Flower Sermon communicates the ineffable nature of tathātā (suchness) and Mahākāśyapa's smile signifies the direct transmission of wisdom without words. [Buddha] affirmed this by saying:
>>I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle [D]harma [G]ate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.
>Zen developed as a form of Buddhism that concentrated on direct experience rather than creeds, doctrines, or intellectual analysis. Zen is essentially an exploratory methodology for mapping consciousness, a meditative tradition that foregrounds direct experience of tathātā which may only be afforded by the entrance of the "gateless" Dharma Gate.
>>915118
Zen Buddhism is almost entirely different than other types of Buddhism
>>915689
The white flower is actually the Fleur de lis, believe it or not.
>>917357
i don't get it
>>917359
I could spend 1000 years trying to explain it to you or you could spend like a month asking yourself about the irrationality of life in motion and get about the same result. I will give you a hint though. Symbols are essentially lessons to be learned. Knowledge transcends the continuum of time.
>>917395
ok but you could have just explained the historical relation between the two
>>916339
This is true but one still needs to understand the tenets of Buddhism for the context of zen to make any sense at all.
One might argue Zen is attempting to meet Buddhism's goals with a Taoist mindset.
>>914635
You don't do Zen on your own, at least to true zen. Zen, like many Japanese things, is very much about direct transmission between teacher and student.
That said are forms of meditation similar to zazen you can do on your own
The last time I did shrooms I got some kind of hyper-objectivity, I somehow "realised" how the universe worked and played into itself. I was able to fit myself in there perfectly and all my self-esteem issues were gone because I perfectly knew my place and what others thought of me.
Is this anything remotely close to enlightenment? Meditators use a lot of psychedelics, no?
>>914635
Satori is a state of mind that can't be put into words or thoughts without being tainted with concept. The Zen tradition involves teaching in a way which avoids structured concepts to help the student achieve Satori.
>>914635
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_at_War
Try this.
>>914635
>DUDE JUST MEDITATE LMAO
>DUDE BUDDHA IS A PIECE OF SHIT LMAO
>DUDE SATORI LMAO
>DUDE WHAT IS A SLAP WITHOUT A CHEEK LMAO
>>914635
zen is a imagination.
eastern every zen master teaching have a own strong imagination.
>>914635
what do you want with zen?
in the Buddhism, most important zen point is erase the own unworthy mind and mind concentration.
>>914799
You ever hear of people sleeping with the fan on? They focus on a single object to drown out the noise around them.
Both are basically the same thing. In fact, trying to think about absolutely nothing just makes your imagination go wild; I used to meditate for the mindbending streams of consciousness I would get from it, whereas with a drone or some repetitive music, it's easier to space out and feel like a blank slate
>>917529
pls respond
>>918046
Anon did shrooms.
At that moment the anon was enlightened.
