Zen Buddhism represents a movement within the Buddhist religion that emphasizes meditation as the means to enlightenment.\u00a0 Zen is the Japanese pronunciation for the Chinese root word \u201cChan\u201d which means to meditate.\u00a0 Through meditation, it is possible to identify the imbalance that exists within our world.\u00a0 The struggle to be free is constantly hindered by our attachment to live under the social structure that the ruling class has modified over time.\u00a0 Only by realizing the self, and through gaining the atman, can one then perceive the Brahman.\u00a0 Compassion comes into your being, and reveals your calling.\u00a0 Enlightenment follows only if one lives wholeheartedly to abide by his\/her calling.<\/p>\n
Zen’s roots may be traced to India, but it was in East Asia that the movement became distinct and flourished.\u00a0 Like other Chinese Buddhist sects, Zen first established itself as a lineage of masters emphasizing the teachings of a particular text, in this case the Lankavatara Sutra.\u00a0 Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch in China, who is said to have arrived there from India in 470 A.D., was a master of this text.\u00a0 He also emphasized the practice of contemplative sitting, and legend has it that he himself spent nine years in meditation facing a wall.<\/p>\n
Lineages became important, and Zen stressed the master-disciple relationship. Bodhidharma was followed by a series of patriarchs each of whom received the Dharma or religious truth, which is passed down directly from his predecessor and teacher.\u00a0 Today, this relationship still exists, but with a new air that stresses Zen living.\u00a0 Gong-An or questions that are mental stumbling blocks asked by the master to his student is a common way to help in attaining enlightenment.<\/p>\n
The subsequent history of Zen in China was mixed.\u00a0 The sect suffered from the great persecution of Buddhism around the year 845.\u00a0 It recovered better than many Buddhist schools, partly because in contrast to other monastic communities, Zen monks engaged in physical labor.\u00a0 The idea of \u201cworking Zen\u201d, meditating through physical labor to become not attached to worldly actions made them less dependent on the state and drew support from the masses.\u00a0 During the Song dynasty (960-1279), Zen again prospered and was a leading influence on the development of Chinese art and neo-Confucian culture.<\/p>\n
It was during this period that Zen was first established in Japan.\u00a0 Within 30 years of each other, two Japanese monks, Eisai and Dogen went to China, where they trained respectively in the Linji and Zaodong schools of Zen.\u00a0 They then introduced Zen to Japan.\u00a0 Rinzai emphasizes the use of the Kong-an, a mental stumbling block that the student must solve to his masters satisfaction.\u00a0 Soto lays more stress on seated meditation without conscious striving for a goal, or jazen.\u00a0 Both schools fostered good relations with the shoguns and became closely associated with the Japanese military class.\u00a0 The class favored Zen because of its emphasis on discipline.\u00a0 Rinzai in particular was highly influential during the Ashikaga period (1338-1573), when Zen played an important role in propagating neo-Confucianism and infusing its own unique spirit into Japanese art and culture.<\/p>\n
The heart of Zen monasticism is the practice of meditation; it is this feature that has been most popular in Zen’s spread to the West.\u00a0 Zen meditation highlights the experience of enlightenment, and the possibility of attaining it in this life.\u00a0 The strict training of Zen monks, the daily physical chores, the constant wrestling with kong-ans, the long hours of sitting in meditation, are all directed toward this end.\u00a0 I went on a 9 day trip to the lower parts of the TaeBaek Mountains last summer.\u00a0 With a backpack carrying a compass, a change of clothes, and a lot of apples, I \u201chopped\u201d temples, moving from one to the other, got lost for two whole days, and basically had a lot of fun.\u00a0 Gradually, every action seemed like meditation, from climbing mountains, listening to sounds, and talking to monks.<\/p>\n
Enlightenment is generally thought of as being sudden.\u00a0 The meditator needs to be jolted awake, and the only one who can do this is his Zen master.\u00a0 The master-disciple relationship often involves private interviews in which the master will not allow the student to respond referring to the Buddha or the sutras.\u00a0 A direct answer is expected to the master\u2019s assigned kong-an.\u00a0 Conversely, the master may goad the disciple by remaining silent or compassionately help him out, but with the constant aim of trying to cause a breakthrough from conventional to absolute truth.\u00a0 A perfect example of this can be found in Dropping Ashes on the Buddha:<\/p>\n
When Dae Ju first came to Zen Master Ma-Jo, the Master asked him, \u201cWhat do you want from me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dae Ju said, \u201cI want you to teach me the Dharma.\u201d<\/p>\n
What fool you are!\u201d said Ma-Jo.\u00a0 \u201cYou have the greatest treasure in the world within you, and yet you go around asking other people for help.\u00a0 What good is this?\u00a0 I have nothing to give you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dae Ju bowed and said, \u201cPlease, Master, tell me what this treasure is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ma-Jo said, \u201cwhere is your question coming from?\u00a0 This<\/em> is your treasure.\u00a0 It is precisely what is making you aske the question at this very moment.\u00a0 Everything is stored in this precious treasure-house of yurs.\u00a0 It is there at your disposal, you can use it as you wish, nothing is lacking.\u00a0 You are the master of everything.\u00a0 Why, then, are you running away from yourself and seeking for things outside?\u201d<\/p>\n Upon hearing these words, Dae Ju attained enlightenment.<\/p>\n Similarly, it is believed that most others experience enlightenment at a crash course event.<\/p>\n Enlightenment is a word scholars throw around easily.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the search for the true self is an interesting enough topic to be discussed in detail.\u00a0 Self awakening, in my opinion is tailored to each individuals spiritual maturity, and his\/her living environment.\u00a0 The quest for self lays on the premise that the self is a part of the greater I, the Brahman, so by studying and meditating on the self wholeheartedly opens a window that allows one to take a glimpse of the whole world.\u00a0 Only by understanding the world, and the self truthfully and unhindered by the ego, can the Zen student gain compassion that will reveal one\u2019s calling in the world.\u00a0 Only by wholeheartedly following the calling can one be enlightened.\u00a0 Jesus, Siddartha, Gandhi, and others followed their calling so wholeheartedly that some of the figures met a tragic death from those who oppose their ideals.\u00a0 They were the first to lead the counterculture movement.<\/p>\n Our society, and its outcome oriented, capitalistic characteristics mold many people to lose something important during the course of their professional pursuit.\u00a0 After all, don\u2019t we all witness left and right, no matter how much this liberal arts education inspire students the connectedness of humanities, no matter how hard the college help them see the mosaic created in joint effort by the teachings of various departments a picture of the world and its struggles, many youths leave here to hypocritically live against what Christians coin as their calling, or in a Buddhist term, awakening (I am not judging, we can\u2019t help it a lot of times)?\u00a0 Humanity\u2019s constant war to gain a better paycheck in order to secure better shelter, food, water, clothing, and comforts are perpetuated by the ruling class and their desire to maintain their status.\u00a0 As a result we pick up small weapons such as alcohol, drugs, and greed to help ourselves avoid the heat of the war.\u00a0 Musicians (me) are unavoidably a part of this war, and they start to make music \u201cin the name music\u201d, but in sake of something else as well.<\/p>\n Zen inspires me to make music again for music sake.\u00a0 On the surface level, it is about the discipline, and keeping mindful of the music<\/em> and that alone, but in a deeper sense, it is reinforcing why I fell in love with music in the first place.\u00a0 The expression of love, pain, hope, and so much more that inspire performers and audience their calling to pick up a bigger weapon, such as compassion, patience, and ideals for true justice\/equality help connect with others and envision a fight to be put up collectively, not individually.\u00a0 The Korean word for \u201chuman\u201d is derived from the Chinese root character that looks like two people leaning against each other.\u00a0 Individual\u2019s struggle to live, gradually stunt humankind to see at a bigger picture, while a combined effort reminds us constantly the collective<\/em> existence that we belong in.\u00a0 As a musician, I think the most inspirational music comes from whole-hearted outpouring of ones love for the music.\u00a0 Music then communicates to others.<\/p>\n The uniqueness of Zen is that it is not tied to any mass instruction, nor a set practicing ritual.\u00a0 Everyone finds Zen in their own way.\u00a0 They learn to realize their calling in accordance with their life.\u00a0 Let it be the masses that are inspired by my music to find their own Zen, in effect realize their own self, which will ultimately lead to being one with the world in us.<\/p>\n Theodore de Bary, William (editor).\u00a0 The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and Japan. New York: Vintage Books, 1972.<\/p>\n Seung Sahn.\u00a0 Dropping Ashes on the Buddha. New York: Grove Press, 1976.<\/p>\n Disclaimer<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zen Zen Buddhism represents a movement within the Buddhist religion that emphasizes meditation as the means to enlightenment.\u00a0 Zen is the Japanese pronunciation for the Chinese root word \u201cChan\u201d which means to meditate.\u00a0 Through meditation, it is possible to identify the imbalance that exists within our world.\u00a0 The struggle to be free is constantly hindered … Continue reading “Guhn Kim”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":0,"parent":378,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"page-full_width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-497","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":646,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/497\/revisions\/646"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/kucera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bibliography<\/h4>\n
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