Buddhist School which was developed in China and later in Japan as a result of a merger between the Mahayana form of Buddhism originating in India and the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. Zen and Chan are, respectively, Japanese and Chinese ways of pronouncing the Sanskrit word dhyana, which designates a mental state more or less equivalent to contemplation or meditation, but without the static sense and that these words carry liability at times. Dhyana denotes specifically the state of consciousness of the Buddha, one who is free from the belief that the distinct individuality of oneself and others is real. All schools of Buddhism hold that separate things exist only in relation to others. This relativity of individuals is called emptiness (Sanskrit sunyata), which means that the world is nothing in reality, but nature can not be understood by any definition or classification system fixed. The reality is the self (in Pali, tathata) the nature or the world as it is independent of any specific thought to have about it.
2. DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES
Zen is China's peculiar way of getting the Buddhist goal of seeing the world as it is, ie with a mind that has no thoughts or feelings of attachment (Sanskrit trishna). This attitude is called no-mind (Chinese Wu-hsin), a state of consciousness in which thoughts occur without a trace. Unlike other forms of Buddhism, Zen holds that such mental freedom can not be achieved through gradual practice, it must come through a direct and immediate idea (Chinese, tun-wu, in Japanese, satori). Thus, the Zen abandons both theories as systems of spiritual practice and communicates his vision of truth by a method known as direct indication. Its interpreters meet all philosophical and religious questions through symbolic words or actions. The answer is the action as it is and not what it represents. Response is typical Zen master Yao-shan, asked: "What is the path (of Zen)?" replied: "A cloud in the sky and water in the jar!". Zen students are prepared to be receptive to such responses by sitting for meditation (in Japanese, za-zen) while observing, without comment, no matter what happens.
3. CULTS
The two main sects of Zen are the Rinzai Zen and Soto Zen Soto seems to put more emphasis on the discipline of za-zen, while the Rinzai sect consider the problems of meditation ( Japanese, koan) based on the dialogues (in Japanese, mondo), similar to the examples mentioned earlier, among the old masters and their students. Students are expected to show the teacher your understanding of an incident of some direct non-verbal (eg pointing), in a private interview sanzen called in Japanese.
4. INFLUENCE ON THE ARTS AND CRAFTS
The Zen is studied widely in semi-monastic communities in which they supported for limited periods of candidates. However, the monastery is a strict Zen training school combining meditation with a considerable amount of manual labor. Students of these schools with special attention to the arts and crafts, especially painting, calligraphy, gardening, architecture and ceremonies tea. In Japan also practiced the arts of the bow, fencing and jujitsu. Zen has had a great influence on the arts and crafts from the Far East, as their point of view has more to do with action than theory and direct vision of nature rather than the interpretation . According to Zen, the mind behaves like a window pane rather than as a mirror, that is, the mind should give an immediate view instead of giving an interpretation of the world. All theories of nature are seen as obstacles in this sight. Zen shows its continuity with the original idea of \u200b\u200bthe philosopher Indian founder of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, that suffering is the result of the desire to possess, because it holds that the mind and feeling frustrated when their own operations conform with deliberation to the world of experience. Thus, the main theme of the religious paintings Zen is natural forms as birds, grasses, rocks and mountains shown only as images in a style that combines technical than minimal planning and determination. This art eludes iconography (plate or representation by visual means such as painting) and expresses a path of knowledge based more on experience than ideas, because the Zen is not subjected to any system, doctrine or belief.
5. HISTORY
According to tradition, the Zen was introduced in China in 520 by the Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma . The most important figures in the early development of Zen, which is characteristic of China, were Hui-neng, Te-shan and Lin-chi. The ink painting in China during the Sung Dynasty (960-1280) was one of the finest artistic expressions of the Zen school
The two branches Zen major who settled in Japan were taken by Japanese who had studied in China. The Buddhist monk Eisai introduced in 1191 and Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk Dogen Soto Zen introduced in 1227. Both continue to spread in Japan. With the development of Zen in the archipelago, painters Sesshu, Sesson Jasoku Shûkei and directly expressed in his Zen vision of nature. Under his influence, the Japanese raised the art of tea ceremony at the highest level of refinement and also developed a characteristic form of poetry: the haiku, a poem is extremely short.
Western interest in Zen back to the publication in English of the first authoritative report on the subject, Essays in Zen Buddhism by the Japanese scholar Daisetz T. Suzuki. After World War II (1939-1945) and the occupation of Japan by the United States woke up in this country and in Europe a strong interest in Zen, especially among artists, philosophers and psychologists. Had a special attraction for painters and sculptors and non-figurative abstract. Western philosophers have felt sympathy with the thought of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, on the theory of general semantics of the scientist and writer Alfred Korzybski, and to some extent with existentialism proposed by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger.
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