What is Zen?

Zen is a school of Buddhism which developed in China and later in Japan as the result of a fusion between the Mahayana form of Buddhism originating in India and the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. Zen and Ch'an are respectively the Japanese and Chinese ways of pronouncing the Sanskrit term "Dhyana", which desingates a state of mind roughly equivalent to contemplation or meditation, although without the static and passive sense that these words sometimes convey. Dhyana denotes specifically the state of consciousness of a Buddha, one whose mind is free from the assumption that the distinct individuality of himself and other things is real.

All schools of Buddhism hold that separate thing exist only in relation to one another, this relativity of individuals is called their "voidness", which means not that the world is truly nothing, but that nature cannot be grasped by any system of fixed definition or classificaion. Reality is the "suchness" of nature, or the world "just as it is" apart from any specific thoughts about it.

Zen is the peculiarly Chinese way of accomplishing the Buddhist goal of seeing the world just as it is, that is , with a mind in which there are no grasping thoughts of feelings. This attitude is called "no-mind", a state of consciousness wherein thoughts move without leaving any trace.

Unlike other forms of Buddhism, Zen holds that such freedom of mind cannot be attained by gradual practice but must come through direct and immediate insight. Thus Zen abandons both theorizing and systems of spiritual exercise and communicates its vision of truth by a method known as "direct pointing". Its exponents answer all philosophical or religious questions by nonsymbolic words or actions; the answer is the action just as it is, and not what it represents.

Typical is the reply of the Zen master ÃĤsYao-shan, who, on being asked "What is sthe Way (of Zen)?", answered, "A cloud in the sky and water in the jug!" Zen students prepare themselves to be receptive to such answers by sitting in meditation while they simply observe, without mental comment, whatever may be happpening.

According to Zen, the mind serves properly as a window glass rather than as a reflector, that is the mind should give an immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world. All theories of nature and reality are considered to interfere with this direct vision.

Zen thereby shows its continuity with the original idea of the Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism Gauatama Buddha that suffering is the result of grasping desire, for it considers that the mind and feelings frustrate their own proper functioning when they cling deliberately to world of experience. Thus the subject matter of Zen religious painting consists of natural froms, such as birds, grasses, rocks, and mountains, presented merely as images in a style that combines a maximum of techniuqe with a minimum of planning and deliberation. For Zen is not commited to any system of doctrine or belief.