Hi Folks.
I'll start by stating that I don't wish to denigrate anyones spiritual practice or tradition. All I'm offering is a viewpoint which differs from what we have been told about Zen. By Zen, I mean the Chinese Ch'an lineage, and not the bastardised version that found its way to Japan, Korea, and later the Western world. I'm only using the word Zen as it is what people are most familiar with.
I found this quote online which I think is a good analogy:
"Buddhism and zen both aim for the understanding of "how to not drown".
While Buddhism traditions teach how to build bridges and boats and find detours, zen teaches how to swim.
Buddhism wants to save you by cultivation, Zen teaches that there is nothing to be saved from, because it's all made up by yourself.
Buddhism propagates rules, precepts, vows and dogma, while zen is all about the understanding of your mind and its function."
About two decades ago I started to investigate the world of Zen. As we all do, I did some research online and acquired a lot of information.
Now and then though, I kept coming across statements which challenged my views. These statements weren't frequent. Just now and again I'd see them mentioned. They were "Zen is not Buddhism" and "Zen is not meditation". Searching out these topics wasn't fruitful but I kept the quotes in the back of my mind for future reference.
A lot of time passed. I'd been interested in other things but something was pulling me back to Zen.
I wanted to know what Zen is.
To be continued......
