The Beginner's Guide to Zen Buddhism

by SMITH, JEAN

• ISBN13: 9780609804667
• ISBN10: 0609804669
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2000-02-22
• Publisher: Harmony

Summary

Here is a comprehensive introduction to Zen Buddhism for those who don't know how or where to begin, nor what to expect once they have started practicing. It includes the fundamentals of meditation practice (posture, technique, clothing), descriptions of the basic teachings and major texts, the teacher-student relationship, and what you will find when you visit a zendo, plus a history of Zen from the founding of Buddhism to its major schools in the West. In addition to answering the most frequently asked questions, it offers a listing of American Zen centers and resources, an annotated bibliography, and a glossary. Jean Smith's enormously practical approach ensures that The Beginner's Guide to Zen Buddhism will become the book teachers and students alike will recommend.

Author Biography

Jean Smith is the editor of four well-established and much-admired collections of Buddhist teachings -- Breath Sweeps Mind, Everyday Mind, Radiant Mind, and 365 Zen. She divides her time between New York City and the Adirondack Mountains.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction
Finding What You're Seeking	1	(8)
The Search for ``Zen''	2	(4)
Why Choose Zen?	6	(1)
The Benefits of Practice	7	(2)
The Gateways to Realization
Meditation and Koans	9	(24)
Zazen	10	(17)
Koan Study	27	(4)
Shikantaza	31	(2)
A World of Stillness and Order
The Zendo	33	(30)
What Kind of Zendo?	35	(6)
Visiting a Zendo	41	(10)
Services and Rituals	51	(4)
Sesshin	55	(8)
Mirrors of Practice
Sangha and Teacher	63	(12)
Sangha	64	(4)
Zen Teachers	68	(7)
Roots That Support and Nourish
A Brief History of Zen Buddhism	75	(26)
Participating in the Buddha's Life	76	(7)
Revolutionary Teachings	83	(2)
The 2,500-Year Journey	85	(16)
Stepping into Ourselves
Basic Zen Teachings	101	(30)
The Four Noble Truths	105	(6)
The Bodhisattva Precepts	111	(11)
Karma	122	(2)
Nonduality	124	(1)
Emptiness	125	(2)
Buddha-Mind	127	(1)
Enlightenment	128	(3)
Words of Wisdom and Joy
Selected Texts	131	(12)
Sutras	132	(4)
The Four Vows	136	(2)
Gathas	138	(5)
Dispelling Delusions
Frequently Asked Questions	143	(8)
Epilogue
Zen in Action	151	(6)
Suggestions for Further Reading	157	(4)
Zen Centers and Resources	161	(12)
Selected Glossary of Terms in Zen Buddhism	173	(12)
Index	185

Excerpts

Why Choose Zen?
It's very important to find the tradition and the center where you are comfortable. The aspect of Zen that appeals to most people is its emphasis on zazen and the experience of meditating in a zendo, which we'll investigate in chapters 2 and 3. The word Zen comes from the Sanskrit dhyana ("meditative absorption"), which was transliterated into ch'an in Chinese, then into zenna, or Zen, in Japanese. The practice has come to this country as Zen; zazen literally means "seated mind."

Another attraction has to do with Zen teachers, discussed in chapter 4. Zen Buddhism emphasizes a strong, ongoing relationship between a student and a teacher. When you work with a Zen teacher, you're not just in a room with a hundred other students, but you have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a teacher. And a quite wonderful aspect of Zen teachers is the freshness, the broad sense of humor, and the unpredictably bizarre methods they sometimes use to teach. The rhetoric of Zen, like that of all traditions, promises freedom. But Zen's reputation for being especially free goes back to irreverent, rebellious kinds of "crazy masters" found throughout Zen history. For this reason, spontaneity is a good word for the accepted norms of teaching and learning in Zen.

A special characteristic of Zen is a kind of intimacy with what you see and hear, which leads to a practice distinguished by its simplicity. When you meditate deeply, you become acutely mindful of just what surrounds you, and you develop a keen awareness of its aesthetics. Zen has been criticized as being excessively formal, but the teachings themselves are right within that form. People often have a moving experience arising out of their familiarity with form: Coming into a zendo -- where all the cushions are lined up, everything is spotless, everything has a particular place, and you bow in a particular way -- is like being enfolded in a safe and still container. It may seem paradoxical that this intimacy with form occurs within the same context as crazy teaching. But they go together, because without that form the wild teaching wouldn't be so wild.

Finally, although storytelling is also part of the teaching approach within the Tibetan and Vipassana traditions, what sets Zen apart is koans, story-riddles whose every answer seems to be paradoxical, examined in chapter 2.

The Benefits of Practice
When you first begin to meditate -- in any tradition -- you suddenly become awestruck by all the things going on in your mind. With practice, an incredible empowerment takes place as you begin to recognize and even to stop the constant chatter of thought. During the early months, you may experience this awareness of and ability to have some control over your thoughts as a honeymoon period.

After you've been practicing longer, perhaps during a retreat, all your ideas -- the rigidities -- about practice abruptly drop away, and you first experience intimacy with form. In this remarkable transformation, you recognize not just the form of Zen but also the form of your life. It's as if you suddenly can affirm, "Yes, this is my life."

Many advantages of Zen often are ballyhooed in the media under the all-inclusive term stress reduction. American Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck, in Everyday Zen, has succinctly deflated such notions. She insists that practice is not about producing psychological or physical change or bliss states, not about knowing the nature of reality or gaining special powers, not even about being "spiritual," although all of these things may happen as a by-product to meditation practice. It's about becoming acquainted with ourselves. Nevertheless, many other straightforward benefits do come from meditation. You can concentrate better and put your mind where you want it. You can see yourself as you become attached to a thought -- whether that thought is fear, despair, anger, or delight. Very slowly, over the years, the places where you get stuck emotionally and mentally are worn away by your practice of awareness. You come to be more resilient. Ultimately, as you become more aware of your nature -- of who you are -- you become more compassionate.

The most powerful aspect of Zen practice is the freedom it gives you. Zen goes directly to your own experience of the oneness of the universe, of your interconnectedness with all things. You learn to distrust whatever you clung to in your old sense of separation, and that realization can be the most liberating thing in your life, a freedom beyond anything you could have imagined.

To achieve this kind of freedom, you need to give yourself the best possible chance of continuing in the practice. Begin by doing three things: Start meditating (instructions are given in chapter 2). Read a book (chapter 10 lists books that are especially valuable for people new to Zen). Find a sangha, a community to practice with (chapters 4 and 11 will help you find a group). If you do these three things, you will have taken the first steps to genuine practice. Sounds simple? It is simple, but it's not easy. The more your practice deepens, the more you will be challenged -- and rewarded -- by the elegance of the practice and by your own mind.

---

Excerpted from The Beginner's Guide to Zen Buddhism by Jean Smith
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.