Zen and Pure Land Buddhism

Overview

Recall questions on the origins of Zen, zazen, satori and koans, Zen's attitude to scripture, Rinzai and Soto Zen, Pure Land Buddhism, Amitabha and Dharmakara's vows, nembutsu, Jodo-shu and Jodo Shinshu, and whether Pure Land is an easy path.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is Zen Buddhism, and where does it come from?

   Model answer

   Zen is the Japanese form of a tradition that began in China as Chan, whose name derives from the Sanskrit word for meditation. Tradition traces it to Bodhidharma, said to have brought a direct transmission from India, and it developed in China from around the sixth century before spreading to Korea, Vietnam and Japan. It is characterised by concentrated meditation practice, a lineage passing from teacher to student, suspicion of doctrinal elaboration, and an emphasis on direct realisation in ordinary activity.

2. 2

   What is zazen, and why is it central to Zen practice?

   Model answer

   Zazen is seated meditation, practised with an upright posture, regulated breathing and sustained attention, often facing a wall and in silence with a group. It is central because Zen Buddhists say awakening is realised through direct practice rather than through study or belief. In the Soto tradition especially, zazen is not treated as a technique for producing awakening later but as the activity in which awakened nature is already expressed, which is why sitting is regarded as valuable in itself.

3. 3

   What is satori in Zen practice?

   Model answer

   Satori is awakening or comprehension in Zen: a direct, non-conceptual seeing into the nature of reality and of one's own mind. A related term, kensho, is often used for an initial glimpse. Zen Buddhists describe it as sudden and as not obtainable by reasoning, though usually prepared for by long practice, and they insist it must be confirmed by a teacher, since self-diagnosis is unreliable. It is presented as a shift in seeing rather than as the acquisition of information.

4. 4

   What is Zen's attitude to scripture and doctrine?

   Model answer

   Zen Buddhists characterise their tradition as a transmission outside the texts, not relying on words and letters, pointing directly at the mind. Doctrine is treated as a finger indicating the moon, useful but easily mistaken for the thing itself, and there are famous stories of masters burning texts or answering doctrinal questions with something apparently absurd. In practice, however, Zen has produced an enormous literature of its own, and monasteries chant sutras daily, so the rejection is of dependence on texts rather than of texts as such.

5. 5

   How is wisdom transmitted in Zen?

   Model answer

   Through a direct relationship between teacher and student, understood as a lineage running back through generations of masters. Understanding is tested and confirmed in private interviews and in encounters designed to cut through intellectual answers, and a teacher formally recognises a student as an heir. Zen Buddhists therefore treat the living teacher as more important than the book, and treat awakening as something recognised by someone who has it, which critics note concentrates considerable authority in the teacher.

6. 6

   What is a koan, and how is it used?

   Model answer

   A koan is a short case, often an exchange between a master and a student, given to a practitioner to work with. It cannot be solved by ordinary reasoning, and the point is to exhaust conceptual thinking until a direct response arises, which the teacher then tests in interview. Well-known examples ask about the sound of one hand or set a single word against a straightforward question. Koan practice is characteristic of the Rinzai school.

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