Answers Chapter 9: Zen Buddhism Literature & Language Essay

Name__________________________________ Chapter 9: Zen Buddhism
P161-163
* After reading p 161-162, explain how the textbook interprets the opening quotation beginning with: “Joshua asked…”
Emptying the bowl means leaving other body and mind distractions. The monk is told to leave things that are likely to bring distractions during the meditation time. This indicates meditation requires a lot of concentration, and anything that may lead to distractions should be avoided, or removed first before engaging in meditation. The monk is enlightened with the response he gets from Joshua.
* In terms of the beginning of Buddhism, who is Mahakasyapa and what does Zen credit him with?
Zen cites originates all the way back to the historical Buddha. During his sermon to a congregation, he carries a flower up in the sky with his hand, and all the people were surprised except mahakasyapa. This indicated that all the rest did not understand but mahakasyapa kept smiling signifying his enlightenment. He was enlightened through experience (wordless transmission). Zen gave him the flower. Mahakasyapa was among the normal people, but receiving enlightment he gets the follower of the buddha. After the death of Zen mahakasyapa took over the leadership of the monks. His first council was at Rajgir.
* Who is Bodhidharma? And what did he do?
Bodhidharma was a patriarch. To date, Bodhidharma is considered the first patriarch of Zen. His teachings started by converting the philosophical Taoism to Buddhism. Chinese Taoism was dominant but greatly reduced during Bodhidharma’s teachings.
* Zen is a mixture of what two religious’ traditions?
Zen Buddhism is a mixture of two religions, Indian Mahayana and Taoism. The essence of Zen is trying to make people get the meaning of their lives directly without being misled by language or thoughts.
* Why did Hui-neng put an end to the tradition of naming a successor?
Hung-jen knew that Hui-neng was the winner during the competition of citing verses, but he did not announce him as the winner. He directly gave him the Bodhidharma’s robe and bowl. He instructed everyone that Hui-neng should be the last on the lineage, to avoid them from being objects of contention in future.
* Define satori:
From Zen’s perspective, satori is the immediate perception of reality. Zen believes language acts as a barrier to reality, it only acts as a pointing finger which only shows the way but does not get someone to the place pointed. Zen’s philosophers term use of language as hypocritical.
* Identify and explain the 2 sects of Japanese Zen?
Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen are the two sects in Japan. Soto practice is a slow practice that involves just sitting without moving or doing something else. One has to sit, sit, sit, and sit without thinking.
On the other hand, Rinzai practice can result to a little satori. In Rinzai one has to sit but will have to awaken during the sitting process and demonstrate the feeling of being enlightened.
P 163-165
* Why is seeing into the nature of one’s own being difficult according to Zen?
Seeing into oneself is difficult because people are already alienated with language and ...