Pub Date : 2022-01-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0007
Bret W. Davis
This chapter explains, from the perspective of Zen Buddhism, the Buddha’s teaching of anatman, a word that gets variously translated—for example, as “no-self,” “egolessness,” or “no-soul.” Debates among Buddhist traditions and scholars about how to understand the anatman doctrine are introduced. It is argued that the Buddha’s key philosophical doctrine of “interdependent origination” can be understood in terms of the “Ontological Middle Way” of a “process ontology”; things and selves exist, but as interdependent processes rather than as independent and permanent substances. Buddhism views the self as a “life-stream,” as a “process-self” rather than a “substance-self.” Zen understands the teaching of “no-self” to be compatible with its teaching of the “true self.” In Zen, the quest to know oneself paradoxically leads to an enlightening “not-knowing,” which entails an understanding of the interconnected and ungraspable nature of the true self.
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Pub Date : 2022-01-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0008
Bret W. Davis
This chapter explains what it does, and does not, mean for a Zen Buddhist to say: “We are one.” It begins by relating the Zen teaching of the nonduality of self and others to Jesus’s teaching that you should love others as yourself. It then relates these to the idea of “the oneness of all life” found in the Hindu Upanishads. Debates between different schools of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy are briefly examined, and it is explained that the Zen experience of oneness should not be misunderstood in terms of an absorption into a homogeneous blob that denies the reality of differences. For Zen, individuals exist but not independently; to exist is to coexist. Zen’s teaching of nonduality, as a matter of “neither one nor two,” implies both unity and uniqueness, oneness and difference.
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Pub Date : 2022-01-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0018
Bret W. Davis
This chapter examines Zen’s understanding of the place of human beings in the wider natural world. It begins by explaining how Zen thinks of freedom as “freedom in nature” rather than as “freedom from nature.” It then discusses how samu or “meditative work” was incorporated into Zen practice, and how it brings practitioners into a more intimate relation with nature. Recounting a personal experience of raking and composting maple leaves at a Zen monastery in Kyoto, it suggests that one of the virtues that can be learned from this intimate working with nature is what Zen, and Mahayana Buddhism in general, calls the Perfection of Giving. The chapter ends by commenting on how Zen masters have instructed their students to learn Zen from the sights and sounds of the natural world.
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Pub Date : 2022-01-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0001
Bret W. Davis
This chapter addresses two questions: What really is Zen, in contrast to how it has been repackaged and watered down in the pop culture of the West? What issues should modern Westerners with a serious interest in Zen bear in mind as they adopt and adapt its teachings and practices? Readers are invited to reflect on their preconceptions about Zen so that they may “empty their cups,” open their minds, and recover what Zen calls the “beginner’s mind.” This clearing the mind of prejudices and preconceptions is not just a requisite for learning about Zen; it is also a first lesson on what Zen practice is all about. Also discussed is the question of how the study and practice of Zen Buddhism should be understood in the context of interreligious dialogue.
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Pub Date : 2022-01-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0002
Bret W. Davis
This chapter introduces Zen as an “investigation into the self.” It relates this to the emphasis on self-understanding and self-realization in other philosophical and religious traditions, especially to Socrates’s understanding of the maxim “Know thyself.” It explains why meditation is central to Zen’s method of investigating the self, and specifically how Zen meditation alleviates the distorting effects of “karmic editing,” our accustomed perceptual and conceptual filtering of reality. Zen meditation is introduced in terms of what the Daoist sage Zhuangzi calls “sitting and forgetting.” The chapter concludes with a reflection on Zen master Dōgen’s famous yet enigmatic teaching: “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the myriad things of the world.”
{"title":"Previewing the Path of Zen","authors":"Bret W. Davis","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter introduces Zen as an “investigation into the self.” It relates this to the emphasis on self-understanding and self-realization in other philosophical and religious traditions, especially to Socrates’s understanding of the maxim “Know thyself.” It explains why meditation is central to Zen’s method of investigating the self, and specifically how Zen meditation alleviates the distorting effects of “karmic editing,” our accustomed perceptual and conceptual filtering of reality. Zen meditation is introduced in terms of what the Daoist sage Zhuangzi calls “sitting and forgetting.” The chapter concludes with a reflection on Zen master Dōgen’s famous yet enigmatic teaching: “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the myriad things of the world.”","PeriodicalId":269743,"journal":{"name":"Zen Pathways","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116074320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-20DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573686.003.0004
Bret W. Davis
This chapter provides instructions for practicing Zen meditation, zazen. It explains how to attend to place, body, breath, and mind. First, it explains how to set up a good space for meditation, and it discusses when, how often, and for how long one should meditate. Next, it explains in detail how the body should be positioned, either on a chair, in a cross-legged (Burmese, half-lotus, or full-lotus) position, or in a kneeling position. Then it introduces the traditional Zen method of “counting the breaths,” up to ten, one number per breath, as a method for concentrating and calming the mind. It goes on to discuss the importance of maintaining physical stillness as a gateway to mental, emotional, and ultimately spiritual peace, and it explains how to clear the mind by neither chasing after nor chasing off distracting thoughts. It ends by explaining how to practice walking meditation, kinhin.
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