A real introduction for Zen newbs.

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Someone recently asked for an introduction to Zen literature, and a lot of users recommend the r/zen wiki reading list..

However, I find this to be a bad starting point for newbs.. So I am gonna do one here, myself.

The Zen tradition is a long one, and it didn't start with the Blue Cliff Record. In fact, the Blue Cliff Record is the culmination of a long history of recorded sayings that was written in the twelfth century.

This book isn't a starting point at all, for if the tradition of Zen has a history, then that history is a written record of the actual shift in ideas and terminology, a shift in practices and tradition, and if a person would want to start learning about Zen, as with anything, then they should familiarise themselves with the basics and the fundamentals.

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The Fundamentals. Bodhidarma and the Patriarchs.

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Bodhidarma. .

Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch.

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A good introduction to Bodhidarma can be found here.

https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Teaching-Bodhidharma-Bilingual/dp/0865473994

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Here is a section entitled Bodhidarmas outline of practice and is a great introduction to his ideas.

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https://thebamboosea.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/the-zen-teaching-of-bodhidharma-outline-of-practice/

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Huinengs Platform Sutra is another step in the history of Zen.

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https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781593761776/Platform-Sutra-Zen-Teaching-Hui-neng-1593761775/plp

From Bodhidarma to Huineng we have skipped through four Patriarchs, and I would say that the most important one is Sengcan and his Faith in mind poem..

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. https://terebess.hu/english/hsin.html

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The Patriarchs have taken the reader through from the fifth to the seventh Century of Chinese Zen, and this is the best place to start with any reading of Zen, to get a feel for how the tradition progressed before moving onto the likes of Huang po who lived around the ninth Century.

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zen-Teaching-Huang-Transmission-Mind/dp/0802150926/ref=asc_df_0802150926/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310831936698&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2667720229525747855&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006467&hvtargid=pla-456248651668&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

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After that we get all the regulars from the Mumonkan and Hekiganroku ( Gateless gate and Blue Cliff Record) such as Joshu and Yunmen, Gutei and Baso, but these Koans are only a snapshot in time without any context, without any foundation, ad in my opinion, without context will only serve to confuse the beginner.

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So, to round up, do like any student would, when undertaking any new task of learning , and start with the basics.

Submitted July 15, 2022 at 11:59AM by transmission_of_mind https://ift.tt/P6XSRnE