The core teachings of zen.

What are the core aspect of the zen teachings, and do these teachings appear to be similar across the cultural divide of Chinese and Japanese zen?

I consider myself to be an interested (student) of zen, and I've bracketed the word student because this may mean different things to different people.

I don't meditate, although I have tried it sporadically in the past, I've never been to a monastery, nor met any modern day zen people.

I have however always read literature that could be summed up as having a theme of seeking some form of answer to the ultimate question, the question of "who are we as humans, what are we, why are we here?"

I started with the Bible as a child, as Christianity was the prevelant religion, and then moved onto reading Shamanism, Buddhism and Zen.

I settled upon Zen, mainly because this style of self inquiry seemed to be the one with the least amount of bullshit.

Anyway, this leads me to the question, if the core teachings of zen, are similar across all the divides, is the bickering between adherents of each sect or school of zen, a sign that people have mistaken the form or style of teaching, for the message..

Here are a few examples of what I see, to be the core teaching, from across a diverse range of masters.

Bassui Tokusho. Japanese Rinzai master D. 1387

Who is hearing? Your physical being doesn't hear, nor does the void. Then what does? Strive to find out. Put aside your rational intellect -- give up all techniques. Just get rid of the notion of self.

Huang po. Chinese Tang dynasty master D. 850

Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.” ...

Bankei. Japanese Rinzai master. D. 1693

But when you try to stop your rising anger, [your mind] is split between your angry thoughts and your thoughts of stopping them. It’s as if you’re chasing after someone who is running away, except that you’re both the runner and the one pursuing him as well! [...] So the idea of trying to stop [your thoughts] is wrong. Since that’s how it is, when you no longer bother about those rising thoughts, not trying either to stop them or not to stop them, that’s the Unborn Buddha Mind.

Linji Chinese T'ang dynasty master D. 866

If you want to be free, get to know your real self. It has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode, but is lively and buoyant. It responds with versatile facility, but its function cannot be located. Therefore when you look for it you become further from it, when you seek it you turn away from it all the more.

Shunryu Suzuki.

Japanese Sōtō master. D. 1971

When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything.

Submitted April 21, 2021 at 11:35AM by transmission_of_mind https://ift.tt/3gshwvC