Not Zen

This past week, on Friday May 9th, the Washington Post ran an article in their Weekend Section with a particularly catchy title: “Get Zen.” The subtitle was, “Four ways Washingtonians can find Zen without stressing over its cost.” The cover illustration was of an African-American woman in sunglasses, sitting in seiza near a public water fountain, while making the gassho mudra with her hands. My first thought on seeing the article title was, “Oh no… here we go again.”

Sure enough, the article had nothing to do with Zen, as I expected. The article was a survey of local spiritual groups with an Eastern emphasis: Reiki, a fairly recent method of spiritual healing invented in 1914 by Japanese spiritualist Usui Mikao; Qi Gong, the ancient Chinese system of managing the flow of Chi (or ‘Ki’ in Japanese); a local Yoga studio; and the Insight Meditation Society of Washington, founded by local spiritual celebrity Tara Brach.

While one may debate the benefits or merits of Reiki, Qi Gong, Yoga, and Insight Meditation endlessly, what is clear is that none of these spiritual practices has anything to do with real Zen Buddhism. As a meditation practice group, the Insight Meditation society probably comes closest to the mark; but the founders of the Insight Meditation movement were psychologists and not lineage practitioners of either Soto or Rinzai Zen, and neither does the practice of Insight Meditation conform to the rigorous traditions of Zenna. In short, by encouraging people to “Get Zen” and then serving up four examples of traditions that having nothing to do with real Zen Buddhism, the Washington Post is perpetuating the popular misunderstanding of the word “Zen.”

American’s are in love with the word “Zen” but we have little real understanding of what that means. “Zen” is hip; Zen is cool; everyone has heard of Zen, even news comedian Jon Stewart has his “Moment of Zen” at the end of his show which, of course, is hardly ever really Zen. Sadly, the word Zen is, in typical American fashion, gradually being commoditized and popularized and, in the process, purged of any meaningful relation to its actual spiritual content.

The word ‘Zen’ is shorthand for ‘Zenna,’ which is a cognate of the Chinese “Cha’an,” which is itself related to the Pali “Dhyana,” signifying “meditation.” Indeed, the name of the mudra which we place our hands in when we meditate, is known as the dhyana mudra. While it is true that almost all forms of Buddhism practice some form of meditation, the particularly modern forms of meditation associated with Zen Buddhism evolved in China, probably as a consequence of the encounter between the Buddha Dharma and Taoism.

The Chinese sage Chih-I, father of the Tien T’ai school of Buddhism, incorporated Cha’an methods into his systemization of Buddhism, which later was transported to Japan by Saicho, the founder of Tendai Buddhism who eventually became known as Dengyo Daishi. Centuries later, when the Tendai monk Eisai traveled to Mount Tien T’ai in China seeking to reconnect Japanese Tendai with its Chinese heritage, he found that Tien T’ai Buddhism had been supplanted in China by the Lin-Chi school of Cha’an Buddhism, which he was duly initiated into and carried back to Japan. There, the Lin-Chi school became known as the Rinzai school, and Cha’an became known as Zenna. Eisai’s disciple was Dogen, who like his master was also a Tendai monk, and who also traveled to China. Dogen encountered Tsao-tung Cha’an Buddhism in China, an even more austere form of “Zen” which he transported back to Japan, where it became the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. For complex historical reasons, Zen Buddhism became the religion of the Bushi or warrior class in Japan, whose powerful influence on Japanese history ensured the thorough penetration of Zen thought into Japanese culture and philosophy. Thus, what we now know as “Zen Buddhism” has for centuries been principally the practice of the Soto and Rinzai schools of Buddhism and, to a lesser extent, the Tendai school as well.

Of course, very few North Americans are familiar with this history, or with the specifically Zen forms of meditation or religious practice. It is this ignorance which contributes to the widespread misunderstanding of the word Zen, resulting in the kind of silly article titles published in newspapers everywhere, and not just in Washington. And I’m sad to say, that the widespread distortion of the Dharma that we see associated with the word “Zen,” is just one example of the spiritual infantilism that seems so common here in North America. In my next post, we will examine the larger question that the “Zen is hip” phenomenon raises: is the Buddha Dharma adapting to North America, or being ruined by our shallow commercialism and consumerism?

But for now, just remember that when you hear the word “Zen” in everyday conversation, chances are that whatever is being discussed is not Zen.