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Zen Buddhism And The Zen School

Decent Essays

Zen Buddhism originated from Chinese Ch’an Buddhism that was transmitted to Japan. The Zen school was known as one of the many Buddhist religion in Japan. In Japan, “Zen is defined as the “buddha mind,”…the ultimate reality, or “emptiness,” of all things and the enlightened state, or knowledge of that reality, characteristic of a buddha” (Bielefeldt 1995: 198). Zen emphasizes on the insight into the Buddha-nature through seated meditation (zazen), meditation practice, and teacher-sudden interaction. Zazen was understood as an expression of the Buddha nature. Zen Buddhism, focus on “a separate transmission outside scripture, not depend on words or letters, a school based solely on the teaching of Bodhidharma, which “points directly at the person’s mind,” enabling one to “see his own nature and become a budhha” ( Bielefeldt 2002: 5). The teaching of Zen was divided into two distinct monastic schools: The Northern school (Shen-hsiu) and the Southern school (Hui-neng). This paper will show that the difference between the teaching of Gradual and Sudden have affected the way people traditionally perceive enlightenment through the Northern school and Southern school of teaching and Shen-hui criticism of the Northern school practice.
Buddhism is the teaching of enlightenment and to achieve enlightenment is the reason why people practice this religion. Enlightenment refers to a singular, intense experience of insight that one has achieved self-realization. One who attains a state of

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