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Grant Stenger
THINK Global School
February 4, 2014
Comparison of Traditional Buddhism to Zen Buddhism
“Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and
it points the way from bondage to freedom. By making us drink right from the
fountain of life, it liberates us from all the yokes under which we finite beings are
usually suffering in this world. We can say that Zen liberates all the energies
properly and naturally stored in each of us, which are in ordinary circumstances
cramped and distorted so that they find no adequate channel for activity.” (1)
“Zen”, coming from the Sanskrit word Dhyana, means meditation and is a
popular school of Buddhism, specifically in Japan, Europe, and the US. Traditional
Zen is said to have been founded in China around the 6th century C.E. under the
name of Ch'an, as a sub-school of Mahayana Buddhism. After being exported to
Japan in the 12th century, it gradually developed its own unique, local philosophies.
Bodhidharma, an Indian scholar, is traditionally credited with spreading Buddhism
from India to China. In essence, Bodhidharma teaches that studying sacred texts,
worshiping deities, or doing elaborate religious rituals isn’t necessary to achieve
enlightenment; in fact, he teaches that this actually hinders one in their journey to
enlightenment. One must set aside conventional wisdom, he believes, and harness
the awesome power of meditation and experience the world as it truly is. Once
Japan had access to Zen/Ch’an teachings, they became immensely popular among
the samurai for its emphasis on discipline and self-control. It will be made apparent
throughout this essay that Buddhism has changed significantly since its conception
in India to its arrival in Japan.
Firstly, what is Buddhism? The Buddha Dharma Education Association writes
that, “Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The
word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when
Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at
the age of 35.” (2) Differently, BBC writes, ““Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that
focuses on personal spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into
the true nature of life. There are 376 million followers worldwide.” Further
contrasting these definitions, Encyclopedia Britannica defines Buddhism as,
“Religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha
(Sanskrit: ‘awakened one’), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid6th and the mid-4th centuries BCE (before the Common Era or Christian era).
Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan,
Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia,
and during the 20th century it spread to the West.” (4) Clearly, Buddhism is
incredibly hard to define, something as abstract as this typically is. While the
number of followers varies on the millions from definition to definition, and the
ultimate goal of Buddhism, enlightenment, is difficult to define, one can conclude,
Siddhartha Gotama, a man who lived in northern India in about the 6th century BCE,
is the founder of Buddhism. We also see that, enlightenment, or as BBC puts it,
“personal spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into the true
nature of life” is typically the main goal of Buddhists today. Reaffirming this new
conclusion, BBC writes, “Buddhists seek to reach a state of nirvana, following the
path of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who went on a quest for Enlightenment
around the sixth century BC.” Finally, in Leukel’s book, Understanding Buddhism, it
is written, “Buddhism arose in northeastern India some 2500 years ago. It
developed into one of the major religious forces of Asia, and in the twentieth
century made its presence felt in almost every country of the world.”
With a greater understanding of what Buddhism is, one can now progress to
a further question: who was Buddha? Paraphrasing The Buddhist Center’s answer,
Buddha, son of Suddhodana, the head of the Sakya tribe and a member of the clan of
Gautama, was born in Nepal around 2,500 years ago under the name of Siddhartha
Gautama. Siddhartha, a noble prince, was born into a royal family and had a very
privileged upbringing. He was shaken when he realized that a major part of life was
old age, sickness, and death. When discovering this, he began to contemplate the
meaning of life. Soon deciding to leave his sheltered life and follow the path of a
wandering holy man, he became quite adept at meditation under various teachers,
before converting to asceticism. The ascetics believed that no one could be free
unless they denied the flesh; Buddha practiced austerities so determinedly that he
nearly starved to death. However, still he had not answered his question. True
understanding of what truly was the meaning of life seemed as far as ever, so he left
his new life to look inward. He sat down under a pipal tree and vowed to stay until
he had gained Enlightenment. After 40 days, of looking inward, Siddhartha finally
attained ultimate Freedom. Throughout the remainder of his life, Buddha travelled
throughout northern India and taught his followers what he had learned. This
became the doctrine of Buddhism. Prince Siddhartha was not a god; he never
claimed to be divine. Buddha was merely a man. Most Buddhist see him as an ideal
human being, and a great guide who can lead many towards Nirvana. (6)(7)(8)
What do Buddhists believe? Steinilber-Oberlin believes, "The whole basis of
Buddhism, which is but an attitude assumed before life, can be elementarily
resumed thus: to escape from suffering and reach a calm, pure haven." (9) As
mentioned earlier, “There is no belief in a personal god. Buddhists believe that
nothing is fixed or permanent and that change is always possible. The path to
Enlightenment is through the practice and development of morality, meditation and
wisdom.” Most Buddhists also believe that life is both endless and impermanent.
They claim thee signs of existence, tilakhana, impermanence, suffering, and
uncertainty. Existence is endless as each individual is reincarnated again and again,
experiencing suffering throughout many lives. In Steinilber-Oberlin’s book, The
Buddhist Sects of Japan: Their History, Philosophical Doctrines and Sanctuaries, it is
stated that, “It is impermanent because no state, good or bad, lasts forever. Our
mistaken belief that things can last is a chief cause of suffering.” (3)
While Buddha taught many things, most Buddhist philosophies can be
summed up by two simple concepts: the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
“The first truth is that life is suffering (i.e.; life includes pain, getting old, disease, and
ultimately death. We also endure psychological suffering like loneliness frustration,
fear, embarrassment, disappointment and anger.) This is an irrefutable fact that
cannot be denied. It is realistic rather than pessimistic because pessimism is
expecting things to be bad. Instead, Buddhism explains how suffering can be
avoided and how we can be truly happy.” (2) BBC claims, “Suffering comes in many
forms. Three obvious kinds of suffering correspond to the first three sights the
Buddha saw on his first journey outside his palace: old age, sickness and death.
However, according to the Buddha, the problem of suffering goes much deeper. Life
is not ideal: it frequently fails to live up to our expectations.” They continue to say,
“Human beings are subject to desires and cravings, but even when we are able to
satisfy these desires, the satisfaction is only temporary. Pleasure does not last, or if
it does, it becomes monotonous. Even when we are not suffering from outward
causes like illness or bereavement, we are unfulfilled, unsatisfied. This is the truth of
suffering.” Most people who come across these teachings typically find them fairly
pessimistic, but Buddhists find them neither optimistic or pessimistic. They argue
that Buddha’s teachings don’t end with suffering; rather, they teach how to end it.
The second Noble Truth is that suffering is caused by craving and hatred.
Brian White says, “We will suffer if we expect other people to conform to our
expectations, if we want others to like us, if we do not get something we want, etc. In
other words, getting what you want does not guarantee happiness. Rather than
constantly struggling to get what you want, try to modify your wanting. Wanting
deprives us of contentment and happiness. A lifetime of wanting and craving
(especially the craving to continue to exist) creates a powerful energy, which causes
the individual to be born. So craving leads to physical suffering because it causes us
to be reborn.” (2) BBC says, “Our day-to-day troubles may seem to have easily
identifiable causes: thirst, pain from an injury, sadness from the loss of a loved one.
In the second of his Noble Truths, though, the Buddha claimed to have found the
cause of all suffering - and it is much more deeply rooted than our immediate
worries.” The article continues, “The Buddha taught that the root of all suffering is
desire, tanhā. This comes in three forms, which he described as the Three Roots of
Evil, or the Three Fires, or the Three Poisons.” These Three Roots of Evil are:
1. Greed and desire (represented in art by a rooster)
2. Ignorance or delusion (represented by a pig)
3. Hatred and destructive urges (represented by a snake) (10)
The third noble truth teaches us that we can overcome suffering, and attain
happiness; true happiness and contentment are possible. We must give up useless
craving and learn to live in the moment (not dwelling in the past or the imagined
future) then, we can become happy and free. We then have more time and energy to
help others. This is Nirvana. (2)
The fourth and final noble truth is that the eightfold path is the path towards
the end of suffering. The Eightfold Path can also be referred to as the Middle Way.
Buddha says to avoid both indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which
Prince Siddhartha had found helpful in his search for enlightenment. The eightfold
path is essentially, being moral, focusing the mind, and developing wisdom. (2)(10)
These are the core values and beliefs in Buddhism. Now with a thorough
understanding of what Buddhism is, who Buddha, and what Buddhists believe, one
can now fully understand Zen.
As mentioned previously in the essay, “Zen” literally translates to
“meditation”. Zen is a large school of Buddhism that is widely popular in Japan, and
parts of the Western world. Zen Buddhism originated from China, where it had been
slightly altered to fit Chinese culture, as opposed to Indian. An Indian scholar and
monk called Bodhidharma, is typically credited with bringing Buddhism from India
into China. The major Chinese form of Buddhism is called Ch’an. Another branch of
Buddhism was created when it was brought to Japan through Chinese and Korean
traders around the 12th Century. Buddhism in Japan spread like a wildfire, as many
of its general principles and philosophies fit very well with Japanese culture. Also
interesting, "Fundamentally tolerant, Buddhism agreed well with Shinto, the ancient
ancestor worship (which is still traditionally practiced today), and gradually
penetrated the society, the customs, the arts--in fact the whole soul of Japan.
Japanese civilization became essentially, profoundly Buddhist, and well could one
speak of a 'Buddhist Humanism.'" (9)
Now, how are typical Ancient Indian Buddhism and Japanese Zen Buddhism
similar and how are they different? Many practices differ between the two religions,
which is quite logical considering that one was created 2,500 years ago, and another
was only adopted abut 900 years ago. Alongside this, there are many, major
geographical and cultural differences between the two. Northern India and Japan
are quite different in many ways. This is reflected firstly in practices. Buddhists
focus mainly on donations, morality, and meditation (morality being more
important than donations and meditation being more important than morality). Zen
Buddhists focus on very similar religious practices, just minutely different. For
example, in Zen regular visit to the temple for meditation is a must, whereas, in
Buddhism, you may meditate, whenever and wherever you please. Additionally,
both rely heavily on statues and pictures to remind followers of their dedication and
to strive to lead noble lives. In terms of relations with other religions, both are fairly
open about mixing religions, but Zen is especially known for letting followers have
multiple faiths. Also, the majority of Japanese people Zen are also Shinto. People go
to temples and shrines indifferently. They practice and worship both equally. A
popular saying in Japan is, “born Shinto, die Buddhist.” Most Japanese infants begin
their wonderful lives in Shinto shrines, and as they grow old, they typically end up in
a Buddhist temple. Typical Buddhism doesn’t quite have this level of flexibility.
Another interesting difference between Buddhism and Zen is the concept of deities.
Typical Buddhists deny the existence deities, as they have no purpose in their
religion. Conversely, the Zen believe in little Buddhas that are immortal and infinite
and have many of the same attributes of other religious deities. On the topic of
deities, the difference between a God’s role in ones salvation is also quite
interesting. In Buddhism, it one’s own journey; we can only attain nirvana our own
nirvana. They claim that God or Gods don’t and cannot exist in this world. Most Zen
however simply don’t specify who the creator is or may be. They believe that no
living person, cannot know what happens after death or if there’s a creator, and so
we shouldn’t waste time searching for something we will never find. These are some
of the major differences between ancient, north Indian Buddhism and Zen.
In conclusion, both Buddhism and Zen are widely popular philosophies,
practiced and believed by many. They have some inherent differences, but are for
the most part quite similar. One can now clearly see that Buddhism has changed
significantly since its conception in India to its arrival in Japan.
Bibliography:
(1) Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. Essays in Zen Buddhism. London: Souvenir, 2010. Print.
(2) White, Brian. "A Basic Buddhism Guide: 5 Minute Introduction." A Basic
Buddhism Guide: 5 Minute Introduction. Ed. Ven S. Dhammika. Buddha Dharma
Education Association, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.
(3) "Buddhism at a Glance." BBC News. BBC, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
(4) Jain, Parul. "Buddhism." Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 17 June 2013. Web. 06
Feb. 2014.
(5) Schmidt-Leukel, Perry. Understanding Buddhism. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic,
2006. Print.
(6) "Who Was the Buddha?" The Buddhist Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
(7) Gill, N. S. "Buddha." About.com Ancient / Classical History. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb.
2014.
(8) Kalupahana, David J. A History of Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities and
Discontinuities. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1992. Print.
(9) Steinilber-Oberlin, E., and Kuni Matsuo. The Buddhist Sects of Japan: Their
History, Philosophical Doctrines and Sanctuaries. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.
(10) "The Four Noble Truths." BBC News. BBC, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.