3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What is Zen? A mystery..., February 26, 2001
This review is from: Zen Around the World (Paperback)
I read this book in a few days; it is quite compact for the range of material covered. Zen is something that people hear whispers of or rumors of in the West; I wanted to know more. I wish I could provide a definition for Zen... There is one great quote at the beginning of the book that says, "To mix metaphors, India was the woman, China the man, Zen the wonderful child."
Before I read this book, I had no idea how diverse Buddhism was. I thought that there was basically two sects (Mahayana and Hinayana). However, it seems that Buddhism radically changes every time it encounters a new land. Originally, Buddhism was founded in India circa 500 BC. The author briefly sketches the historical origins of Buddhism, the Yogi practice of Hinduism and the Chinese religion of Taoism. Several of these ideas merged in China; the original (i.e. transliterated) name of Zen was Ch'an. Within Chinese Zen, there were numerous divisions (e.g. some sects emphasized the written works of Buddhism- Sutras and koans-, while others thought they were helpful but unnecessary while others thought they were a positive hindrance). The section on the sutras and koan (the written component of Buddhism) was interesting and provided quick sketches. Another major dividing point between schools of Buddhism (and thus Zen), is how enlightenment is to be attained; through a sudden flash of insight or through gradual study and diligence? One school combined both by saying that one is suddenly enlightened but that there is more to be gained to studying and attaining ever-higher levels of enlightenment. Zen has also changed much since it left China for Japan and Korea. I was surprised to learn that the traditional Eastern martial arts are strongly connected to Zen (e.g. karate, tae kwan do and kung-fu). However, Zen has spread from the Orient to the West around the end of the 19th century...
With the work of D.T. Suzuki, many Buddhist works became available in English for the first time. MBuddhist editation is advertised as something that "everyone" can do; irrespective of religious commitment. Indeed, I worry that Christians may forget that Zen is foreign to Christianity and the two systems cannot be reconciled. Christians must become so familiar with the truth that they will be able to recognize spiritual counterfeits such as this. In addition, Zen influenced one of the prominent founders of psychology Carl Jung, in his formulation of the collective unconscious; his theories are very prominent in both psychology and sociology.
In addition, Zen Buddhism is riddled with logical problems. For example, "Existence and non-existence share the same nature." Buddhism is riddled with violations of the law of non-contradiction and Buddhism's ontology (i.e. the world is an illusion/non-real) and epistemology is also flawed. However, this is the fault of the system and not the authors of the book. I think the authors explained the different schools of Zen and how Zen has changed with time etc... I did find the barrage of unfamiliar names difficult to manage; the inclusion of a glossary of names (and certain key concepts) was very helpful; however it could definitely be expanded more and be better organized.
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