While going thru my email archives, I found this email on my 'understanding of Zen' that I had written to a friend:
I had been reading some stuff on Zen and Buddhism in Japan and China. Had not known much about it earlier but found it interesting. I was always a great fan and advocate of Buddha but never really new much about him. And though Zen really does not reflect a lot of original Buddhist preachings, I found Zen more interesting by their stories et al than being some thing that leads to enlightment or so. And after much struggle, this is all that I could realize from Zen:
1. Zen condemns absoluteness in any context.
2. Emptiness is what it is all about. When you are enlightened, you realize emptiness and think beyond tha absolute.
3. Of course, (2) in some way means renunciation.
4. Confusing as it is, Zen seems to be an art of confusion: Getting confused and getting others to get confused.
5. Despite (4), enlightened people are happy(the word is incorrect and absurd :-)). This could very well be because they indeed found true enlightenment or that they have plunged into confusion.
6. Strangely enough, enlightenment is binary. You have it or you don't. This, I suppose is some thing that evolved because of the history of Buddha himself. The Zen masters typically struggle for enlightenment for years without going any where, but at some point, they suddenly get it in an instance.
7. These instances in (6) can be induced at some cases. And Zen masters do this induction. If you read Zen stories, this will be realized instantly.
For example, often, the pupil are asked to find the 'sound of one hand' knowing that the sound of two hands is a clap.
8. I did not find the Zen preachings to be any precises following of Buddha's own ideals. I have never heard of any Zen Guru talking about 'Desire is the root cause of tears'. They would rather say desire is illusory. Emptyness is reality' :-)
All these above could be my 'half knowledges'!! And Zen, I feel happend to be a great tool to practice divinity(or whatever is the right word) and peace of mind because
1. It always preached meditation. That was one of the primary activities of a monk
2. It provided a much necessary 'great escape'. Into their temples and mountains...
3. Zen preaches detachment.
Have you seen the movie 'Matrix'? It kinda reflects the fundamentals of Zen pretty well.
After this, I always was puzzled by one thing. Why did Buddha preach his understanding to the world? Why was he not just by himself? Was he attached to the world and wanted world's welfare? Or is it just goodwill that had no attachments? He is one person I admire most. But however close he was to perfection, I wonder if he had reached it?
And some thing that makes me feel more admired about him are that he did not preach about god but he preached people how be. He was the not the one who created Buddhism. It was people around him. Of all religions in the world, Buddhism would be one that is least likely to get a 'cult' like status.
