Zen
Zen
by Christine Fingerle, 1st Dan
The concept of Zen is one not easily understood, in fact, it is impossible. The idea behind the Zen beliefs is one that problems can be solved through meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition. There are a few graspable facets explainable about Zen, in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight-Fold Path. A man known as Buddha discovered and explains, what is explainable, in the history and beliefs of Zen.
Buddha, as he became known, was born in the sixth century BC and died at the age of eighty after eating spoiled food. He was not the first or last of his kind, there were six before him and thirteen that followed. In Buddha's lifetime, he vowed to find a cure for suffering, and in his enlightenment, he discovered the Four Noble Truths; The Truth of Suffering, The Truth of the Cause of Suffering, The Truth of the End of Suffering, and The Truth of the Path to the End of Suffering.
The first of the Four Noble Truths is The Truth of Suffering. The Truth of Suffering begins with realizing that all life is brought through suffering. Everything in life is or causes suffering, mentally, physically or socially. Of the main causes of mental suffering, sadness and depression are the ones that cause most of the damage. When a loved one is lost, one feels irritated, or one cannot satisfy their wants or needs, they can feel this suffering. A physical form of suffering is greatly dependent on age. When one is very young or very old, the body may not have the energy or the resources to heal properly, or to do the things that a healthy person may be able to do. If one suffers socially, it is from the lack of happiness in ones life. If one is not happy with their life or surroundings, this can cause great suffering.
The second truth is The Truth of the Cause of Suffering. For the Truth of Suffering to be explained, one must understand the Cause of Suffering. Two of the greatest causes of suffering are desire and ignorance. For example, people always desire the best in foods and entertainment. If one never experiences the worst of these things, then they will never enjoy the best when they are lucky enough to experience it. Having ignorance is not being able to see the truth in things. When one cannot see things how they really are, then one limits their understanding of the topic. The meditation in the Zen philosophy helps one realize that none of these things are important, and the only purpose of them is to cause suffering. This was the exact thing that Buddha was trying to eliminate.
The third truth is The Truth to the End of Suffering, the final goal in Buddha’s teaching. In order for one to end suffering, one must end all greed and unhappiness and remove all desire and ignorance from their mindset. Through this, one will experience true Nirvana (the state of being free from suffering) and have total happiness and enlightenment in all that one does. The way to this truth is to avoid these extremes and attempt to keep your life on the ‘Middle Path.’
The fourth, and final of the Four Noble Truths is, The Truth to the Path of the End of Suffering. The ‘Middle Path’ is the road in which one avoids the extreme of treating ones desires and the other extreme of torturing ones mind and body. In order to accomplish this feat, one must abide by the rights of The Noble Eight-Fold Path.
1. Right understanding: The Four Noble Truths
2. Right to thoughts: Renunciation, kind thought, and thoughts of harmlessness
3. Right speech Refraining from falsehood, stealing, and frivolous talks
4. Right actions: Refrain from killing, and the lack of chastity
5. Right livelihood: No trade with deadly weapons, animal slaughter, slavery, intoxicants, or poisons
6. Right effort: The endeavor to discard evil, prevent the raising of evil, develop good, and to promote good
7. Right mindfulness: Mindful with regard to body, feeling, mind, and mental objects
8. Right meditation: The correct use of the art to meditate and to train ones mind to focus on a certain object of thought.
All of these incite the presence of one’s good karma.
Karma is the intentional action that is done deliberately through ones mind, speech or actions. Karma is the natural law that states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction; therefore, producing the idea of cause and effect, which, in turn, determines which realm you will be reborn into. There are six realms in which one may be reborn after death. They are the realms of gods, the demigods, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts, and the hells.
Livelihood; not to do anything that would harm other beings – no trade with deadly weapons, no animal slaughter, no slavery, no intoxicants, and no poisons.
The last three refer to continuous mental development: 6 – Right Effort; the venture to discard and prevent the raising of evil and to develop and promote good; 7 – Right Mindfulness; mindful with regard to body, feeling, and experiences; 8 – Right Meditation; the correct use of the art to meditate and train one's mind to focus on a certain object of thought. All of these incite the presence of one’s good karma and through these practices, one can then begin to reach a higher existence and come closer to reaching Nirvana.
The purpose of the Zen philosophy revolves around the act of suffering. When one meditates, hold self-contemplation and intuition, rather than having faith and devotion, the enlightenment of the Buddha is experienced. Enlightenment is defined as the direct seeing of one's ‘original mind,’ a mind without corruption or suffering. Like an infant, one does not experience the thought of desire or ignorance, reaching enlightenment and attaining the true goal and understanding of ones being.