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Zen Buddhism Is a Branch of Mahayana Buddhism

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Zen Buddhism Is a Branch of Mahayana Buddhism THE QUALITY OF LIFE WITH ZEN Phradhepsinghavarajarn (Sophon Yodkumpa )* พระเทพสิงหวราจารย์ (โสภณ ยอดจ าปา) ABSTRACT This academic article wish to present the way refer to rapid of the world change that be from the progress of information technology and the stress causes ill health which dropped the quality of life in the present. It is an uncomfortable mindset for use the calm between the fast movement in nowadays that believe a high stress, constant anxiety over tasks and work and life, social anxiety are all a part of the modern way of life. Most people just don’t feel a sense of peace, of calm, of serenity, throughout their day. The way some of the time which learned a few things that have helped people create a feeling of calmness much more of the time than ever before. Our lives are filled with all kinds of noise , visual clutter, notifications, social media, news, all the things we need to read. And truthfully, none of it is necessary. Reduce all these things and more, and create some space, some quiet, in human life. Thus Zen meditation practice reminds the person to stay focused. The society is filled with constant distractions and often willfully give in to them. Zen drive the person to focus on the moment and be absorbed by the task at hand and do it well. The person characteristic will become to be habits that are not a one-time change in surroundings or work pattern. The Changing in environment is great, but can’t control the things that happen to them much of the time, and the person certainly can’t control how other people act. The only thing the person can control is their response and this response matters which can respond to the same event with anxiety or anger, or the person can respond with peace and calmness. * Abbot of Wat Phrasing Woravihar , Chiangmai Province , Thailand. Keywords : quality of life, Zen 1.INTRODUCTION The Japanese way of pronouncing "chan" is zen, which is the Chinese way of pronouncing the Indian Sanskrit "dhyana" or "sunya", meaning emptiness or void. It was strongly influenced by Taoism, and developed as a distinguished Chinese style of Buddhism come from China, Chán spread south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea and east to Japan, where it became known as Japanese Zen.( Aitken, Robert ,1994). This is the basis of zen itself that all life and existence is based on a kind of dynamic emptiness as a view now supported by modern science which sees phenomena at a sub-atomic level popping in and out of existence in a quantum froth. Zen Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism. The Mahayana sutras that were written in India and China form the basis of Zen Buddhism. Of these, the most prominent ones are the Lankavatara Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the Samantamukha Parivarta, the Heart Sutra, a chapter of the Lotus Sutra and the Platform Sutra of Huineng. The fundamental elements of Buddhist philosophy consist of the basics of Zen Buddhism also. These include the Eightfold Path, the five precepts, the Four Noble Truths, the five skandhas, three dharma seals, etc. The teachings of Zen include various sources of Mahāyāna thought, especially Yogācāra, the Tathāgatagarbha Sutras and Huayan, with their emphasis on Buddha- nature, totality, and the Bodhisattva-ideal. ( Suzuki, Shunryu ,1997) The Prajñāpāramitā literature and, to a lesser extent, Madhyamaka have also been influential in the shaping of the "paradoxical language" of the Zen-tradition. Zen philosophy are restricted to the Mahayana Buddhism. The major religious figures in Zen include Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Mañjusri Bodhisattva, Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, Sakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha. Zen Buddhism has been influenced by Chinese philosophy to a great extent, especially Taoism. This is because of the fact that Zen emerged as a distinct school in medieval China. However, the degree of influence of Taoism on Zen Buddhism is still open to debate. The early Buddhist schools in China were each based on a specific sutra. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren, the Zen school became established as a separate school of Buddhism. (Ferguson, Andy , 2000). It had to develop a doctrinal tradition of its own to ascertain its position and to ground its teachings in a specific sutra. Various sutra's were used for this, even before the time of Hongren: the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra or Huike, Awakening of Faith or Daoxin, the Lankavatara Sutra that were East Mountain School, the Diamond Sutra or Shenhui ( Harvey, Peter ,1995) the Platform Sutra. Subsequently, the Zen tradition produced a rich corpus of written literature which has become a part of its practice and teaching. Other influential sutras are the Vimalakirti Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra ( Sharf, Robert H. ,1995). The growing Chán tradition also faced the challenge to put its teachings into words, to bolster its identity and to applicate it in formal teaching settings, without losing the central insight into the "suchness" of reality. ( Yoshizawa, Katsuhiro ,2009),One solution to this was the shift of emphasis from the recorded sayings of the historical Buddha, to the sayings of living Buddhas, namely the Chán masters. In the time, these so-called "encounter-dialogues" between masters and students, but also from sermons, became codified and formed the basis of typical Zen-genres, namely the "yü-lü" as record and the classic koan-collections. These too became formalised, and as such became a subject of disputes on the right way to teach Zen and the avoidance of dependence on words. In its beginnings in China, Zen primarily referred to the Mahāyāna sūtras and especially to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. As a result, early masters of the Zen tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra teaches the doctrine of the "One Vehicle" or in Sansakrit called Ekayāna, the early Zen school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School".( Welter, Albert ,2000), In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Zen is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school". Accounts recording the history of this early period are to be found in Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters. During the Tang Dynasty, the Zen school's central text shifted to the Diamond Sūtra or Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. Thereafter, the essential texts of the Zen school were often considered to be the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Diamond Sūtra. The school did not call itself Chan as meditation , a rather colorless name. It was in fact still looking for a name, and the custom then was to tie a new teaching to a sutra. Huike used the Srimala sutra, but Daoxin later drew inspiration from the Awakening of Faith. Members of the East Mountain Teaching, realizing that the Awakening of Faith was a sastra, came up with the next best; they conjured up a lineage of Lankavatara sutra masters, this being the sutra that informed the Awakening of Faith. Shenhui then perpetuated the myth that Huineng favored the Diamond Sutra. Actually, none of these labels really identifies the school’s ideological affiliation, because this tradition apparently never used one sutra to legitimize itself.( Hori, Victor Sogen ,2000). The sutra is grounded on the prajnaparamita-teachings on emptiness. This is the central theme in "the dialogue between the bodhisattvas and Vimalakirti on the subject of nonduality".(Snelling, John ,1987) While discussing this subject, the bodhisattvas give a variety of answers. Manjusri is the last bodhisattva to answer, who says that "by giving an explanation they have already fallen into dualism". Vimalakirti, in his turn, answers with silence. As per a number of modern scholars, the influence was quite shallow, while others contend a deep influence of Taoism on Zen philosophy. It is a mistake to understand Zen as an intellectual philosophy or a solitary pursuit. Rather, it is more of a practice or a way of life. The temples dedicated to zed lay emphasis on a thorough practice of meditation on daily basis. They also advise practicing along with other people, as it helps in preventing the traps of ego. The students of Zen Buddhism are required to perform some of the tedious tasks that one performs at home. The description that were refered in above showed Zen Buddhists believe that a person should acquire knowledge from all the aspects of life. This knowledge will help person in the process of enlightenment. The textual hermeneutics have been severely condemned in Zen teachings. The pursuit of worldly treasures is looked down upon. They advise people to focus on meditation, which will ultimately lead person to unmediated consciousness of the processes of both the world as well as their own mind. Then Zen emphasizes rigorous meditation-practice, insight into Buddha-nature, and the personal expression of this insight in daily life, especially for the benefit of others. While a lot of people consider Buddhism to be a religion, most practitioners will tell you it is more ‘a way of life’ or a life philosophy. Buddha has always said was not a god but just a human like all other people. Everybody can learn what person learned and to help them with that laid down the basics of them discoveries in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path. It will not bring person enlightenment the first time who touch it. 2. WHAT IS THE ZEN SCHOLAR TOUGHT. The essential of Zen teachings is almost impossible that given the variety of schools as the extended history of 1500 years and the emphasis on suchness as reality just as it is, which has be expressed in daily life.
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