This is a short introduction to Zen and me. I have no formal Zen training, I have arrived at Zen along a different path. Much in Zen matches my own experiences which is why I use Zen as a reference.
There are Hardcore Zen and Zen Lite. Over at Taoism.net I found What is Zen? which has a definition I like and share. There it says that:
The closest we can come to describing Zen in words may be as follows:
• Zen is more of an attitude than a belief.
• Zen is the peace that comes from being one with an entity other than yourself.
• Zen means being aware of your oneness with the world and everything in it.
• Zen means living in the present and experience this reality fully.
• Zen means being free of the distractions and illusory conflicts of the material world.
• Zen means being in the flow of the universe.
• Zen means experiencing fully the present, and delighting in the basic miracle of life itself.
I exclude Buddhism from my definition of Zen, I am currently not interested in that part.
This was originally posted at Zen And More, another blog of mine.
Zen is beyond the limiting labels of religion.
Zen is Love
Zen is our connection to the Universe
Zen is beyond words
Zen is a cool sounding word
Zen is the ebb and flow of the tides of life
“The Tao that can be named is not the true Tao”
_/|_
Oh, and Zen is the name of my boat LoL
Thanks for adding more definitions of Zen. Including the boat…
Hello Bengt,
It is interesting to observe how a word travels.
Through time and thought of man, in search for meaning through meditation, Zen is a very good example of how history has shaped language and how the original Sanscrit term ‘dhyana’ entered the Chinese language through the doors of an Indian monk who started his own meditation school “Chan”, which was the word ‘dhyana’ in Chinese pronounciation, transformed from ‘chan-na’, and at the end being reduced to ‘Chan’, which then was pronounced “ZEN”.
For some that’s the change they want to see in this world, and perhaps even a manifestation of Buddha’s enlightenment.
More to read here: http://www.logoi.com/notes/whatis_zen.html
Thank you for the definitions and for sharing some of YOU!
With gratitude,
Lydia
Lydia,
Thanks for your comment and the link. It is interesting to follow how ideas travel the world and time.