Zen Buddhism Enlightenment Through Experience

Zen: Stress on Meditation Is one of the schools in Mahayana. It takes its name from the seventh step of the Eight Fold Path--Meditation dhyana. In Chinese this word is “chan” in Japanese, “zen” The Chan movement preferred Siddhartha’s technique of attaining enlightenment through seated meditation.

Schools Within the School Within Chan (Chinese) Buddhism there were two schools: Northern and Southern. Northern School taught gradual enlightenment. Southern School taught advocated sudden enlightenment. The northern school died out. Two main schools, Rinzai and Soto, in Zen (Japanese) today are descendents of the southern school.

Enlightenment The enlightenment experience call “satori” brings an awareness of the unity oneself with the rest of the universe. Zazen or sitting meditation is the basic way in which enlightenment is achieved.

The Technique The meditation involves sitting in silence with one’s back straight and centered, keeping the body still, and taking deep and regular breaths. It is demonstrated by the following site. The site

Techniques continued Another technique for attaining enlightenment is called a “koan.” –The name is from the Chinese gong-an (kung-an) and is translated as “public discussion.” It demands that a person think or ponder Manual labor also helps one to focus and concentrate and so many of the Zen monastery do various tasks such as kitchen cleaning, minor repairs, etc.