Zen Buddhism - Zen Teachings

Zen Teachings

Main article: Doctrinal background of Zen

Though Zen-narrative states that it is a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words", Zen does have a rich doctrinal background. Most essential are "the most fundamental teaching that we are already originally enlightened", and the Bodhisattva ideal, which supplements insight with Karuṇā, compassion with all sentient beings.

To point out 'essential Zen-teachings' is almost impossible, given the variety of schools, the extended history of 1500 years, and the emphasis on suchness, reality just-as-it-is, which has to be expressed in daily life, not in words. But common to most schools and teachings is this emphasis on suchness, the Bodhisattva-ideal, and the priority of zazen.

Zen teachings can be likened to "the finger pointing at the moon". Zen teachings point to the moon, awakening, "a realization of the unimpended interpenetration of the dharmadhatu". But the Zen-tradition also warns against taking its teachings, the pointing finger, to be this insight itself.

The various traditions lay various emphases in their teachings and practices:

There are two different ways of understanding and actually practicing Zen. These two different ways are termed in Chinese pen chueh and shih-chueh respectively. The term pen chueh refers to the belief that one’s mind is from the beginning of time fully enlightened, while shih-chueh refers to the belief that at some point in time we pass from imprisonment in ignorance and delusion to a true vision of Zen realization: “Our enlightenment is timeless, yet our realization of it occurs in time.” According to this belief experiencing a moment of awakening in this life is of central importance.