Zen and the Art of Shakespeare Like all Buddhism, Zen is a means by which one can achieve Buddha-consciousness, or in effect "total-consciousness." "Total-consciousness" means being aware of the true self and its role in regard to the infinite cosmos of all existence. This awareness allows one insight into or perhaps understanding of the Tao, the essential singularity to which all things belong. Understanding the Tao, for Taoists and Zen Buddhists alike, is the equivalent of Nirvana, loosely
The Platform Sūtra has a profound impact on its audience. It shapes the figure Huineng who has become one of the six patriarchs in Chan Buddhism through a narration of his dramatic biography and his groundbreaking announcement of the inherent Buddha nature. according to Morten Schlütter, these highlights of the Platform Sūtra, “have remained essentially unchanged through its different versions and today the text still has the power to entertain and inspire readers.” In order to achieve such deep
In the teaching of “viewing the mind”, Shenxiu taught that meditation could clarify the mind in the direction of sudden enlightenment, which became the fulcrum of daily meditation practice. Historically, the conflict between the disciples of Hongren in the Eastern Mountain School began to show distinctions in the perception of meditation through Shenhui’s criticisms of this form of mediation as a “gradual” form of enlightenment. In The Platform Sutra, the symbolic use of a “lamp” describes the vehicle
Chinese Buddhism was more than eight centuries old by the time the Song Dynasty began in 960. The bustling towns and cities that developed during the Song Dynasty was full of nuns and monks who were a part of the street scene, all over the Chinese heartland the landscape was full of pagodas and monasteries, domesticating Buddhism. The Buddhism that came about during the Song Dynasty was considerably unlike that of the Tang dynasty. New developments of Song Buddhism that became well known was the