Why Zen

Zen is a religious quest

To save all sentient beings

• sentient beings – Those who are aware of their own existence
  • More than just feelings and animalistic sensory reaction to the world around them, but
    • The wherewithal to comprehend and adapt
    • The ability to change/modify the environment around them: fire, housing, etc.
      
• To save – means the action of; to keep from harm, to hold for the future use
  • This is the action of the practitioner who:
    • Reduces the karma knots for all through;
      • The act of renunciation and relinquishment till;
        • The karma knots are dissolved

It’s really about karma

Karma is the action of ‘cause and effect’ that turns the wheel of rebirth.

Though, Zen focus on the ‘Here and Now’, it is indeed The Path of Zen to end the cause of rebirth, thus to ‘cut’ the strings of karma.

Zen uses meditation, relinquishment and renunciation as a karma cutting means.

The Bodhisattva vow

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood, and anyone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha.

Can you become a Buddha?

Yes

The Path to Buddhahood in Zen

Zen uses meditation (zazen) and socratic style of debate (mondo) to peel away/wash away the stain of oneself to reveal the True Self (your soul) that reveals The Truth (Buddha-nature).

Zen style of achieving Buddhahood

1. Meditation that,
   1. Relinquishment and renouncement
      1. Self-realization and understanding TRUTH
         1. Wisdom and helping others

Hindrances

Why The Path of Zen is so hard, and many fail:

• Many don’t take it seriously, lack of commitment, no inspiration
• Many create delusions about zen, and get suck in them (LARPing, cultural appropriation, social needs)
• Health: many don’t live long enough to get past the hindrances
• Other demands: Children, positions of responsibility, family.

When we are Buddha

To be a Buddha is to simply know yourself, self-knowledge.

• Elimination of karma; cease generation of karma and
• End the cycle of rebirth

Jiyu Kennett, the abbotiss of Mount Shasta monastery, stated that when one is Buddha, it is like lowering the waters of the swamp, where all things can see the truth that once was obscured.