Zen: The Mystic Flower

Last updated on: April 4, 2017 at 9:20 am by Daniel Scharpenburg

Zen: The Mystic Flower 2017-02-15T09:23:47-05:00 Daniel Scharpenburg

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Zen is a culture of awakening. It doesn’t really match any of the categories we tend to want to put things into in western thought. It defies labels like religion and philosophy. It’s not something to believe. It’s not even something to be. It’s a practice. It’s a way of life.

Zen is like the flower of Buddhism. Beneath it lies the roots of developed doctrine and practice, which has been cultivated for over two thousand years. Beneath these roots are the basic principles that are the foundation of all of the myriad branches of Buddhism. In the case of Zen this flower was planted in China and some of it’s practice was clearly influenced by the spiritual traditions that already existed there. Now it has been planted here in the west.

Zen Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism founded in China in the 6th century. It aims at a simple and direct approach to enlightenment. Zen means deep meditation and in some early texts it was called The Meditation School. But it’s also more than that. It’s a mystical teaching that points to our true nature, to a flash of awareness beyond the limitations that we apply to ourselves and the world around us, beyond the dualistic delusion of separation. We can these flashes of awareness through practice and break through all of our conditioning and limitations. That’s what Zen is all about.

In Zen practice we’re trying to cultivate these flashes of awareness, like watering a flower. We want to expand and strengthen them. The mystic’s journey is what the Zen tradition is all about.

Previous Post

March 28, 2017

The Marks of Existence

Next Post

April 6, 2017 Mind Development

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 37 Practices blog bodhisattva book review boundless heart buddha buddhism buddhism for beginners compass of zen compassion dhammapada dharma emptiness Faith in Mind fearless heart han shan impermanence inspiration interfaith koans life Lojong mahayana meditation mind training mirror of zen movie review nagarjuna news questions recording song of mind steps to the great perfection suffering sutras suttas Uncategorized vajrayana video videos zen

Select a Month July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 August 2019 March 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Shalom" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peace Joy Love Blessing

Support this
Column