Zen words 1: What is Zen and Buddhism?

目次/Contents

Introduction
What is the “aim” of Buddhism?
What is Zen?

Introduction

Zen words are short sentences lead us to Zen. I’ll post some of them occasionally. Zen is a way to understand the aim of Buddhism and I’ll show you it before tell you the words. 合掌

たけちよ

In Japanese, we say “Zen is a way to understand the truth of Buddhism” but I say “aim” in stead of “the truth” because I suppose “aim” would be better to understand it.

What is the “aim” of Buddhism?

The aim and three principals

A brochure available written by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai shows us the answer. It puts it, “Over 2,500 years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha realized the origin of the sufferings of this world and revealed the path to go beyond them.” This is the “aim.”

He found three principles for it: 諸行無常(Shogyo Mujo), 諸法無我(Shohoh Muga), and 涅槃寂静(Nehan Jyakujo).

諸行無常(Shogyo Mujo)

諸行無常(Shogyo Mujo) means that nothing is eternal and everything is changeable. This principal doesn’t deny the existence of everything. It means everything is a process or a result of changing or vanishing.

In a nutshell, he found everything we see and everything inside of us a process or a result of changing or vanishing.

諸法無我(Shohoh Muga)

諸法無我(Shohoh Muga) means 因縁(In-nen) give birth to the processes or the results. 因(In) and 縁(Pronounced “En” individually) are “cause” of everything we see and everything inside of us.

Due to 因縁(In-nen), many things and phenomena are born and cease to exist without cease, i.e., everything, including us, in the universe is changing without stopping. With this principle, we found there is no “我(Ga).”

“我(Ga)” means “i” or “myself.” The idea doesn’t deny “I am”, or our existence. In this principal, “I am” or “our existence” is a process or a result of changing or vanishing caused by many things and phenomena that are born and cease to exist.

Shakyamuni Buddha realized that people found their existence “fixed” and this idea made them suffer.