Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Buddhism
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:14 pm
I wanted to suggest the idea, that perhaps Zen, with it's various subcategories, should perhaps be a main category in itself, rather than a sub-category of East Asian Buddhism.
It would seem the due to the Popularity and influence that Zen has as a main school of Buddhism in western culture, that it would make more sense to let it have it's own category, rather than call it part of "East Asian " Buddhism.
While, technically, it is part of East Asian Buddhism, in practicality, people don't think of it as a subject that way, any more than they generally think of Tibetan Buddhism as "Himalayan Buddhism", or "Central Asian Buddhism". While some may indeed call it that, in most practical contexts, it's generally known as Tibetan Buddhism, just as people generally think of Zen as Zen, and not a subcategory of other Asian Buddhisms.
This would seem to make more sense logically.
-Sara
It would seem the due to the Popularity and influence that Zen has as a main school of Buddhism in western culture, that it would make more sense to let it have it's own category, rather than call it part of "East Asian " Buddhism.
While, technically, it is part of East Asian Buddhism, in practicality, people don't think of it as a subject that way, any more than they generally think of Tibetan Buddhism as "Himalayan Buddhism", or "Central Asian Buddhism". While some may indeed call it that, in most practical contexts, it's generally known as Tibetan Buddhism, just as people generally think of Zen as Zen, and not a subcategory of other Asian Buddhisms.
This would seem to make more sense logically.
-Sara