Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Buddhism

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Sara H
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Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Buddhism

Post by Sara H »

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
Observing your mind is a good idea.
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Sara H
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Re: Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Budd

Post by Sara H »

That's separate, not sepperate. lol
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randomseb
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Re: Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Budd

Post by randomseb »

That and Ch'an is Zen, just in Chinese instead of Japanese, yes?
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Sara H
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Re: Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Budd

Post by Sara H »

Basically.
Observing your mind is a good idea.
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Astus
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Re: Sepperate category for Zen rather than under E Asia Budd

Post by Astus »

The Zen forum is the general section for the topic. It is in the East Asian category because it is a form of Mahayana developed in East Asia. If there were a form of Buddhism that has not appeared in the Tibetan or East Asian cultural area it could have its own section.
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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