I've noticed that, compared to something like the PureLand traditions, and the other cultural Mahayana (something like Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhist Temples), Therevada, and Tibetan traditions, Zen Buddhism tends to be very iconoclastic - that is to say, the meditation / prayer spaces tend to be very minimalist in terms of art and architecture, say for like one Buddha statue.
Is there a particular reason why?
Iconoclasm and Zen
- Kim O'Hara
- Former staff member
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- Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
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Re: Iconoclasm and Zen
That's a very unusual use of "iconoclasm" and "iconoclastic", Heimdall - not quite wrong, but likely to confuse people at first sight. It usually means the deliberate destruction of religious icons or monuments for religious or political motives. Zen temples never had them in the first place.
That said, I think the Zen aesthetic is essentially a Japanese aesthetic but the two have probably influenced each other endlessly.
Kim