Zen Buddhism

Zen Buddhism emphasises meditation (developing mind concentration and calmness). However, it is still rested upon the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight-fold Path. Zen Buddhism (Ch'an Buddhism) originated from Shaolin Temple. The objective of Zen Buddhism is Enlightenment (and thereby Nibbana / Nirvana).
Meditation

Like Buddhism in general, Zen Buddhists worship no god(s)

Non-Buddhists often mistakenly believe that Buddhists worship The Buddha. He is, however, just a man. His "claim to fame" is that he worked out the path to decreasing pain through the control of desire on his own, without instruction or guidance. He is revered for this, but not worshipped

Nirvana is best thought of as the skill of living well, in other words, with abiding peace and ease. Reaching it requires freedom from thought addiction, which is responsible for the greed, anger, and delusion that create dissatisfaction (suffering, trouble). The only purpose of Buddhist practices is to reduce dissatisfaction by creating clarity, insight, and present-moment awareness.

As Buddhists don't necessarily believe in a god or divine being as the Abrahamic religions do, salvation isn't something reached by relying on another being or entity. We are responsible for our own path to enlightenment and spiritual freedom. Letting go of beliefs that the physical world exists is a path to enlightenment.

.

Siddattha became a Buddha at a young age- when he was no younger than 20. He did this after he saw all the terrible things life can hold: Old age, Death, illness, poorness, when he sat under the shaded tree and meditated and thought about life.

The Buddhist symbol of the wheel means reincarnation the belief that when you die your spirit will go on into another form and it will be stuck in this cycle until you reach Nirvana (The enlightend one) The other symbol is a Lotus flower used to represent pure and good.

There is no such thing as a "Buddhist" monk, any more than there is a "Christian" monk. Monks are part of a specific order or tradition. Thier beliefs and purposes are different in the specifics from others of their general faith.

To become a monk you would first have to identify which Buddhist tradition or school you follow most strongly. This will require an initial study of the options. You would then have to contact a Buddhist group in that tradition and see if they even have monks. You could then enter into active negotiations to become a monk.

A word f caution - you may not get in. Most groups of this nature accept only people that will fit with their approach to meditatio and study. Many only use aforeign language for texts and communication (Tibetan, JApanese, etc.) SOme only have monestaries in contries like Nepal where public health standards are significantly lower than North America.

Misconception: They are Chinese and Japanese spellings for the same general sect of buddhism.

The Chinese spelling for Zen is Chan. Shin Buddhism is the same as Pure Land Buddhism, which claims that for enlightenment you're dependent on the Buddha Amitabha.

Buddhism is a religion based in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as 'Buddha'. Although widely spread all around the world, Buddhism has not a great presence in the Caribbean. It was until the year 2006 that the first Buddhist temple was raised in this region, by May Trieu, a Chinese Buddhist born in Vietnam.

Buddhism means putting down "I/my/me," and helping other beings. So any type of possession is no problem. The important thing is how you use these possessions. Whatever possessions are available, if you use them with the intention of helping all beings (not just yourself), then that's true Buddhism.

India. it is said that during the Flower Sermon the Buddha himself transmitted zen to Mahakasyapa who smiled as the Buddha held up a lotus flower. He became the first Zen Patriarch. A later patriarch, Bodhidharma, took Zen to China around the 5th century where it became known as ch'an. When it spread to Japan it was known as Zen, Seon on Korea and Thien is vietnam. The term comes from the Sanskrit 'dhyan' meaning "meditation"

There are no gods in Buddhism. There is no God concept or anything supernatural at all. The Buddha only claimed to be awake; he did not claim to be a god.

.

In practicing Zen, all that matters is looking into "What am I?" This big question points to a clear, before-thinking mind. When you're thinking, you may have the idea that there are infinite beings in the world, or billions, or just a few. But before thinking, there's nothing at all: complete, empty stillness.

He experimented like a good scientist.

Being fearfully wealthy did not give him the answers, being painfully aesthetic (not eating drinking or caring for personal comfort) wasn't the answer either. What did work was the middle road of enough to eat and enough comfort to survive. Then he thought and contemplated until he concluded that understanding does not come from purposeful thinking. When you become aware you know.

Experiments with a control and variable...not correlational studies because they don't ensure that the cause led directly to the "effects"

The goal of Zen Buddhism is the same goal as all the other schools of Buddhism, namely, to live life as excellently as the Buddha, in other words, to become a Buddha. This involves experiencing a spiritual awakening (enlightenment, satori) and infusing that awakening throughout all one's activities.

Zen practice includes many things:

* Rinzai Zen features k?an (paradoxical questions), intense meditation, and sudden enlightenment (satori). Rinzai Zen Buddhists often take an ordinary activity and concentrate on performing each action with such mindfulness that the action becomes perfect * Soto Zen emphasizes work, practise, discipline, and philosophical questions to discover one's Buddha-nature in the 'realization of self'. Soto Zen Buddhists focus on a special form of meditation called zazen - just sitting. To become a practitioner of Zen you must generally become a student with a knowledgeable instructor - or alternately, as a Zen migt put it - you don't have to.

Zen Buddhists do not control their bodies or minds. The whole of Zen Buddhism is to attain an instantaneous and unthinking awareness of the whole of the situation and be one with it. This precludes "controlling" anything.

The Buddha was a man who lived in ancient India. He had an experience in which he saw the fundamental, underlying nature of reality. That experience was known as his enlightenment. He is important because he taught for the rest of his life, which was another 45 years or so. During that time, he taught both what he perceived when he gained enlightenment, and he taught the steps he had taken to become enlightened.

Compassion for all sentient beings. If you ask the Dalai Lama what his religion is he says the same thing "Compassion is my religion".

Gracious