Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Zen 96
    Zen 96
    Zen 96
    Ebook142 pages1 hour

    Zen 96

    By Alexander Goldstein

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Today, more and more people want to know what Zen is. The problem is that it is not an easy task to describe it, as Zen is beyond wording. It is something that cannot be talked about nor expressed in written form. The moment language is used we are no longer dealing with the spirit of Zen. However, Zen cannot be left unexpressed. In order to introduce the reader to the world of Zen, there is no alternative but to resort to the use of language; and that language is poetry. That's why there are so many poems written by the numerous adepts of Zen.
    On the other hand, if Zen could be presented to another, men would all present it to their superiors; if it could be served up to others, men would all serve it up to their parents; if it could be told to others, men would all tell it to their brothers; if it could be given to others, men would all give it to their sons and grandsons. The reason why it cannot be transmitted is no other but this: that 'if,' within, there be not the presiding principle, it will not remain there, and if, outwardly, there be not the correct obedience, it will not be carried out. When that which is given out from the mind in possession of it is not received by the mind without, the sagely minded man will not give it out; and when, entering in from without, there is no power in the receiving mind to entertain it, the sagely minded man will not permit it to lie hidden there. The point here is that the ordinary intellect is unable to function on this frequency of interpretation, and in its unenlightened or unevolved state, views the Buddha’s logic as gibberish, or ‘mystical’ inspired nonsense, when in fact, the Buddha’s logic has more in common with higher science (i.e. quantum theory), than it does with theistic religion or the imaginations of superstitious based thinking. Therefore, better known in the West as Zen, it is a Western art-based movement that serves as the antithesis to established norms and conventions. It is a vague sense of performing a function, skill or art in the secular form that is devoid of strenuous effort, or somehow new or unexpected. In fact, Zen is not the experience, nor the realm, less still any heretical forms of Buddhist practice that ignores Buddhist conventions. Zen is just Zen, and that's it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlexander Goldstein
    Release dateOct 25, 2016
    ISBN9781370483549
    Zen 96
    Author

    Alexander Goldstein

    Alexander Goldstein, a graduate of the Far-Eastern University in Sinology, lived and worked in mainland China for a period as a translator/interpreter, a manager, and a martial arts' practitioner. A certified instructor of ‘Chang-quan’ (external-style boxing) and ‘Taiji-quan’ (internal-style boxing), he is a lecturer of Chinese culture and traditions at the Open University in Tel-Aviv. He also is the author of Lao-zi's "Dao-De Jing," Chan (Zen) masters' paradoxes, "The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taiji-quan," a Chinese novel and some other editions, which are available in print and electronic publishing at most online retailers published in English, Spanish and Russian. What makes his books so appealing is profound analysis and authority with which various strains of the vigorous Chinese culture are woven into a clear and useful piece of guidance for a business person who conducts the affairs with far-eastern counterparties and for a counsellor who develops strategies that enable leaders to position their organisations effectively.

    Read more from Alexander Goldstein

    Related authors

    Related to Zen 96

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Everything’s Made Of Mind

      Jan 22, 2019

      Everything’s Made Of Mind
      8 min read

    • Article

      Consciousness Is Perfectly Clear

      Mar 2, 2021

      Consciousness Is Perfectly Clear
      9 min read

    • Article

      Resting In Luminosity

      Mar 11, 2024

      Resting In Luminosity
      10 min read

    • Article

      Alone In The Vastness Of Existence

      May 8, 2018

      Alone In The Vastness Of Existence
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Mind That Knows Itself

      Mar 2, 2021

      The Mind That Knows Itself
      8 min read

    • Article

      What If Our Delusions Aren’t a Barrier to Enlightenment?

      Nov 7, 2017

      IF YOUR INABILITY to cut off ceaseless thought has ever left you feeling hopeless or inadequate, you’re not alone. Anyone who has practiced earnestly for any length of time has likely wrestled with the thinking mind, motivated by a desire to evolve a

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Freedom of Emptiness

      Mar 8, 2022

      The Freedom of Emptiness
      6 min read

    • Article

      Forum: Unseen Realized Beings

      May 8, 2018

      Forum: Unseen Realized Beings
      21 min read

    • Article

      Our Boundless Mind

      May 18, 2021

      Until the arising of the Heart Sutra, Buddhist practitioners typically relied on the presence of an external teacher, a particular buddha, to show them the way. The Heart Sutra, however, pointed to an approach that was revolutionary, one that directs

      2 min read

    • Article

      Soul

      Dec 28, 2018

      Soul
      8 min read

    • Article

      Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond

      Nov 21, 2023

      At Hosshinji Zen monastery in Japan, dawn is welcomed by the distinct high-pitched knock of wood meeting wood and the deep bellowing hum of the bell. The mokugyo drum provides a low baseline as practitioners chant this Zen anthem: “Avalokiteshvara Bo

      3 min read

    • Article

      Do I Have Buddhanature?

      Mar 24, 2020

      Do I Have Buddhanature?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Joseph R. Lee Analyses Dreams

      Feb 27, 2020

      Joseph R. Lee Analyses Dreams
      22 min read

    • Article

      Glimpses of Buddhanature

      Sep 20, 2023

      Glimpses of Buddhanature
      17 min read

    • Article

      Nothing to Fix, Nowhere to Go

      Jan 21, 2020

      A FEW YEARS AGO I came across an unusual description of shikantaza, the objectless meditation at the heart of Soto Zen Buddhism that is sometimes called “just sitting.” “Shikantaza,” said Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, “is like sitting in the center of a cle

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Journey to Where We Already Are

      Mar 7, 2023

      The Journey to Where We Already Are
      10 min read

    • Article

      Buddhadharma

      Sep 20, 2023

      IN 1959, SHUNRYU SUZUKI arrived in San Francisco and the religious landscape of America was forever changed. Among Suzuki’s earliest students was the late Mel Weitsman, who became a beloved and esteemed Zen teacher in his own right. Seeing One Thing

      5 min read

    • Article

      Joseph Goldstein: It’s Not Either-Or

      Sep 20, 2023

      Joseph Goldstein: It’s Not Either-Or
      8 min read

    • Article

      There Is No Author

      Sep 27, 2022

      There Is No Author
      5 min read

    • Article

      How Samsara Works

      Jan 19, 2021

      ONE of the core insights of the Buddha—that all phenomena arise and pass away in profound interdependence with one another—is said to have come to him on the night of his awakening. Traditional sources portray him as seeking a solution to suffering,

      6 min read

    • Article

      Who Are You, Really?

      May 18, 2021

      Who Are You, Really?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Joyful Wandering

      Jan 18, 2022

      Joyful Wandering
      4 min read

    • Article

      Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine

      Aug 13, 2019

      Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine
      5 min read

    • Article

      In The Moments Of Non-Awakening

      Feb 5, 2019

      In The Moments Of Non-Awakening
      8 min read

    • Article

      The World Between Breaths

      Sep 20, 2023

      The World Between Breaths
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Ground of Resilience

      May 7, 2019

      The Ground of Resilience
      12 min read

    • Article

      Buddhadharma On Books

      Jun 13, 2023

      FOR THE ANALYTICALLY minded who appreciate a systematic presentation of ideas, the Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics series (Wisdom), conceived by the Dalai Lama, compiled by a team of monastic scholars, and edited by Thupten Jin

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Zen 96

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Zen 96 - Alexander Goldstein

      Zen 96

      by Alex Stone

      Copyright 2016 Alex Stone

      All rights reserved

      License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with other persons, please refer them to the link you have used for picking it up. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. Thank you for respecting the creative work of this author.

      * * * * * *

      Contents

      Author's Note

      My Zen Poems:

      The Bodhi Tree

      Continuity of Purification

      Internal Light

      Interference

      Insight

      Virtue's Colour

      Innate Elegance

      Influence

      In the Steel-plant Smoking-room

      In the Dark as in the Light

      In the Autumn Rain

      Second Youth

      Implements

      Hence the Chaos

      A Trance

      Heaven's Operation

      Plum Stone of Mind

      Karma Cycling

      Agents of Sacredness

      Harmonization of 6:9

      Light of Changes

      Delimitations

      Amenity of Life

      The Vital Tree

      Is Life a Dream?

      The Planet of Plants

      Filial Piety

      Diplomacy

      An Envoy and Duty

      A Tutor's Prediction

      Survival of Virtue

      Mahayana Blues

      My Orchard

      Pains and Penalties

      Cultivation

      General Sherman

      An Ugly Man's Charm

      Man of the Future

      Forefathers

      Thing-in-Itself

      A Palindrome

      I Guess

      Water Drinking Effect

      The Spots of Power

      The Tea Ceremony

      Drinking the Spring Water

      On the Cliff

      The Bodily Mystery

      The Puppet World

      The Small Man of Great Heaven

      Transfiguration

      In the Field of Good Management

      The Governor

      A Willing Horse

      Benevolence

      The Campaign Trail

      A State of Harmony

      The Close Terms

      Timeserving

      At the Dawn of Humanity

      A Robber or a Benefactor

      Saints and Thieves

      Blinded by Science

      The Knowledge

      Doomed HD & Hi-Fi

      Letting Go

      Opening and Closing

      Words

      The Human Nature

      What If

      The Old Hand at Governing

      Rewards and Punishments

      The Human Mind

      Phrases and Faces

      Trees, Tears, Trees

      A Bear's Affection

      Heaven's Layout

      The Sabbath

      High Peaks

      The Bamboo Grove

      Still Stands Up and How!

      Among the Thickets

      Patrimony

      Springtime

      Overlapped Manifestations

      A Settled Abode

      When It Goes to Imbalance

      Good Old Times Blossoming

      A Clear View

      We All Are Like Trees

      Routine

      The Guardians

      The Celestial Office

      Final Realization

      A Song of Contemplation

      It Takes Time

      About the Author

      Endnote

      Author's Note

      Today, more and more people want to know what Zen is. The problem is that it is not an easy task to describe it, as Zen is beyond wording. It is something that cannot be talked about nor expressed in written form. The moment language is used we are no longer dealing with the spirit of Zen. However, Zen cannot be left unexpressed. In order to introduce the reader to the world of Zen, there is no alternative but to resort to the use of language; and that language is poetry. That's why there are so many poems written by the numerous adepts of Zen.

      So, what is Zen? This question can be answered in a number of ways, with each definition being correct within the context being explained. For example, Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of 'Chan,' the abbreviated form of the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit term dhyana; it's a type of Indian Buddhism transplanted into China. Better known to the West by its Japanese pronunciation, it is translated as quiet contemplation. Paradoxically, but Zen/Chan has almost nothing to do with the practice of 'dhyana' (meditation) either. Yes, it is rather difficult to describe what Zen is through the medium of words, so long as it is an anti-logic school of Buddhist thought that applies illogicality to free the mind.

      Within the Chinese school of Chan, there is macrostructure that carries the tradition from one generation to the next; there also exists a microstructure of antithesis. This creates what might be described as a post-modern state that is comprised of a ‘certainty’ (macrostructure) that is in continuous communication with an ‘uncertainty’ (microstructure), with both ultimately canceling one another out. This is in accordance with Nagarjuna’s tetralemma, or ‘four-sided logic,’ which can be simply stated as follows: either (1) objects are themselves, or (2) they are not themselves, or (3) they are both themselves and not themselves(simultaneously), or (4) they are neither themselves nor are they not themselves (simultaneously).

      It would seem to common sense that at least the first statement ought to hold true, and thus offer some explanation of experience. But, none of the four options does. None does—yet experience remains. Nagarjuna (c. 150 – c. 250 CE) is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers after Gautama Buddha, read through the Buddha’s teachings contained in the sutras, and formulated that the Buddha’s logic comprised of the above four assertions. Therefore, it can be said that (a) Zen exists; (b) Zen does not exist; (c) Zen exists and does not exist (simultaneously); (d) Zen neither exists nor does not exist (simultaneously).

      The point here is that the ordinary intellect is unable to function on this frequency of interpretation, and in its unenlightened

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1