Zen
Buddhist
Society
Zen
Buddhism
Zazen
Kinhin
Contact Us
References
Links
Glasgow Zen
Dogen Sangha uk
Dogen Sangha
RGU bebo page
Welcome to the Robert Gordon University Zen Buddhist Society.
Who?
Well, as said we are the Zen Buddhist Society. We practice in the Soto Zen tradition. This is a major Japanese school of Buddhism with the emphasis on the pracice of meditation called Zazen. The pracice layout is
- Zazen - 25 min
- Kinhin - 10 min
- Zazen - 25 min
We meet on
Mondays 7pm
Saturday 12 noon
Both are held in RGUunion in Schoolhill.
Zen
Zen refers to Buddhism in Japan. The name is derrived from a number or transliterations. Originally in Sanskrit, dhyana. Then to Chan in Chinese then finally to Zen in Japanese.
An indian buddhist monk called Bodhidharma travelled to China sometime between 386 and 534 BCE. Buddhism had already existed in China before his arrival, but had been primarilly spread by sutras(written documents). Bodhidharma emphasised the pracice of meditation, which had been neglected in Chinese monastaries til then. This school of Buddhism was thus refered to as Chan Buddhism(meditation Buddhism).
A Japanese monk named Dogen (1200-1253 ADE) studied both Tendai and Rinzai Buddhism in Japan. One of the teachings of these schools mentioned that all beings originally have Buddha-Nature. He questioned, in that case, why is there the need to study Buddhism?
Unsatisfied with the answers he recieved, he and his teacher traveled to China in 1223. They traveled extensively in China, moving from monastry to monastry. After 2 years, having given up and returning home, they stopped at one last temple, where the head monk whose teachings were said to be different.It was here that Dogen realised zazen was the centre of Buddhism. He returned to Japan, where his teachings were refered to Soto Zen Buddhism. Despite the naming Dogen insisted in one of his major works that there is only one Buddhism.
topBuddhism
Buddhism is now a very common name. Due to the cultural history in Europe, it tends it is generally percieved to be either monotheistic, with "Buddha" as some form of omipitent deity, or as polytheism, with many "buddha" deities, each responsiple for different aspects of life to be worshiped.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The figure generally referred to the Buddha, was a man called Guatama who lived c500 BCE, an was a price in the South of India. It is from his pursuit to understand life, and what it means to be human, and to live a human life, that Buddhism has grown. Buddhism is the natural pursuit to understand what it means to be human and to live in this world.
The centre and heart of Buddhism is the pracice of Zazen.
topZazen
Zazen means seated meditation and is the heart of Buddhism. It is sitting with the legs crossed, keeping the spine straight. There is
no, "following the breath", no koan, no visualisation. With the spine straingt, the vertebrae are balanced
on top of each other, allowing the body to relax naturally.
Kinhin
Kinhin is the name of walking meditation. This is done between periods of Zazen to loosen the legs. Make a fist out of the left and, with the thumb inside, and place it at the base of the sternum. The right hand is wrapped around the left, andthe spine is kept erect, while walking slowly around the room.
topContact Us
Please contact Nat Benson for further info.
Telephone - 07921450596
Email - zensoc@rguunion.co.uk
References
Wikipedia was used for dates for Bodhidharma's and Dogen's lives. My understanding of Buddhism has been through Glasgow Zen Group, Mike Eido Luechford, and the writings of Gudo Nishijima. All mistakes are my own :)