2013年11月30日
Ordinary Zen / 凡夫禅
Five main divisions of Zen as classified by Keiho-zenji, one of the early Zen masters in China
Common to all are three basic elements: an erect sitting posture, correct control of breathing, and concentration (unification) of mind.
Beginners need to bear in mind that in the substance and purpose of these various types there are distinct differences. These differences are crucial to you when you come before me individually to state your aspiration, for they will enable you to define your goal clearly the better that I may assign you the practice appropriate to it.
Ordinary Zen / 凡夫禅
The first of these types we call bompu (ordinary) Zen as opposed to the other four, each of which can be thought of as a special kind of Zen suitable for the particular aims of different individuals.
Bompu Zen, being free from any philosophical or religious content, is for anybody and everybody. It is a Zen practiced purely in the belief that it can improve both physical and mental health. Bompu Zen is bound to eliminate sickness of a psychosomatic nature and to improve the health generally.
Through the practice of bompu Zen you learn to concentrate and control your mind. It never occurs to most people to try to control their minds, and unfortunately this basic training is left out of contemporary education, not being part of what is called the acquisition of knowledge. Yet without it what we learn is difficult to retain because we learn it improperly, wasting much energy in the process.
By practicing this very excellent mod of mind training you will find yourself increasingly able to resist temptations to which you had previously succumbed, and to sever attachments which had long held you in bondage. An enrichment of personality and a strengthening of character inevitably follow since the three basic elements of mind – i.e., intellect, feeling, and will – develop harmoniously.
However, bonpu Zen is unable to resolve the fundamental problem of man and his relation to universe because it cannot pierce the ordinary man’s basic delusion of himself as distinctly other than the universe.
Posted by Gyokei Yokoyama at 01:28