Zen, D.T. Suzuki and Mindfulness
As described in “Zen Philosophy and History, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity” Zen is a religion whose goal is enlightenment. In Zen Buddhism, enlightenment means “to become aware of the Buddha-nature, which is the true nature of all living beings,” and Buddha-nature is “the ability to recognize things that are beyond verbal understanding.
The philosophical approach of Zen emphasizes direct experience and intuition rather than reliance on words and concepts. In Zen, universal truths cannot be captured by words and concepts, but must transcend the limits of language and concepts. The purpose of Zen is to quiet the mind and realize the truth of the self and the world through direct experience, and it aims at deep insight and enlightenment through direct experience that transcends language and concepts.
D.T. Suzuki, a Japanese Buddhist scholar and doctor of literature, was a visiting professor at Columbia University in the U.S. from 1952 to 1957, where he taught Buddhism, especially Zen thought, and became a leading figure in spreading Zen thought in upper-class American society from his base in New York City. In 1957, D.T. was introduced in Vogue, Time, and The New Yorker, which led to a Zen boom, and he also gave lectures at the University of Hawaii, Yale University, Harvard University, and Princeton University. reference book is “
In the 2000s, there was a growing interest in Eastern thought practices in the United States, and mindfulness meditation received renewed attention because it is believed that the “focus on the ‘now'” that is lacking in contemporary American society can be found in Buddhist thought practices.
Today, many researchers consider mindfulness meditation to be “insight meditation” that emphasizes “awareness” and “attention to what is” and is nearly synonymous with Vipassana meditation. The practice of mindfulness is gaining attention for its benefits in psychological and physical health, good relationships, calm decision-making, focus on work and schoolwork, and overall life improvement.
Theory of Meditation (Samatha Meditation and Vipassana Meditation)
With this kind of knowledge of Zen, we tend to think that meditation is a state of “no-self” where one falls into a concentrated trance and experiences a de-ordinary state, and that this is “enlightenment,” but according to Zen and meditation experts, “such meditation may be a temporary healing, but it is not a means of solving fundamental problems. It is said that this is not the true goal.
Generally, in Buddhism, samatha meditation, which cultivates concentration, and vipassana meditation, which observes things as they are, are practiced together, and this is true in both Southern and Northern traditions.
Traditionally, Theravada Buddhism follows a hierarchy in which samatha meditation is practiced first and then vipassana meditation is practiced. meditation.
On the other hand, a minority of practitioners have practiced Vipassana meditation exclusively from the beginning, with the aim that Vipassana meditation will naturally lead to the first zenjutsu. A more important problem is that if too much emphasis is placed on samatha meditation, it is easy to become lost in the pleasure of samadhi that it brings, and it is difficult to attain enlightenment. There is a viewpoint that Buddha’s enlightenment was achieved only through vipassana meditation.
Samatha meditation is a meditation method practiced by ordinary temple dwellers to calm the mind, while Vipassana meditation is much more advanced than samatha meditation and is said to be an attempt to gain insight into the Buddhist truths of impermanence, lawlessness, and total suffering, and to attain nirvana and tranquility. Traditionally, this practice is said to be performed by forest monks who devote themselves to meditation in the forest.
Vipassana (contemplative) meditation used in mindfulness focuses on observing things as they are.
Vipassana (contemplative) meditation and observing things as they are
The characteristic of Vipassana (contemplative) meditation is to objectively observe one’s own state of being, in other words, to acutely perceive the moment-to-moment sensations of “seeing something,” “smelling something,” “hearing something,” etc., and to verbalize and confirm them in the mind as “seeing,” “smelling,” or “hearing” ( By repeating this process thoroughly, one can get rid of the miscellaneous thoughts that arise during meditation.
For example, in the act of walking, it is important not to label “right” as soon as you move your right foot, but rather to confirm “right” in your mind after you feel the movement of your right foot. If you get too caught up in the act of labeling, you run the risk of entering a delusional world where your mind generates things that you do not actually feel. In other words, 90% of the time, the labeling should be done as a proof of awareness of the sensation, with only about 10% of the time being spent on labeling.
There are two ways of practicing Vipassana meditation: sitting meditation and walking meditation. Sitting meditation is zazen itself, or in Buddhist terminology, sitting in the full lotus position (“full” refers to the back of the legs, “full” refers to crossing the full legs, and “full” refers to placing the full legs on the opposite thigh. Thus, sitting in the full lotus position is the way to observe sitting.
Walking meditation is labeling “right,” “left,” “right,” “left” while feeling the movement of the feet, and it is said that it is best to walk with the feet just off the ground, not raising them too high, so that they do not wobble or feel more like the axis foot.
The walking meditation method is also said to be a meditation for beginners because, in terms of observation, the dynamic changes in the senses are easier to observe than in zazen.
Clearing the mind and objective observation and problem solving
Buddhism teaches that by purifying the mind, all suffering can be overcome and one can live a happy life. This teaching of purifying the mind is also found in Christianity. According to Buddhist teachings, a pure mind means to eliminate various kinds of afflictions.
Vexations can be thought of as an infinite number of concepts that are reconfigured and associated in the brain. In Buddhism, the cause of such an endless mechanism of creation is that “suffering is the driving force of human beings,” that is, people take the following actions to escape from suffering. Furthermore, it is defined as being caused by “craving,” the desire for this or that.
For example, “When you eat your favorite hot ramen to escape the stress of work, if you concentrate on the stimulation your tongue feels, you will notice that the ramen, which you thought was delicious hot, is actually causing damage to your tongue. By concentrating on what you are doing now, you can eliminate the craving that arises one after another and reduce suffering.
This kind of thinking can also be applied to problem-solving situations at work.
When a problem arises at work, we think of various things in our minds in an attempt to solve it. If you focus only on solving the problem without carefully observing what actually happened, your thinking will shift away from what you should be doing and toward what you want to do, which often does not lead to a solution to the problem.
The methods to observe (analyze) these issues objectively are systems thinking as described in “Systems Thinking Approach and SDGs” and “About KPIs, KGIs, and OKRs (1) Methods for Clarifying Issues” etc. In these methods, it is important to eliminate subjectivity and respond to issues from an objective perspective. In these methods, it is important to first eliminate subjectivity and respond to issues from an objective point of view.
In Vipassana meditation, too, observing one’s own state of being objectively is a process of eliminating the delusions (subjectivity) that are created one after another in one’s mind.
Subjectivity and thoughts are the driving force for living, and are important, but if they are the only things that keep us stuck in a cul-de-sac, they can also be the cause of suffering.
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