What different sects are there? Part II

Can you do a quick overview of the different traditions for me, an ignorant Zen noob?

Sure, but bear in mind it’s broad strokes. There are six main schools: Chan, Soto, Rinzai, Thien, Seon, and Western.

Chan: Chinese Zen.  Zen started in China some 1,800 years back as Mahayana mingled with Chinese culture. You can call it the OG.  Modern Chan, very different from its earlier forms, is eclectic and earthy.

Eclectic because Chan incorporates views and practices from an array of traditions, Tantric, Tientai, Taoism, Confucianism, and Communism. Part of this eclecticism stems from how rich and ancient the Buddhist tradition is in China and neighboring India, Laos, Myanmar, and Tibet. It’s also eclectic because of the Red Revolution shattered and then suppressed it for decades. Millions of monastics were imprisoned, forced to disrobe, tortured, and executed throughout China. Hundreds of millions were forced to practice in secret. Many stopped altogether. This damage will take decades, if not a century, to recover. In its weakened state, Chan is much more open to drawing on and working with other Buddhist schools to help get the nation spiritually back on track. Thus, if you go to a Chan temple, for example, it’s not old school, orthodox Chan. Next to workshops on koans, there will be classes on mantras, rituals for wealth, Tai Chi, martial arts, calligraphy, painting, or traditional Chinese music.

Chan is also earthy. Ethics is the main focus. Monks are expected to keep their precepts and stay celibate. Many of the Chinese temples, like Fo Guang Shan, are active in local communities, teach classes on everything from Chan Philosophy to Chinese writing and accounting for the elderly. They sponsor building schools, run charity ambulance services, and distribute food to the poor. Disciples are more interested in advancing society in the here-and-now than becoming Buddhas.

Japanese Zen: Japanese Zen started with Chan’s transplantation to Japanese soil where it shaped and was shaped by the local culture. Two main branches emerged: Rinzai and Soto. In the last century, these two’ve grown more hostile and dogmatic, but for centuries prior they were more like competitive brothers. They fought, bickered, and sometimes things flared up, but they could always have a nice dinner together at the end of the day. The rivalry’s starting to mellow now, though. I guess the risk of Buddhism’s extinction trumps dogmatic squabbles.

Soto Zen: Soto Zen is the chill but works-like-a-dog brother of Rinzai. Suzuki Roshi summarized the Soto flavor best:

After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you may say, "Oh, this pace is terrible!" But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress.*1

Not the most inspiring of images. No world exploding into a million pieces and dissolution with the cosmic consciousness. No meditating until your legs break in two or you get enlightened. It’s a nice walk through the fog and that’s its own magic. This gentleness suits the main practice of Soto Zen, shikantaza. Shikantaza is just sitting and allowing the mind to naturally come to rest. It’s gentle, quiet, mysterious. Like a walk in the morning mist. Soto culture matches this.

That gentleness isn’t to say Soto temples are full of kittens, rainbows, and cuddles. The training monasteries are hardcore. 4 hours of sleep. Being scolded for putting your sandals in the wrong place. No nonsense teachers pushing you to let go even deeper. Backbreaking work. Yet an indescribable ease fragrances it all.

Rinzai Zen: Rinzai’s the crazy brother who spent the last 20 years in the special forces and has a face tattoo. No nonsense, fiery, and here to get shit done. Here’s a quote from one of the Rinzai greats, Hakuin:

I want to impress all practitioners who probe the secret depths with the need to put your innate power to work for you as vigorously and relentlessly as you can. The moment your kensho is perfectly clear, throw it aside and dedicate yourself to boring through the difficult-to-pass koans. Once you are beyond those barriers you will understand exactly what the Buddha meant when he said that a buddha can see the buddha-nature with his own eyes as distinctly as you see a fruit lying in the palm of your hand.

Once you penetrate to see the ultimate meaning, you will be armed for the first time with the fangs and claws of the Dharma cave. You will enter into the realm of buddhas, stroll leisurely through the realms where evil demons dwell, pulling out nails, wrenching free wedges, dispersing great clouds of compassion as you go, and rendering immense benefit to the monks who come to you from the four quarters.*2

Koan is Rinzai’s bread-and-butter. Students practice under the close supervision of a teacher. The broader community and work takes second-fiddle to breaking through and recognizing one’s true nature.

The training’s usually more severe and violent. Instead of being berated for forgetting to close the bathroom door after using it, you might be beaten. Just about everything, from eating to walking to cleaning’s done at break-neck speed. Zero shit’s are given for excuses or personal needs. Shikantaza is a part of the practice, but is often reserved for more senior practitioners.

Thien: Vietnamese Zen. Made famous by its legendary representative, Thich Nhat Hanh. Thien is similar to Chan: earthy, esoteric, but with the addition of being much more Theravadan.

Like Chan, Communism revolutionized the tradition. The Vietnam War forced monks to get political, as their souls and their lives depended on it. The French stripped them of their rights in an attempt to turn the country Catholic. The Vietcong assassinated monks for standing in the way of revolution. After winning, the communists crushed Buddhism there. Case-in-point, the communists exiled Thich Nhat Hanh, a Noble Peace Prize nominee, for decades because he opposed the war and wouldn’t walk back his stance.

The existential threats forced Thien to engage more with political and social issues. From this, a new form of Buddhism emerged in the early 1930s: Engaged Buddhism. This brand of Buddhism rejects the politically neutral, uninterested Buddhist philosophy that dominated in Asia for millennia. Instead of shying away from politics, Engaged Buddhism launches into it to ensure that both government and society reflect Buddhist values.

Like much of Southeast Asia, animism permeates the culture. Shrines to local gods at mountains or before rivers. Sacred images to keep bad luck away from your business. Those animist beliefs have merged with Thien. Praying fervently to gods. Rituals to ensure a successful launch of your business. Magical mantras. These are all big.

The last addition is one of Thien’s hallmarks: Theravada. In China, Korea, and Japan, Therevada has had little influence because it was both seen as inferior and there were no living practitioners in those regions. Vietnam, however, is near to the traditionally Theravadan countries of Lao, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand. As such, Thien and Theravada mixed together and shaped each other. Many of the more classic Theravadan practices, like loving kindness, death contemplation, and breath meditation are done along side more traditional Zen practices of koan contemplation and just sitting.

Seon: Korean Zen. Very similar to Rinzai.  Like with most things Koreans do, they go all in. Monks still tie themselves up against a tree or post so they can practice for hours without letting up. During the lay retreats, practitioners often sit all night in freezing temperatures. No beatings, but lots of scoldings.

Also like Rinzai, Seon contemplates koans with a teacher. Open and private Dharma combat’s common. Don’t worry, Dharma combat isn’t like some sith versus jedi stuff. It’s when two practitioners challenge their realization via shouts, slaps, or sharp questions. The combatants intend to rattle and, thus, show the limits of the others’ realization. Unlike Rinzai, however, there’s not two hundred rules on how to place your chopsticks and hard labor.  The practice is the koan in meditation and that’s it.

Western Zen: Vertical. Eclectic and therapeutic. Secular.

Western Zen distinguishes itself from its Asian counterparts with the vertical nature of power. In Soto, for example, it’s sacrosanct to question Dogen’s authority. In Western Zen, you might be laughed at as naive if you take Dogen as infallible. It’s not just scriptural and traditional authority that’s up for challenge, but also the teacher and community itself. In Rinzai, for example, your teacher’s word is law. If they tell you to jump, you jump. If they tell you to sit, you sit. If they tell you to practice like this, you practice like this. You’re free to leave, for example, but while you’re still under their tutelage, you obey. In the West, students are more likely to question and defy their master. Some go so far as eschewing the teacher altogether.

Western Zen is also more private and individual. Many practitioners just grab a few books and head off into the woods to figure it all out for themselves. Others will go to a retreat annually but, otherwise, do their own thing with little connection to any formal community. If they do have a community, it might just be a few close friends who share similar interests rather than a community linked to a tradition.

Related to the vertical nature of power is their eclectic approach. Since no teacher or teaching is the sole arbiter of truth, it’s more about collecting a set of best practices, rather than following a particular tradition faithfully. And the goal often isn’t to become a Buddha but to just feel good about their life.

Finally, Western Zen leans secular. Many don’t believe in past and future lives and, for those that do, it’s downplayed. The stage of omniscience and untrammeled peace touted by some traditions as the end goal’s dismissed as unrealistic or undesirable. The rejection of the supernatural, then, places their ethics firmly in the realm of the here-and-now. A good life’s about enjoying this one and helping others before death.

References:

1. Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. New York: Weatherhill, Inc., 1995.
2. Hakuin, Ekaku trans. Norman Wadell. The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1994.