Because of the prominence of the sect in Japan, people tend to think of Zen as being Japanese. It's actually a uniquely Chinese form of Buddhism (most scholars don't accept the view that Zen was ever brought from India) and it spread out from China to several other Asian countries, of which Japan was just one.
The image of the Shaolin warrior monk is revered by many, seen as a cartoonish stereotype by some, and given serious historical investigation by very few. According to the so-called legend of Shaolin, Bodhidharma brought Zen from India to China, but when he tried to each it to the monks at the Shaolin temple, he found that they were took weak for the discipline of serious meditation. So, he invented Shaolin kung fu to strengthen the monks, and for centuries afterward they used it to battle the forces of evil as enlightened super-heroes.
Japanese director Akira Kurosawa got a lot of mileage out of Shakespeare, transforming the Bard's plays into samurai epics. One of these is “Throne of Blood,” Kurosawa's samurai version of “MacBeth.”
The “Warring States” era in Japanese history was the time between the Onin War (which led to the collapse of central authority) and the eventual reunification of the country under Hideyoshi, Nobunaga and finally the Tokugawa shoguns. This “Warring States” period lasted for a century or so, depending on when you say it started and ended. The defining feature of the era was said to be “the low oppress the high,” meaning that many samurai disregarded the call of loyalty and overthrew their own masters to seize power for themselves. That makes it the perfect era for a retelling of MacBeth, with Toshiro Mifune as a samurai tempted to betray his lord and seize his province at the instigation of a creepy old ghost in the woods.
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The Zen term most commonly translated as “enlightenment” is actually “kensho.” The term “satori” refers to the subjective personal experience you might have when you enter kensho. Satori is frequently described in terms of bliss and euphoria, but kensho is supposed to be characterized more by clarity. It's part of the tradition of Zen that your kensho can be acknowledged by a certificate of Dharma transmission, which makes you a bona fide Zen master.
I've had several conversations with friends and family members who have expressed the opinion that militarism and authoritarianism are somehow “Western,” a product of “Western patriarchal thinking” or of Christianity. These same friends and family members tend to hold up Buddhism as an example of the “Eastern alternative” to our violent Western ways.
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Despite the close association between Zen and swordsmanship in the popular mind, the Mikkyo sect of Buddhism was actually much more closely connected with the classical Japanese martial arts. Most of the Japanese sword traditions include instruction in Mikkyo at their higher levels, or once did before that information was lost.
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“Mushin” is a Zen-influenced concept in the Japanese martial arts, particularly the art of swordsmanship. The opponent moves to attack you and you suddenly perform a technically perfect counter that cuts him down with a single strike, yet you never consciously think about what strategy you're going to use. That's called “mushin” or “non-thought.”
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In my last blog, I discussed the concept of “ken zen ichi nyo,” or “the sword and Zen are one.” While this sentence is not entirely accurate in the historical sense, it does have some validity as an analysis of the type of thinking required to survive a sword combat.
“The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom” is a work by the very influential Zen master Takuan Soho, in which he uses the mentality of sword combat as an analogy for the Zen mindset. He chose this particular analogy because the work was written for a student of his who was a famous sword instructor. In all likelihood, if he had been writing to a musician he would have used music as an analogy just as readily.
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“Ken zen ichi nyo” is a phrase often repeated in karate circles, where it is usually translated as “the body and the mind are one” or “the fist and Zen are one.” As “ken” means “a sword” in Japanese, it clearly doesn't mean either of these things. What it means is “the sword and Zen are one.”
This is essentially a cliché of Japanese swordsmanship, often repeated by people without any extensive experience of either Zen or swordsmanship. Historically, most Japanese swordsmen were not particularly familiar with Zen Buddhism, but would be expected to have some understanding of Mikkyo or “esoteric” Buddhism. Mikkyo contains a number of magic charms and spells to overcome fear or survive dangerous situations, so warriors were interested in using Mikkyo for what they believed to be practical purposes. Zen enlightenment was, to put it mildly, above their pay grade.
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What is a koan? Most people with an interest in Zen have heard of koans, but not everyone has a clear understanding of what they are. Most people think of them as being a type of “Zen riddle,” but most of the classic compilations of koan (such as the “Blue Cliff Record”) are anecdotes, not questions.
Some people think the koan is a type of nonsense question designed to shock the mind into enlightenment, but there are right answers and wrong answers to koan questions, so how can the questions be nonsense?
Other people think that since collections of “koan answers” have been published, earning your “Zen master diploma” should be as easy as memorizing all the answers- but trying that with a real Zen master is liable to get you whacked with a stick.
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