The Beliefs Of Zen And Sufism

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Religion is a sensitive aspect that various people have tried to explain and practice. People have different reasons for their participation in various religions and to fulfill their quest for what they look for, various rituals and traditions are practiced to improve on their spiritual lives. Zen and Sufism are part of the main religions practiced and just like other religions; it follows a certain criteria and beliefs. Sufism is an important dimension in Islam and those who practice it belong to an order formed around Muhammad peace be upon him the grand master. Zen on the other hand is believed to originate from China and is a mixture of Indian Buddhism and Taoism. It tries to explain the meaning of life with influence of language and logical …show more content…

He studied Buddhism at an early age and is remembered due to his contribution of using the three mysterious gates to emphasize on the idea of non-conceptual nature of reality while employing the sutras and instructing his students. The three gates included mystery in the essence, mystery in the word and mystery in the mystery. Zen emerged from the Japanese form regarding dhyana, the Sanskrit word. This word is a meditation and is based on the Buddhist school which greatly impacted Europe, America and Japan. Zen was founded in the 6th century C.E. in China as a Ch’an school that involves Mahayana Buddhism and later exported to Japan in the 12th century C.E. The religion developed faster in an indigenous and unique manner (Xie 234). Bodhi dharma being an Indian monk is recognized with the transfer of the Zen tradition to China. The essence of his teachings is the fact that a person does not require studying worship deities, sacred texts or even explain the religious rituals that bring forth enlightenment. Instead, a person is required to go through the boundaries involving usual thoughts using experience and meditation that is recently evident in the world (Bunyadzade 619; Pradhan 26). According to Zen, the Buddha achieved enlightenment through meditation and experience. As a result, it teaches humans to gain the capacity to achieve enlightenment because of the Buddha nature that is inherent in our

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