“Zen (Buddhism) and Mysticism” – Surekha V.Limaye

Zen tries to erect a ladder from the unreal to the real.

This ‘inner spiritual experience’ is known as satori (enlightenment). Satori is the goal of Zen. Zen is Satori. Without satori there is no Zen, satori is the essence of Zen.

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being and it points the way from bondage to freedom. We can say that Zen liberates all the energies properly stored in each one of us, which in ordinary circumstances are cramped and distorted so that they find no adequate channel for activity.

Thus, “Zen is the living, Zen is life and living is Zen”, or in the words of Christmas Humphreys, Zen teaches us to “Live life as life lives itself.”

“It is so clear that it

takes to see.

You must know that the

fire which you are seeking,

is the fire in your lantern,

and that your rice has

been cooked from the

very beginning.”

Whatever one is seeking is inside oneself. This is the truth which is simple and self evident but not easily recognised.

This tradition of sudden enlightenment is also found in Tantric Buddhism. In the 10^th century work of Saraha, a Tantric Buddhist, is found the following verse:

“If it (the truth) is already manifest,

what’s the use of meditation?

And if it is hidden, one

is just measuring darkness.”

Master Sogaku Harada died at the age of ninety-one. At his funeral service hung a piece of calligraphy written by himself:

“For forty years I have been

Selling water

By the bank of a river

Ho, ho!

My labours have been

Wholly without merit!”

So the answer to the question “Who am I?” is “I am what I am”. An realisation of this is what Zen is, for according to Zen one never loses one’s true sense of self amidst errors and delusions or do not gain it at the time of enlightenment, as it is always there. It is only due to our discriminating mind that we forget and confuse it with our thoughts and ego.