What is Zen Buddhism

‘Zen is about cultivating the way of liberation, compassion, and responsiveness to conditions of daily life. That’s what we try to practise, and that’s what we try to offer.’

– Genmyo Zeedyk, Anchorage Zen Community

‘Zen is looking in the mirror, seeing nothing and everything there, then seeking

to convey my experience.’

– Maggie Gluek, Sydney Zen Centre

Everyone who belongs to the school of Zen should understand:
there exists in our school an essential matter that can only be penetrated in great enlightenment.
I want all of you to be aware that the study of Zen can effect a miraculous transformation
that will change you to the very marrow of your bones.’

– Hakuin Ekaku  (1686 – 1768)

‘To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be actualised by the ten thousand things.
When actualised by the ten thousand things, your body and mind
as well as the bodies and minds of others, drops away.
No trace of realisation remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.’

‘That the self advances
and confirms the ten thousand things
is called delusion;
That the ten thousand things
advance and confirm the self
is called realisation.’

– Dogen Kigen (1200 – 1253)