Buddhism before Zen
Buddhism was founded by Buddha, who was born in current Nepal somewhere around 5th or 6th century BCE. True to his “Middle Way” teachings, Buddha did not leave his teachings in writing. After his passing, his follower groups worked hard to preserve them but could not agree on how to interpret them. Multiple groups developed their own theories spending the next several centuries, and Indian priest Nagarjuna (150- 250 CE) played a pivotal role to cement the Mahayana branch. Meaning “great vehicle” in Sanskrit, Mahayana believes that everyone – even people who didn’t accomplish hard training nor observed strict commitments – could eventually go to Buddha’s land and be liberated from pains and sufferings. (It is in contrast to Theravada, dominant in Southeastern Asia, which maintained that you must lead a strictly religious life in order to achieve such a status.)
Nagarjuna also established the theory of “kuu (空)” (means “sky,” “void,” or “emptiness”), in which nothing was considered absolute nor permanent. He concluded that Buddha taught that everything was constituted by relative relationships with other factors or elements, all of which would keep changing. According to kuu, there would be nothing in anything. A “yes” today could turn into a “no” tomorrow, and vice versa. Whereas it sounds enigmatic, his theory was based on a solid and sophisticated philosophical framework. Nagarjuna helped develop the next generation Buddhism, especially in Eastern Asia, where Mahanaya Buddhism is still popular today.
Birth of Zen and its introduction to Japan
Zen is part of Mahayana Buddhism. Its origin is semi-legendary monk Bodhidharma, who is believed to have been born in India and later moved to China sometime in 5th or 6th century. Bodhidharma prioritized sitting meditation (called “zazen” in Japanese), rather than understanding scriptures written by Buddha’s followers such as Nagarjuna, to achieve religious awakening. (It is believed that he did sitting meditation against a wall for 9 straight years.) Over the next several centuries, Bodhidharma’s followers grew the school. By 11th century, Japanese priests were traveling all the way to China to practice Zen. Early Buddhism was already introduced to Japan by 6th century, but Zen was brought to Japan as a new wave of Buddhism when other new schools were also emerging in Japan during 12th ~ 13th century.
Zen believes that you cannot attain religious awakening – that eternal peace of mind will only come to you when you extinguish the flame of lust and desire – without strict physical/mental training. It therefore denies heavily relying on reading scriptures, even though Buddhism has tens of thousands of important textbooks. Zen believes that the religious truth cannot be studied conceptually but must be experienced through your body and soul.
How was Zen art born?
When Zen was brought to Japan around 11th century, the country was in the middle of great social change. The power was shifting from aristocrats to samurai elites, and regional economic blocks were expanding to encompass almost the entire area of today’s Japan. The society was growing, which also meant fights for power and money were intensifying. Major samurai leaders were emerging as winner of such conflicts, but their lives were always at risk. They desperately needed mentors or religious guidance to stay calm and brave. That’s why Zen priests came into play, because stoic Zen philosophy resonated with samurai ethics (commonly known as 武士道 “bushi-do”), who needed strong self-control skills.
Supported mainly by samurai elites, Zen priests pursued their religious path, which was often crystallized in the form of arts, because Zen denied relying on text. Instead of writing down their religious experiences, they used different forms of art as a vehicle to express enlightening. Many of them masterfully visualized the theory of “kuu (空)” (emptiness) Nagarjuna established. They must have reflected the harsh reality that social elites, often Zen priests’ patrons, were able to enjoy a lavish life, whereas they could die in power struggles the next day and ordinary people were in constant suffering in an unstable social condition.
Major Zen arts
In a society going throw enormous growing pain, Zen played a significant role to cement minimalist art such as karesansui, ikebana, Noh, tea ceremony, which flourished during 13th ~ 16th century. Zen art is almost equal to wabi sabi art.
For meditation, Zen priests usually chose places in the middle of raw nature in caves or by waterfalls. As one of the goals of Buddhism is to let go each and every desire and greed, Zen priests attempted to vacate their body and soul through meditation by asking themselves “is this really needed?” The process to let go things one by one to eventually become one with the surrounding nature was the same process for Zen art to keep eliminating excess frills until only essential elements were left. The outcomes were powerfully silent.
After the test of time, Zen arts proved to be the ultimate art of subtraction.
Kare-sansui, or Zen rock garden, is probably the most popular Zen art. Founded by a prominent Zen priest Muso Soseki (1275-1351), Kare-sansui does not rely on greens or water to let beautiful garden emerge. Instead, it lets boundless beauty emerge from the absence of those elements.
Ikabana was founded by Zen priest Ikenobo Senkei in the 15th century. Using the asymmetric triangle as a basic framework, ikebana refined its aesthetic style over the next 500 years. Ikebana is a typical art of subtraction: it uses a minimum number of flowers, colors or even species to let a vast spatial expansion emerge.
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