Volume : 6, Issue : 6, June - 2017

ZAZEN: ZEN BUDDHIST WAY TO THE STATE OF NO-MINDEDNESS

Dr. P. S. Sreevidya

Abstract :

<p>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">Zen Buddhism is an offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism and a way of life with the primary focus on direct experience instead of rational creeds and revered scriptures. The most important Zen practice is Zazen or sitting meditation in which the focus is given on one&rsquo;s posture and eathing and gradually the practitioner can identify three distinct stages: the stage of concentration, the stage of meditation and the stage of absorption. As the practitioner repeats this process over a long period of time, he or she will come to experience a state in which no-thing appears. Zen uses the phrase &lsquo;No-mindedness&rsquo; to designate this state.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">It is the state of mind has no conscious activities and not delimited by ideas, desires and images. There is neither a superimposition of ideas nor a psychological projection. It is a practical transcendence from the everyday mind, without departing from the everydayness of the world.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>