Minds already made up as what to expect from Zen

One of the biggest problems in Zen are with those people who want to study Zen but who have their minds already made up with respect to what they believe Zen is supposed to be.  In that regard, they only want to learn what reinforces their personal beliefs.  Nor could you say such people have an open mind either.  It is rather shut and limited.

I would not call such people beginners.  And the more I think about it, I don’t like the word “beginners” when applied to Zen although I have used it many times.

Of those people who have their minds already made up as what to expect from Zen most believe that Zen is about sitting crosslegged with their backs ramrod straight and their hands placed in a special way.  They also believe that the Zen teacher is enlightened and that what he or she says is true as regards Zen and also Buddhism.

The real problem with such people who have their minds made up already, who are either new to Zen or have been a member of a Zen community for many years, is the teaching of Zen wants the student to have an open mind which is not made up, and also a mind that is capable of opening itself up to something profound and mystical; which relies upon intuition rather than upon reason and physical practices. 

A student of Zen has to at least understand the right context of Zen which is about gaining enlightenment and not so much about sitting still as if enlightenment somehow grows out of prolonged sitting.

But I dare say, few want to go down the path of having to actualize enlightenment.  This is an intuitive path.  It was taught by such Zen masters as Yuanwu and Dahui going back to Bodhidharma.  Most people who want to study Zen believe it is safer to go with what is popular; what others are doing in the way of Zen practice which is zazen, literally, to sit in Zen in which the main emphasis is on sitting; not so much Zen or dhyāna which is the Sanskrit term that Zen is based upon which actually means “intuition”.  An interesting aside, the school of Zen 禪宗 is rendered as the Intuitional School or Mystic School according to the book, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms.

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