Japanese Zen has its origins in China, where the first Zen masters taught and the first monasteries were found. Zen in Chi

The inner power of Zen has been brought out through art. Zen art is a process where the artist and his creation becomes one. According to the monks, Zen arts offer a path or a way to inner development. To practice a Zen art, an individual has to free his mind from ego and any little disturbances to become “as carefree as a flower of the field.” Eventually with years of practice, one would be able to achieve the wholeness of the art and become one with the artist. Finally he would be able to experience the enlightenment that Buddha experienced under the Bodhi tree. The tea ceremony or Cha-no-yu is an ancient tradition in Japan that has carried the Zen spirit to the modern society. Tea was originally used by the monks to stay awake during long hours of meditation. Later, during the reign of Sung dynasty, tea became a part of the monks’ rituals that is used to produce tranquility. The Japanese Zen art of flower arranging or Ikebana symbolizes the emptiness of Zen. Flower arrangements are done without speaking and in a meditative way. Arrangements are made in patterns of three: one branch reaches for heaven, one for earth and one for human being in the middle. Haiku or the Zen art of poetry unifies what is outside with what is inside of one’s mind. “Haiku is simply what is happening in this place at this time” (Simpkins 181). The traditional rule for haiku is a seventeen-syllable poem with three lines. Haiku conveys the experience shared by all Zen arts. The center of all Zen arts is the interaction, the relationship of person, art and action. When every art such as ikebana, haiku or even daily work approached in the Zen way, it becomes an art that expresses Buddha-mind.

For many centuries, Japanese Zen masters have built gardens of skilfully arr

Some topics in this essay:
Traditional Zen, Buddha-mind Zen, Haiku Zen, Rinzai Zen, Zen Buddhism, Soto Zen, Japanese Zen, AD Zen, China Ch’an, China Tung, zen arts, zen art, zen buddhism, zen gardens, japanese zen, zen spirit, schools zen, japan rinzai, china zen, zen masters,