Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Rituals

Chapter 6: Revealing the Healing Realm of Zen

Chapter 6 Revealing the Healing Realm of Zen Our physical constitution is such that even the cells of our body work better if we have peace of mind, whereas an agitated mind usually brings some physical imbalance. If peace of mind is important for good health, that means the body itself is structured in a way that accords with mental peace. Therefore we can say that human nature is more inclined to gentleness and affection. Even our body structure seems­ designed not for fighting but for embracing. Look at our hands: if they were meant for hitting, I think they would be hard like a hoof.1 Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama Healing courses through the lives of contemporary Japanese Zen women, revealing a realm of Zen that thrives in the painful dramas and quietly heroic triumphs of the domestic sphere. Mapping new territory in Zen, this study demonstrates how ritualized activities transform emotionally intense moments—charged with fear, pain, and untamed anger—into healing. Examining ritualized activities woven into daily life illuminates a side of Zen that is as at home with kitchens crowded with three different types of unmatched recycling containers as it is with the impeccably refined aesthetics of breathtakingly beautiful flower arrangements placed in the foyer. This qualitative research of Zen in the home provides a compass directing us to resourceful and resilient women who wield healing power. The women’s stories and experiences inform, expand, and enrich our understanding of Buddhism , Japan, women, ritual, healing, field methodology, and Zen as they reveal to us their healing practices and wisdom. The knowledge gained from Revealing the Healing Realm of Zen 205 these women not only enhances our insight into the cultural and religious dimensions of healing, but it also lays the foundation for scientific exploration into the healing possibilities of ritualized activities. The Art of Zen Healing Engaging in ritualized activities that embody wisdom and compassion are the keys to Zen healing. It is an art to lace healing rituals into the contours and vicissitudes of daily life. It requires attunement to bodily expressions and awareness of mental conduct. Most of the healing rituals, however, are not done as healing rituals per se. For example, if I did not know how the death of Honda-san’s mother affected her whole life, I would not have thought it significant when she addressed her home altar with the Japanese ritualized greetings of leaving and returning home, because this is not an uncommon practice for people of her generation. It was only in the context of her life that I could see and understand the healing power of even this apparently simple ritualized greeting. In most homes, this ritual occurs with the comings and goings of each person. If you directly asked a family member if she was healed by participating in this ritualized exchange of greetings, she is likely to have no clue why you would ask such a thing, because it is such an ubiquitous custom. This does not mean, however , no healing occurs. They might not be consciously aware, and therefore not be able to articulate how this reliable exchange helps them in any way. Furthermore, it is most likely even if they receive some benefit from the ritualized greetings, they are not doing the greeting in order to receive the benefit. These dynamics underscore the necessity of trusting relationships to discern the most potent rituals, for healing is a by-product. It occurs as a result of doing a myriad of ritualized activities. This is the beauty and power animating their ritual lives. Understanding the women’s way of healing through an analysis of its characteristic elements will enable us to more clearly see the nature of this realm of Zen. An “Integrated Model of Healing and Illness,” a model developed by religion and medical anthropology scholar Linda Barnes, provides criterion for analysis to reveal the root assumptions at work in the Zen healing paradigm.2 The model is specifically designed to foster cross-cultural understanding and communication among people working and living with diverse concepts of healing. This “Integrated Model” foregrounds the infrastructure or building blocks of a healing tradition. In other words, it asks the 206 Bringing Zen Home medical practitioners and scholars who use the model to be critically conscious of fundamental concepts of self and worldview and to place the various dimensions of healing and illness into their...