The Hope of Liberation in World Religions

8: Zen Buddhism

154 —Tavivat puntarigvivat with his disciples is similar to the way a psychotherapist deals with his/her patients in a clinic,24 as a psychotherapist works to strengthen a patient’s inner locus of control. Buddhism seems to lack a precise theory and praxis to address the concrete issues of contemporary sociopolitical suffering and its liberation . Traditional Buddhism provides guidelines for personal moral conduct such as self-restraint, patience, zeal, compassion, generosity, and mindfulness, but these moral concepts need to be reinterpreted in a modern context and integrated into a social ethical theory. Buddhadasa ’s theory of dhammic socialism tends to be too utopian and abstract. Although his theory addresses the issue of “surplus” in a manner similar to Karl Marx’s “surplus value,” it still needs interpretation and clarification as a social praxis. A comprehensive perspective on sociopolitical suffering and liberation from the existing exploitative system of global capitalism will manifest itself via a consciousness-raising process in regards to sociopolitical suffering and its structure and the emergence of Buddhist-based communities struggling for social justice in solidarity with women, the poor, and the oppressed. These are steps, in the Thai experience, toward a Buddhist liberation theology. 155 In Zen monasteries and meditation centers all over the world, practitioners chant “The four Vows of the Bodhisattva” in different languages , an english version of which goes as follows: Sentient beings are numberless. I vow to liberate them. Delusive passions are inexhaustible. I vow to eradicate them. Gates to the Dharma are innumerable. I vow to learn them. The awakened Way is unsurpassable. I vow to embody it. Bodhisattva, a term derived from Sanskrit which is now part of Buddhist vocabulary in english, is “a being on the path of enlightenment.”1 each practitioner who embarks on this path of meditative practice as laid out in the Zen tradition is invited to open one’s eyes to the fact that this Bodhisattva is no other than one’s very own true self. And as a practitioner awakens to this reality of being a Bodhisattva, he or she also comes to realize that to liberate all beings is to liberate one’s own self, and vice versa. Two key questions arise in this regard. first, what is meant by liberating one’s own self? Second, what is involved in living out this vow to liberate all beings? This essay focuses on Zen Buddhist perspectives on the liberation of all beings (another article in this volume by Tavivat puntarigvivat addresses the question of liberation in the entire Buddhist tradition). The first part will describe the contours of the Zen path as it arises out of the family of Buddhist traditions (habito, 2005:108–30). The 8 zen BUDDhIsM —Ruben L. F. Habito 156 — Ruben L. f. habito second part will focus on the first of the Bodhisattva vows “to liberate all beings,” examining its implications, reflecting on issues surrounding this vision of liberation, as well as obstacles to its realization. The third part will cite examples of Zen practitioners engaged in liberative praxis toward socioecological transformation. The concluding section will offer reflections on a possible contribution of Zen Buddhism toward forging a vision and praxis of integral liberation. What is zen Buddhism? The term “Zen” is a Japanese rendering of a Chinese character, Ch’an (pronounced Son in Korean, Thien inVietnamese) which in turn derives from a Sanskrit word, dhyana. This latter term refers to an advanced stage of meditation, practiced and described in great detail in religious texts of the hindu tradition, and carried over into and given renewed emphasis and significance in Buddhism. Meditation is a fundamental form of spiritual practice cultivated in the Buddhist tradition as a whole, since its inception in India and transmission to neighboring Asian countries. The term “Buddha” derives from a Sanskrit term which means “one who is awakened.” followers of the Awakened one describe the life of awakening as comprised of three pillars, namely, sila (disciplined life), samadhi (concentration, or a single-minded state of awareness), and prajna (discerning wisdom). The single-minded state of awareness referred to as the second pillar is a fruit of meditative practice. In this mode of awareness one sees things in a way that overcomes the dichotomy between the perceiver (subject) and the perceived (object). Meditation manuals written in India and Sri Lanka describe various states of absorption (dhyana) that lead to this state of awareness, paving...