Zen Buddhism

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During the time Noh approached popularity, Zen rose as the preferred religion by many in Japan. Indian thought, introduced to the Chinese mind the 1^st century A.D., sparked many sects of Buddhism, one being Zen (Suzuki, 1970). Zen Buddhism did not seek to incorporate all of the Indian teachings, but rather chose specific theories with which to work. In addition, Zen absorbed Taoist teachings which were adapted by Buddhist tradition, though Zen did not seek solace in Taoist transcendentalism (Suzuki, 1970). Zen’s distance from traditional Buddhist thinking lead to Zen’s distance from praying, paying penance, and other forms of piety (Suzuki, 1970).

Once Zen Buddhism reached Japan, the people took the best aspects from Shinto, the indigenous religion, and Zen Buddhism to create their own form of Zen (George, 1999). In contradiction to organized religion, Zen depends on “self-reliance” and “self-being” (Suzuki, 1970). Enlightenment, satori, became the true focus of Zen. Zen offers multiple ways to reach enlightenment, the focus here being on experience rather than verbalism (Suzuki, 1970).

By definition, enlightenment is beyond words, therefore it is not easily described (George, 1999). Rather than talk about how to reach enlightenment, masters and teachers often choose to teach by experience. As an alternative to telling a student how to reach enlightenment, a teacher shows the student by the very way everyday life is lived (Hahn, 1999). In fact, “the object of Zen training consists in making us realize that Zen is our daily experience and that it is not something put from the outside” (Suzuki, 1970, p. 13). Zen teaches followers to look within for the path to enlightenment, similar to the manner in which a Noh performer must look within to reach Zeami’s concept of hana.

This path consists of four distinct stages. Once each stage is reached, it is immediately abandoned in the process of exalting to the next stage (George, 1999).

	*Nirvāna*: general state, the state of being free from false consciousness (George, 1999).
	*Śūnyatā*: actual enlightened mind (George, 1999).
	*Tathatā: “insight achieved by an enlightened, empty mind” (George, 1999, p. 140). The tathatā* enlightened mind is not absent of thought, but sees things just as they are (George, 1999).
	Satori: moment of breakthrough (George, 1999). Often this momentary enlightenment is the catalyst for future practice of Zen meditation. Satori, especially, can be seen in a Noh performance when the actor reaches Zeami’s hana moment as described further in this paper.