Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy. 1. The Meaning of the Term Zen The designation of this school of the Buddha-Way as Zen, which means sitting meditation, is derived from a transliteration of the Chinese word Chán. Because the Chinese term is in turn a transliteration of the Sanskrit term dhyāna, however, Zen owes its historical origin to early Indian Buddhism, where a deepened state of meditation, called samādhi, was singled out as one of the three components of study a Buddhist was required to master, the other two being an observation of ethical precepts (sīla) and an embodiment of nondiscriminatory wisdom (prajñā).
Meditation was picked as the name for this school because the historical Buddha achieved enlightenment (nirvāna) through the practice of meditation. In the context of Zen Buddhism, the perfection of nondiscriminatory wisdom (Jpn.: hannya haramitsu; Skrt.: prajñāpāramitā) designates practical, experiential knowledge. Only secondarily and derivatively does it mean theoretical, intellectual knowledge. 2. 3. Tibetan Buddhism Archives. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. In his foreword to the book, the 14th Dalai Lama says: In this timely book, Sogyal Rinpoche focuses on how to understand the true meaning of life, how to accept death, and how to help the dying, and the dead...Death and dying provide a meeting point between the Tibetan Buddhist and modern scientific traditions. I believe both have a great deal to contribute to each other on the level of understanding and practical benefit. Sogyal Rinpoche is particularly well placed to facilitate this meeting; having been born and brought up in the Tibetan tradition, he has received instructions from some of our greatest Lamas.
Having also benefited from a modern education and lived and worked in the West, he has become well acquainted with Western ways of thought. Conception and writing[edit] Background[edit] Writing process[edit] Later, while Rinpoche was leading retreats in Germany and Australia, he would send through long faxes to Gaffney and Harvey full of corrections, changes and new paragraphs. The Buddha and His Dhamma, by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Mindfulness Bell.