SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

c. What Are the Cultural Influencesof Zen?Zen emphasizes practice rather than theory and devotesitself to bringing about liberation from life and death. It respectsbold actions and admires the simple life. It follows, however,its rules of morality and etiquette, especially in regard tothe manifestation of meditation in every activity. This outlookhas penetrated deeply into the Oriental mind and exerted agreat influence on its cultural expression. When the MeditationSchools of Buddhism were introduced into Japan, they wereimmediately adopted by the warrior class in their education andcontributed much to the forging of the warrior spirit. * Towardthe end of the Kamakura Period (1180Ð1333 C.E.) the practiceof Buddhist meditation played a leading role in fosteringeducation and culture and truly distinguished itself in the fields* Buddhism emphasizes not killing and causing no harm to others.The Japanese culture had a strong warrior tradition and used Buddhismto make their warriors better fighters. This is a cultural distortion of Buddhistteaching, and is very likely to happen in whatever country Buddhismhappens to go. The Chinese mixed Taoism and Confucianismwith Buddhism. Americans developed Beat Zen and other distortions toavoid confronting the painful process of honestly looking at oneself.121