The author makes a distinction between the expressive Soto Zen practice of shikantaza (just sitting, only sitting) that was promulgated by Eihei Dōgen, (1200-1253) the founder of the Soto Zen Buddhist school in Japan and various instrumental/facilitative and "quietist" contemplative practices. Different contemplative practices reflect and express the underlying assumptions, guiding principles...
This chapter explores the problematic relationship between zazen (Zen meditation) and normal thinking processes since its inception within the Chan tradition in China and which continues in the present. This difficulty has typically been expressed in terms of the conflict between quietist and insight-oriented practices. On the one hand, a misunderstanding of meditation creates the impossible...
Since the mid-1980s, a number of articles have appeared in the psychoanalytic literature regarding the relationship between the Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist technique of vipassana or "mindfulness meditation" and psychoanalytic listening. Despite differences in theory and technique, the experience of personal analysis continues to serve as the sine qua non of effective psychoanalytic...
This chapter explicates differences in style and intention of zazen – Zen sitting meditation – beginning with a discussion of the limits of the typical etymological definition of zazen as simply derivative of the Indian dhyana (meditation). Despite the fact that zazen holds a central position across various Zen sects, there are diverse descriptions regarding its form, function, goals, and...