Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Zen |
ZenNoun1. School of Mahayana Buddhism asserting that enlightenment can come through meditation and intuition rather than faith; China and Japan. 2. Doctrine that enlightenment can be attained through direct intuitive insight. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Zen" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Zen vt. To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally applied to problems of life in general. "How'd you figure out the buffer allocation problem?" "Oh, I zenned it." Contrast grok, which connotes a time-extended version of zenning a system. Compare hack mode. See also guru. Source: Jargon File. |
Slang | Noun. Source: Zenbu in Japanese means all. Definition: Working all day(from 11a.m. to 11p.m.). Context: When a cook asks a server about his/her schedule or just confirms a schedule. Social Source: Japanese Sushi Restaurant, Midori. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Zen (禅 in Japanese, ch'an in Chinese, 禪, 선 "Seon" or "Sŏn" in Korean) Buddhism is a fusion of Mahayana Buddhist beliefs with Taoism. Zen especially emphasizes the practice of meditation. It developed when teachers from India, the original homeland of Buddhism, founded schools in China, where it was known as ch'an (ch'an is the Wade-Giles transliteration of the Sanskrit word dhyana). The canonical exemplar of these teachers is Bodhidharma, the Indian monk who traditionally founded Zen Buddhism at the Shaolin Temple in the fifth century CE. Later, Japanese monks studying in China learned of Zen and brought it back to Japan, where several divergent schools of thought emerged.
Influenced by Taoism, Zen de-emphasizes study and worldly deeds, and concentrates instead on meditation and a non-rational awareness of the world and the way the mind reacts to it.
Zen tradition holds that the highest form of spiritual practice is zazen meditation. Zazen translates approximately to sitting meditation. During zazen, practitioners assume a lotus, half-lotus, burmese, or seiza position. Rinzai practitioners typically sit facing the center of the room, while Soto practitioners sit facing a wall. Awareness is directed towards complete cognizance of one's posture and breathing. In this way, practictioners seek to transcend thought and be directly aware of the universe.
Later schools (especially Rinzai) developed the famous koans, paradoxical "riddles" or "puzzles" designed to shock the mind out of its rationalistic rut and into a non-discriminatory awareness.
The following Zen traditions still exist in Japan: Soto Zen, Rinzai Zen and Obaku. Founder of the Soto Zen school in Japan was the famous Zen master Dogen Zenji (1200 - 1253). Lin-Chi (Rinzai in Japanese) founded Rinzai Zen and Obaku founded the Obaku school.
Many modern students have made the mistake of thinking that since much of Zen sounds like nonsense, then any clever nonsense is also Zen. This is not the case, but see Discordianism and the Church of the SubGenius for modern semiserious religions influenced by this idea.
Esoteric meaning of Zen
From this point of view, Zen is, instead of a religion, rather an undefinable origin, beyond all words and concepts, which can only be experienced on an individual level. All religions originated from more concrete expressions of this, and as such Zen is not bound to any religion at all, even not Buddhism. Zen is then the fundamental perfection of everything existing, and is known by all the great saints and sages of all times. Zazen is then, rather than a method to bring people to liberation, an expression and realization of the perfection already present in every person.
Zen Terms
See also: Eastern philosophy, Buddhism in China, Ryoju Kikuchi(Tamo Samma)
- Doan - Term for person sounding the bell that marks the beginning and end of Zazen
- Dojo - "Place of the Way" in Japanese, used interchangeably with Zendo
- Dokusan - Private interview between student and teacher.
- Fukudo - Term for person who strikes the Han
- Gassho - Position used for greeting, with palms together and fingers pointing upwards in prayer position.
- Han - Wooden board that is struck announcing sunrise, sunset and the end of the day
- Ino - One of the leaders of a sesshin
- Jisha - Roshi's attendant during sesshin or dokusan
- Kensho - Enlightenment. Kensho has the same meaning as satori, but is customary used for an initial awakening experience.
- Kinhin - Walking meditation
- Kyosaku (keisaku) - A flattened stick used to strike the shoulders during zazen, to help overcome fatigue or reach satori.
- Mokugyo - a wooden drum carved from one piece, usually in the form of a fish.
- Mondo - A short dialogue between teacher and student.
- Rohatsu - A day in December (usually 8th) that marks the attainment of Nirvana by Buddha
- Roshi - Teacher
- Satori - Enlightenment
- Sesshin - A zen retreat where practioners meditate, eat and work together for several days.
- Tanto - One of the main leaders of a sesshin.
- Teisho - Lecture by Zen teacher
- Tenzo - Head cook for a sesshin
- Zazen - Sitting meditation
- Zendo - A hall where Zen (usually meaning zazen) is practiced (see Dojo)
External Links
Recommended Reading
- An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki
- The Practice of Concentration, Taisen Deshimaru
- Three Zen Masters: Ikkyu, Hakuin, Ryokan (Kodansha Biographies), John Stevens (1993)
- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki (ISBN 0-8348-0079-9). A good introduction to the practice of Zen.
- Zen Keys, Thich Nhat Hanh
- The Three Pillars of Zen : Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment, Philip Kapleau. A comprehensive guide to the practice of Zen
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Zen."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
ZEN | English | Zero Effort Network | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: ZenSynonym: Zen Buddhism (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Zen |
| English words defined with "Zen": Zen Buddhist. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Zen": AI koan, AI koans ♦ Genius From Mars Technique, grok ♦ hacker humor, hacker humour, has the X nature. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Zen" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (zen), German (zen), Hungarian (Zen), Italian (Zen), Portuguese (zen), Serbo-Croatian (zen), Spanish (Zen), Turkish (Zen). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | It's a Zen thing, like how many babies fit in a tire (Waiting for Guffman; writing credit: Christopher Guest; Eugene Levy) Yes and zen suddeny dey excepted American Express (See No Evil, Hear No Evil; writing credit: Earl Barret; Arne Sultan) Gin, Retsu, Zai, Zen. (American Ninja; writing credit: Gideon Amir; Paul De Mielche) My satori is this: Zen in the art of buttering bread (Diva; writing credit: Jean-Jacques Beineix; Daniel Odier) Distant, zen (That '70s Show; writing credit: Stacia Raymond) | |
Lyrics | You are the antibody, mind, soul and Zen (Then The Morning Comes; performing artist: Smash Mouth) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Zen (1973) Sedm zen Alfonse Karáska (1967) 100 miliónu zen (1942) A Zen Tale (2000) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Buddha With Laptop" by J Eden Commentary: "Buddha squeak toy with laptop - zen computing?." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Zen" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 90.14% of the time. "Zen" is used about 365 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 90.14% | 329 | 15,846 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 7.12% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Noun (singular) | 2.19% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Noun (common) | 0.55% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 365 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| United Kingdom | Zen Research plc |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "Zen": Zen Buddhism ♦ Zen Buddhist. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Zen": zen-buddhism, zen-buddhist, zen-chieh, zen-do. | |
Ending with "Zen": Super-zen. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
zen | 1,512 | zen quote | 35 |
zen buddhism | 1,045 | zen furniture | 34 |
zen garden | 713 | zen palate | 33 |
lezley zen | 231 | daily zen | 32 |
nomad zen | 213 | zen decorating | 29 |
zen alarm clock | 179 | zen story | 26 |
box juke nomad zen | 138 | bed zen | 26 |
zen meditation | 85 | zen saying | 25 |
creative zen | 75 | zen philosophy | 25 |
zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance | 75 | creative juke box zen | 24 |
zen art | 55 | budismo zen | 23 |
holiday villa zen | 54 | zen retreat | 23 |
zen gesner | 54 | zen symbol | 23 |
sex and zen | 49 | creative lab zen | 22 |
creative nomad zen | 47 | bell zen | 22 |
zen juke box | 47 | sushi zen | 22 |
secret zen | 44 | zen koans | 21 |
creative nomad juke box zen | 44 | zen center | 21 |
zen rock garden | 41 | zen mat | 21 |
zen clock | 37 | spa zen | 21 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "Zen"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Bulgarian | японска Будистка Секта. (various references) | |
Chinese | 禅宗. (various references) | |
Danish | syre (acid). (various references) | |
Dutch | zen, California dreaming (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), Acid (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, delysid, green caps, hawk, LSD-25, lysergyc acid diethylamide, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops). (various references) | |
Esperanto | zeno. (various references) | |
French | zen, acide. (various references) | |
German | Zen (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops). (various references) | |
Greek | οξύ (acid). (various references) | |
Hungarian | zen. (various references) | |
Italian | Zen, spirito (alcohol, esprit, ghost, humor, humour, liveliness, mind, pep, spirit, wit), microgocce (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), luce del sole (sunlight, sunshine), gocce rosa (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), gocce gialle (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), gocce blu (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), capsule verdi (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), capsule gialle (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), capsule brune (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), capsule blu (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), bestia (animal, beast), avvoltoio (hawk, vulture), acido (acetous, acid, acidic, acids, acrid, crabbed, sour, tart). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 禅門 (entering the path of Zen), 禅家 (Zen priest, Zen temple), 禅 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぜんもん (all the questions, entering the path of Zen, front gate, Shinto or Buddhist prayer), ぜんけ (Zen priest, Zen temple), ぜん (ago, all, before, cancer, complete, entire, former, good, goodness, meal, niche or alcove for an image, one-time, overall, pan, prayer, previous, right, table, the above, tray, virtue, vow, whole, wish). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | enzay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | zen, vulcões (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), seita budista, panteras (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), centenários (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), ácido (acetous, austere, sharp, sour, tart). (various references) | |
Russian | Буддийская Секта Дзэн, дзен. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zen. (various references) | |
Spanish | Zen, vulcano (Vulcan), volcán (spitfire, volcano), tripi (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), pirámide (pyramid), pink floyd (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), orange (acid, beast, blotter acid, blue caps, blue drops, brown caps, California sunshine, green caps, hawk, microdots, orange wedges, paper acid, pink drops, purple haze, purple wedges, sunshine, the ghost, white lightning, window panes, yellow caps, yellow drops), cono (cone, skittle), californiano (Californian). (various references) | |
Turkish | Zen. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | Дзен. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sanskrit | 300 BCE-Modern | dhyana. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "Zen": zenaida, zenaidas, zenana, zenanas, zenith, zenithal, zeniths. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "Zen": bedizen, brazen, chazzen, citizen, cozen, denizen, dizen, dozen, frozen, khazen, mizen, mizzen, netizen, noncitizen, nonfrozen, prefrozen, refrozen, unfrozen, wizen, wizzen, zazen. (additional references) | |
Words containing "Zen": bedizened, bedizening, bedizenment, bedizenments, bedizens, benzene, benzenes, benzenoid, brazened, brazening, brazenly, brazenness, brazennesses, brazens, chazzenim, chazzens, chlorobenzene, chlorobenzenes, citizeness, citizenesses, citizenly, citizenries, citizenry, citizens, citizenship, citizenships, cozenage, cozenages, cozened, cozener, cozeners, cozening, cozens, denizened, denizening, denizens, dichlorobenzene, dichlorobenzenes, dinitrobenzene, dinitrobenzenes, dizened, dizening, dizens, dozened, dozening, dozens, dozenth, dozenths, ethylbenzene, ethylbenzenes, fazenda. (additional references) | |
| |
"Zen" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ezan, izen, Nzeng, zaen, zan, Zdenko, zeen, Zeena, zeh, zej, zek, zeni, Zenko, zenn, zeno, Zenz, zeq, zern, Ziem, zinn, Zpe, Zuev. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-n-z" | |
-1 letter: en, ne. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-n-z" | |
+1 letter: zein, zone. | |
+2 letters: azine, bonze, cozen, dizen, dozen, enzym, mizen, nertz, ozone, winze, wizen, zazen, zeins, zineb, zoned, zoner, zones. | |
+3 letters: agnize, azines, benzal, benzin, benzol, benzyl, bezant, bizone, bonzer, bonzes, brazen, bronze, cozens, dezinc, dizens, donzel, dozens, enzyme, enzyms, evzone, frenzy, frozen, ionize, khazen, mizens, mizzen, nozzle, nuzzle, ozones, panzer, rezone, seizin, sneeze, sneezy, snooze, sozine, winzes, wizens, wizzen, zander, zanier, zanies, zazens, zeatin, zechin, zenana, zenith, zinced, zinebs, zinged, zinger, zonate, zoners, zonked, zonule. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Company Usage 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
