Hong Zeng's Chinese language and culture

Zen, or Chan Buddhism is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang Dynasty as Chan Buddhism. Zen school was strongly influenced by Taoism and developed as a distinguished school of Chinese Chan Buddhism. From China, Chan Buddhism spread south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea and east to Japan, where it became known as Japanese Zen.

The term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle word 禪 (Chan), which traces its roots to the Indian practice of "meditation. Zen emphasizes rigorous self-control, meditation-practice, Insight into Buddha nature, and the personal expression of this insight in daily life, As such, it de-emphasizes mere knowledge of Sutras and doctrine and favors direct understanding and interaction with an accomplished teacher.   As they expressed in the Zen phrase, “teach beyond scripture, transmit without words, point directly to human heart, attain instantly to Buddha nature.” “your fingers are the words, the truth is like the moon, the finger can point to the moon, but is not the moon.” It emphasizes the identity of being and vacuity, moment and eternity: “Life is between breathing”. “Ten thousand years’ void, one morning’s wind and moon.” It venerate insight into Buddha nature more than ritualistic worship of a Buddha figure, as they expressed, “Outside mind, no Buddha”, “killing the Buddha, killing the patriarch,” “becoming Buddha and demon is only moment of thought.” It talks about annihilating desires to achieve an immobility of heart among the fluctuation of all things: as Six Patriarch expresses it, “Neither the flag nor the wind is moving, human heart is moving”, “ The wind passes the bamboo  forest, the bamboo retains no sound after it passes; the wild geese flying over the cold lake, the lake does not retain the forms of the geese.” Like the Taoist philosopher Zhuang Zi It advocates getting rid of the mentality of making distinction, including the distinction between the self and other, to enter instantly and directly into a situation and react to it most effectively, for example, the wrestler images himself a huge wave becomes an all-sweeping, all-swallowing, invincible fighter.

Zen’s major practice includes observing the breath, observing the mind, Zen Koan, Buddhist chanting etc.  Zen koan is an enigmatic, logic-defying method of prompting the disciples to achieve instant enlightenment.

It was during the late 1950s and the early 1960s that the number of Westerners other than the descendants of Asian immigrants who were pursuing a serious interest in Zen began to reach a significant level. Japanese Zen has gained the greatest popularity in the West. The various books on Zen by people such as Alan Watts and D. T. Suzuki published between 1950 and 1975, contributed to this growing interest in Zen in the West, as did the interest on the part of beat poets such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder.  In 1958, the literary magazine Chicago Review played a significant role in introducing Zen to the American literary community, especially beat poets.

The course includes 20 Zen Buddhist Stories, each story is taught in two lectures, mostly Zen Koan in an intensely interesting, enigmatic,  iconoclastic, and humorous style used by Zen masters to prompt instant enlightenment in their disciples,   the first lecture teaches the language of the Zen story, I will lead you to study the vocabulary list, the text of the story and lead you to recite them, and practice answering questions about the text. The second lecture is a recitation of the story, so that you can practice listening comprehension and be further familiar with the language and content of the stories.

Through this course you will find your Chinese language level soar together with your spiritual delight and thrill with the most iconoclastic and hilarious way of acquiring sudden, deep religious wisdom that has profoundly influenced both the East and the West, particularly American Beat Poets .