A study of the concept of environment within Zen philosophy

Abstract

Zen is one of the most accepted schools of Buddhism in Japan and believed to be a creation of Shakyamuni Buddha. At the sacred Bodhi tree, Buddha has passed his realization to Maha Kassapa Thero. The objective of Zen Philosophy is to transmit this realization from one mind to another. Buddhist monks named Eysai and Dogen have officially introduced the Zen concept to Japan in 12 – 13 A.D. Zen concept is based on a philosophy of ordinary life and not on deep analysis or logical theories and it means the human and the environment around him. There is no religion as Buddhism which has addressed and spoken of the environment. The concept of the environment in Buddhism is similar to the modern day concept in their basics. However, Buddhist understanding of this concept carries a deeper philosophy. The in-depth analysis of the concept given by the Buddha is more important than the concepts of modern environmental specialists for the development and protection of the environment. The environment in Buddhism has two aspects; mental and physical environment. Mental environment means the nature of human mentality and becomes the key factor of human existence. The physical environment is the nature. Many such advice appear in the Pali Canon. Zen philosophy represents both mental and physical environment. Satori is the essence and ultimate target of Zen philosophy. Zen cleanses the mind of a person. Unpolluted mindset develops a good mental environment which automatically develops a good society. Thus, Zen followers have created a society that appreciates the environment and art. Zen has directly influenced the Japanese lifestyle. The purpose of this research is to draw scholar’s attention towards the concept of Zen environment. Literature survey is used as the research method of this study. It is very important to pay attention to the concept of environment within Zen.