Gassho
合掌
Gassho
The Japanese word gassho means “to bring the palms together.” It is a form of greeting in Zen, or an expression of gratitude, with the hands joined, palm to palm, fingers pointing upward, as in prayer, and sometimes made with a bow.
The Links on the right will
directly point you F
to essays and other material about Zen.
Zen
禪
Chan
(in Chinese)
The basic Zen practice is zazen, or sitting meditation.
坐禪
zazen
If this is so, what do you make of this statement by Sawaki Kodo Roshi:
Zazen is good for nothing!
Even though the Roshi is playing around here, this is a statement of penetrating insight, since ”nothing” or “emptiness” (mu in Japanese) is a fundamental idea in Zen, directly pointing back to what old Shakyamuni awakened to as he sat under the Bodhi Tree.
無
mu
Emptiness can be thought about as an idea or concept, yes, but that is only half the story; it is also a concrete actuality. Zazen reveals that actuality. Or better: zazen is that actuality. Just don’t do something—sit there!
The Traditional Four-Phrase Summary of Zen:
Outside the teaching, apart from tradition.
Not founded on words or letters.
Directly pointing to the human mind.
Seeing into one’s nature and becoming a Buddha.
教外別傳
不立文字
直指人心
見性成佛
Zen Master Dogen reconceived the second line of the fourfold summary and expressed his new conception in the following waka:
Not limited
By language,
It is ceaselessly expressed;
So, too, the way of letters
Can display but not exhaust it.
いひすてし
そのことの葉の
外なれば
ふでにもあとを
とゞめざりけり