Zen for Beginners
I want to learn about Zen
Jack Rodriguez
Xavier Baker
He used to be. Then he did the same schtick for years on end. He spends way too much time doing it, to boot.
Brayden Fisher
stick with the theravada
Ian Kelly
theravadans believe that you have to go through many different incarnations/lifetimes before you can succeed in doing what buddha did all those years ago. mahayana buddhists (of which zen buddhism is a school) believe that you can achieve enlightenment in this lifetime.
so do you believe in reincarnation?
Carson Murphy
To be fair "why Zen" isn't exactly the pinnacle of clarity...
I prefer Zen over the others because of its precise, rigorous yet flexible approach to nondualism. I could say a lot about why specifically but really I've been looking around at various religions and philosophies for a long time, and Zen is by far the most rigorous. By rigorous, I also mean nondualist, since I more or less accept the "existence" of an Infinite Truth. Yet Zen in particular remains here and does not wander off into heady abstractions. Of all Mahayana, I find Zen to be the most rigorously nondual in its understanding of "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form." (That ought to answer your question about Theravada as well. I have great respect for it, but it's just not my way of walking the Way, ya know?)
Currently, I am really struck by the parallelism between Man and Truth in Zen, that is, Man's mirroring of the Heavens on the stage of action, moment to moment encountering his ownmost truth in his everyday life. Due to the holistic tendencies of nonduality (i.e. a thing being empty means that it is "full" of other things, being relationally defined).
I could go on rambling but I think that answers your question.
He is in this form. Even some of the scholars he cites have explicitly distanced themselves from him.
Eli Anderson
Would strongly advise going to a temple and speaking with members of a Sangha. There are also more casual sitting groups if you want something less formal than a temple environment. Hell, start your own and just keep your back straight.