--- In [email protected], "Jill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > can anyone tell me what te differnce is(practice wise) between zen > buddhism and tibetan buddhism?
Hi Jill, Welcome. i'm new here too. these are just my impressions (i've been in contact with various buddhist communities in my town for ~8 years now)... the tibetan practice seems far more colorful - the meditation room typically has lots of colorful wall hangings (tonka's??? can't spell it) which give pictoral representation of the sutra's (mostly my take on it) & the chanting & instruments are very lovely. my understanding is that the low literacy rate in tibetian culture was a factor in transmitting the stories via these colorful pictures. i've only sat a few times with a tibetian group, which was a very small community having a wonderful teacher (who has since moved to japan...) & may not be representative. the various pictures of deities (buddhas???) seemed to represent the various psychological aspects of human experience & sometimes visualization of these were used in dealing with various emotions. during meditation the tibetian practice seems to use more visualization & verse repetition than zen, which is more about simply letting all 'intentional thought' fall away & to use something like the breath (counting or simply awareness of) as a kind of 'touch stone' to keep you grounded in the present moment. the meditation room for zen is very simple & plain. there is a stark simplicity to the form & etiquette in zen practice. altho that varies alot too. the group i currently sit with is a sort of vagabond group - we meet at a church & unpack our cushions & alter & set up our space in silence, sit for 2 sessions with a slow walking in between & then read a little from Thich Nhat Hanh & have a brief period of sharing/discussion. this has a much less structured feel to it than the Soto practice, but both have a wonderful simplicity to them. hope this helps, j ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
