What Is Zen? The Answer Will Surprise You || Acharya Prashant (2025)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00Quants are meant to challenge the very fundamentals, the very fundamentals.

00:08There is a particular Rinzai school named after a teacher, Rinzai, and this Rinzai was a very

00:16peculiar teacher actually, and quants are attributed to him. So what Rinzai innovated

00:22was a method of shock. They shocked the mind into getting out from its usual patterns.

00:30So for example, you will say, this is my face, that is your hand, the two of us are different.

00:36This looks entirely sound logic. A kwan would very innocently ask, what was your face before

00:43you were born? So that which looks unchallengeable is challenged by the kwan and that too. A lot

00:51of childlike innocence. A very famous kwan is, does a dog have Buddha nature? Does a dog

00:59have Buddha nature? And the answer to that is silence. So repeatedly you find that the student

01:07asked such a question and the reply resulted in sudden enlightenment for the disciple. That

01:13there was something that was clouding, cluttering the mind since long. And in one deft stroke,

01:21the master was able to cut the clutter, cut the cord of illusion.

01:27We are starting this new series, wisdom from the world, which will allow us to look at wisdom

01:50literature from all parts of the world and all times, irrespective of their place of origin,

02:04culture or history or identity.

02:09society. So, we'll be able to take up Zen quans. We'll be able to take up, uh, Sufi mysticism,

02:37Christian mysticism, and, uh, closer to our times, existential stories, plays that will help us widen

03:01our perspective. So we'll start with, uh, quans today. Quans originate, uh, in China.

03:20China. So, uh, Buddhistism reaches China from India and emphasizes on direct meditative observation

03:46China. And that Dhyan becomes Chan in Chinese. And that was also after its interaction with the

04:03the, uh, revealing tradition of Taoism there. And from, uh, China, this Chan travels to Japan,

04:20becomes Zen, and becomes Zen. So, so there is Buddhism in India, Buddhism travels to China, becomes Chan,

04:37and then travels to Japan, becomes Zen. And in, uh, Zen, there is, uh, a particular Rinzai school,

04:55named after a teacher Rinzai. And, uh, this Rinzai was a very peculiar teacher actually.

05:04And quans are attributed, uh, to him. The beginning of the quans dream. Though, in time, many

05:19big names got associated with it. So Rinzai was known

05:25known for shocking his students out of their, uh, egoistic slumber.

05:37And quans are a form of, uh, spiritual innovation.

05:42So what Rinzai innovated was a method of shock. His method of shock would go to the extent of,

05:57uh, shouting at his disciples, or even beating them up. So, quans are the verbal counterpart

06:09of the shock methods of the shock methods of Rinzai. They shock the mind

06:22into getting out from its, uh, usual patterns.

06:30Hm? The mind is a flow.

06:33So, quans are meant to challenge the very fundamentals. The very fundamentals.

06:44Right?

06:47So, for example, you will say,

06:52this is my face.

06:53This is my face. That is your hand.

07:01Hm? Stay away.

07:05This is my face. That is your hand. The two of us are different.

07:12And, and this looks entirely sound logic. My face, your hand.

07:17A kwan would, uh, very,

07:30innocently ask, what was your face before you were born?

07:37What was your face before you were born?

07:39Um, so that which looks unchallengeable is challenged by the kwan and that too.

07:51With a lot of insouciance.

07:55Hm? A lot of, uh,

08:01childlike innocence.

08:05Hm? What was your face before you were born? Please tell me.

08:08And then, the kwan would proceed to say, what was your parents face before you were born?

08:22And here you feel like rushing to say, well, my parents had a particular face and I have seen

08:29that face in pics and that existed even before I was born.

08:33So, the kwan would want you to think about it.

08:40Getting it?

08:43So,

08:47that to which Vedanta comes

08:52in a philosophical way, analytical way,

08:55koans come in a poetic way and abrupt way.

09:07After a long line

09:12of refined logic, very refined logic,

09:15for example, the Upanishads will say,

09:23Ekam eva advitiyam.

09:28The second

09:30really does not exist.

09:31the kwan would simply ask, what is the sound of one hand clapping?

09:40The sound of one hand clapping?

09:47Yatra yatra mano yati tatra tatra samadhyaya.

09:51That's the highest thing.

09:53That wherever you are,

09:58that's where the truth is.

10:01And how would the kwan put it?

10:05The disciple asked the master,

10:07what is the Buddha?

10:09And the master said, the ground under your feet.

10:16The ground under your feet.

10:18A very famous kwan is,

10:29does a dog have Buddha nature?

10:34Does a dog have Buddha nature?

10:37And the answer to that is silence.

10:40But the master does not remain silent.

10:42He says, Mu.

10:44Mu.

10:46And what does Mu imply?

10:48That the

10:52depth of the answer is far beyond the scope of your little question.

10:59Your question cannot accommodate the answer and that is Mu.

11:03There is no way,

11:05an answer can be given

11:09within the narrow paradigm you are asking the question.

11:13That is Mu.

11:14Mu is a sound for silence, Mu.

11:26The K and Upanishad,

11:32they put it more philosophically.

11:36They would say, when the teacher is asked,

11:43what is the truth?

11:44How to reach it?

11:44This is the most beautiful part of Kyanupanishad.

11:49The teacher says,

11:51Na tatra chakshur gacchhate,

11:54na vaag gacchhate,

11:55na manah.

11:57The eyes do not go to there,

12:00the ears don't,

12:03nor does the mind.

12:05So, there is no way that can be reached or touched or described.

12:13That implying the truth.

12:14And in Zen, in koans, the answer is a very brief Mu.

12:26And because it is very brief, it stuns, it shocks.

12:29It leaves you speechless.

12:40So, repeatedly you find

12:44the mention

12:47that the student asks such a question to the master and the master replies.

12:52And that reply is a koan.

12:56And the reply resulted in sudden enlightenment for the disciple.

13:02Sudden enlightenment.

13:04What does sudden enlightenment mean?

13:06That there was something

13:10that was clouding,

13:13cluttering the mind since long.

13:17And the disciple was unable to get rid of it.

13:22And in one deft stroke, like a genius,

13:27the master was able to cut the clutter.

13:33Cut the cord of illusion.

13:39Cut the relationship between the ego and its object, the ego and its belief.

13:49That's the koan.

13:49What Vedanta does through a lot of persuasive argument.

14:03Koan does through an abrupt shock.

14:09It shocks you out of your illusion.

14:19It leaves you

14:22suffocated.

14:24You, you are left

14:28crying for, craving for

14:31an answer to a question

14:38that defies logic.

14:44In the process, you see

14:46that what you call

14:48as obvious facts

14:50thoughts and then proceed to live on them

14:56are just mere beliefs.

14:59And that's the very

15:03problematic

15:05limit of logic.

15:08All logic is based on

15:11prepositions and prepositions

15:13are often just assumptions.

15:18Often just assumptions.

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