“It both is and is not:

neither is, nor is not.”

- Siddartha Gautama (Buddha)

The concept of ‘Zen’ is a more varied idea than perhaps it once was; many things now acquire the Zen label as a way to describe one aspect of that idea.  It’s a slightly incongruous notion that this thirteen hundred year old branch of Buddism now gives rise to a label which can be, and has been, applied to restaurants, food, furniture and any number of other material items.

How, you may ask, does one describe an earthly object such as furniture as having a Zen quality?  It’s a good question and one which the Buddha’s quote – above – on the nature of Buddhism in general, may or may not apply to, depending upon your point of view.

It’s probably best to start at the beginning when trying to explain what Zen Buddhism is because if we can remove ourselves from the modern day interpretations which attach themselves to material objects and lifestyle concepts, Zen Buddhism is, at it’s most prosaic level, a religion.   Elsewhere on this website you can find a much more in depth explanation of the history and story behing Zen Buddhism but we’ll briefly discuss it here.

Largely derived from Mahāyāna Buddhism, Zen Buddhism can be traced back to 7th century China and, although it’s disputed, a South Indian monk called Bodhidharma, formerly a prince, is widely believed to be the inspiration behind the Zen philosophy.  The road between India and China was a well travelled one in the early days of cross-border trade and this section of the Silk Route was busier than most. It was travelled by merchants, monks and artists and traces of Buddhist and Hindi art have been found along it’s enormous length. It was this route that Bodhidharma would have travelled to bring his own brand of Buddhism to China.

Please come back every now and then for our regular updates!