“Dark Zen,” a mystical interpretation of Zen Buddhism, emphasizes direct experience and intuitive understanding of Buddha Mind rather than relying on conventional Zen practices or religious institutions. It presents a critique of modern Zen, particularly Soto Zen and the teachings of Dogen, for focusing too much on seated meditation and intellectualism while neglecting the essential goal of realizing Buddha Mind and achieving disembodiment. The text outlines “Dark Zen Meditation” techniques and emphasizes the importance of “Bodhcitta,” and how it can promote the recognition of one’s Buddha-nature, which entails going beyond conceptual thinking, overcoming attachment to the mortal body, and experiencing a spiritual awakening. Throughout the document, the teacher Zenmar shares the importance of the ancient wisdom of the Buddha as the source of light for humanity. Additionally, the author promotes and discusses the importance of the Koan practice and warns the reader against the dangers of intellectualizing enlightenment. It also explores concepts like rebirth, karma, and transcendence from a Dark Zen perspective.

Mystical Zen Buddhism: An FAQ

What is Dark Zen, and how does it differ from conventional Zen?
- Dark Zen, also known as Yin Zen, is presented as the true teaching brought by Bodhidharma to China. It emphasizes direct insight into the nature of Mind (Buddha-nature) rather than adhering to lineage or conventional practices. It critiques modern Zen for focusing on opinions about Mind’s nature rather than experiencing it directly, emphasizing lineage over genuine enlightenment, and valuing credentials over true insight. Dark Zen prioritizes experiencing Mind’s pure nature, transcending the material world, and developing “anterior bodies of light,” contrasting with conventional Zen’s focus on intellectual understanding and adherence to established forms. It’s associated with direct recognition of enlightenment without reliance on koans as tests, a practice that the source says was prevalent in Zen before the Sung dynasty.
What is Buddha-nature, and how do we realize it according to Dark Zen?
- Buddha-nature is defined as the very mind of the Buddha, a potential within sentient beings yet to be actualized. Realizing Buddha-nature requires meeting two conditions: being a sentient being (having “spirit,” not merely being an animal, plant, or the five aggregates) and engaging in spiritual practice, specifically mastering the six paramitas. The six paramitas (charity, discipline, patience, strength, meditation, and wisdom) are the means to surpass the “six robbers” (the six senses) which obstruct the path to enlightenment. This mastery is not easy or automatic, and temporal conditions like mountains, rivers, and earth do not inherently possess Buddha-nature.
What is the Dark Zen approach to meditation? How does it differ from Zazen?
- Dark Zen meditation involves recollecting the “antecedent source” of breathing, becoming aware of the one who is “free of breathing.” The meditator actively engages with the breath, energizing it by being prior to both in and out-breathing. This practice aims to spiritually separate from the body, distinguishing the body from what is not the body. This type of meditation contrasts with zazen, which is likened to waiting for a bus, whereas Dark Zen meditation is described as flying. Progress in Dark Zen meditation is experienced without doubt and involves identifying with what is not the mortal body. It also emphasizes an energy stream stronger than the body and the experience of another body growing which is like clear light.
How does Dark Zen view the Heart Sutra and the concept of emptiness?
- Dark Zen asserts that the Heart Sutra is often misinterpreted to mean there is no fundamental nature or Self. Dark Zen refutes this interpretation as pseudo-Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is interpreted as revealing the “Perfection of Wisdom,” emphasizing the importance of recognizing that things are empty of absolute nature. Dark Zen rejects the notion that form is absolute. It encourages practitioners to examine thoughts and mental images, distinguishing them from their pure content and ultimately discovering “who the mirror-maker is that creates and negates.”
What is the role of rebirth and karma in Dark Zen?
- Dark Zen asserts that rebirth is integral to Buddhism. It states that consciousness, rather than a self, is reborn. Furthermore, moral action arises due to the fact of rebirth. Rebirth also prevents relativistic morality and the temporary side-stepping of morality for short-term profit. It acknowledges the Buddha’s recollection of past lives under the Bodhi tree and refutes the idea that rebirth was merely a contemporary assumption, citing the Buddha’s insights as original.
What is the Alaya, and what does it mean to convert it?
- The Alaya is described as a receptacle containing and reproducing all possible appearances, functioning as Mind’s defiled aspect when clinging to effects as absolute. Converting the Alaya means transcending bondage to these appearances and merging with the source from which all things arise and cease. It implies becoming Mind itself. Initial realization is merely an insight into the purified aspect of the Alaya, leading to the conception of the Tathagata embryo, which, when nurtured, generates Bodhicitta.
What is Bodhicitta, and how is it experienced in Dark Zen?
- Bodhicitta, from a mystical standpoint, is a special kind of illumination in which the adept is awakened to Mind’s great power. Experientially, it involves receiving a superessential illumination from universal Mind, a spirit-like irradiation that passes through the body and arouses sense perceptions. Prior to Bodhicitta, the adept intuits the “archetype of the Buddha,” the “gotra,” which eventually turns into Bodhicitta.
What is the role of Koans in the context of Dark Zen?
- Koans are intended to facilitate spiritual transcendence by enabling one to perceive what is not a mental image. Each koan has a secret word that practitioners fix onto, as if to conceive of its origin, before the word popped into the practitioner’s brain. Overcoming the habit of representational thinking is difficult, and practitioners often fail to arrive at its limit, even representing non-representational thinking. Dark Zen rejects the modern practice of analyzing koans from psychological perspectives, stressing the penetration of the hua-t’ou, namely, “pure antecedentness” of the hua-wei, to see Buddha Mind free of mental images. When asked the purpose of koans, the answer is: they help us see the immortal.

Dark Zen: A Study Guide

Quiz

According to Dark Zen, what distinguishes a true Dharma heir from one in conventional Zen?
What does “transmission” truly mean in the context of Dark Zen?
How does Dark Zen view the use of koans as a means of testing enlightenment?
How does Dark Zen differ from Dogen Zenji’s teachings on Buddha-nature?
Describe the role of the six paramitas in Dark Zen practice and how they help surpass the “six robbers.”
Explain the Dark Zen perspective on mindfulness in meditation.
What is the significance of identifying with what is not your mortal body, according to Zenmar?
Explain Zenmar’s analogy of the “moon in the water” in relation to the body and true nature.
What is the “gotra,” and how does it relate to Bodhicitta in Dark Zen?
According to Zenmar, how was D.T. Suzuki “dead wrong” about emptiness?

Quiz Answer Key

In Dark Zen, a Dharma heir is someone who has directly seen Mind’s pure nature, having passed through all the stages of a Bodhisattva, enabling them to promote the ancient teachings of the Buddha. In contrast, conventional Zen’s Dharma heir is merely an heir to their teacher’s opinions about Mind’s mysterious nature.
“Transmission” means awakening to the whereabouts of Mind itself, thus putting an end to suffering once and for all. It is not about robes, certificates, or lineage.
Dark Zen views koans as an unnecessary invention in determining enlightenment, as enlightenment was formerly discerned without using them as a test. Before the Sung dynasty, teachers recognized genuine enlightenment in others without recourse to koans.
Dark Zen does not accept Dogen Zenji’s teaching that “all beings are Buddha-nature,” as Dark Zen says that sentient beings have the potential to attain Buddha-nature but have not yet actualized it. Grasses, mountains, and animals do not embody Buddha-nature.
In Dark Zen, the six paramitas are the means to reach Buddha-nature by surpassing the “six robbers,” which are the six senses. Charity surpasses the robber of the visual world, discipline surpasses the auditory world, patience surpasses the olfactory world, strength surpasses the taste world, meditation surpasses the tactile world, and wisdom surpasses consciousness.
Mindfulness means recollecting that which is free of breathing, which is always before the in-and-out breath. By recollecting it, one begins to spiritually separate from the body and is able to distinguish the body from that which is not the body.
Identifying with what is not your mortal body energizes and leads your body and thus not follow it anymore as to be its slave. As a result, one’s body tries to comport itself with mind and shape up, and one begins to eat less, sleep less, and care less about dying.
The “moon in the water” is Zenmar’s analogy to the body to show how awareness of our body, and everything we sense, arises from our true-nature, or the same, Buddha Mind. We have forgotten “the moon overhead,” which is the term Zenmar uses to describe one’s true nature.
The “gotra” is the archetype of the Buddha, a “germ” or “seed” of knowing that has become an object of itself. Over time, the gotra turns into Bodhicitta, an illumination in which the adept is awakened to Mind’s great power.
Zenmar believes Suzuki was “dead wrong” about emptiness because Suzuki thought that is it some kind of Buddhist absolute that we are to experience in some mystical way when we get rid of all of our concepts and logic.

Essay Questions

Compare and contrast Dark Zen’s approach to meditation with traditional zazen practices. How does Dark Zen view the role of the body in meditation?
Discuss Zenmar’s critique of modern Zen Buddhism. What are the key issues he raises, and how does he propose to address them?
Explore the concept of Buddha-nature in Dark Zen. How does it differ from other interpretations, and what are the practical implications of understanding it correctly?
Explain the significance of karma and rebirth in Dark Zen. How does Zenmar defend these concepts, and what role do they play in the path to enlightenment?
Analyze the Bodhicitta concept within Dark Zen Buddhism. How does the gotra relate to the development of Bodhicitta, and what are the implications for spiritual practice?

Glossary of Key Terms

Alaya: Mind’s defiled aspect, insofar as we cling to effects as being absolute. It is like a receptacle in which all possible appearances are contained and reproduced. All that we perceive as human beings rests in the Alaya.
Ante-word (hau-t’ou): The pure antecedentness of a word or mental image, before it arises in the mind.
Bodhicitta: From a mystical perspective, a superessential illumination from universal Mind, in which the adept is awakened to Mind’s great power.
Bodhisattva: A being who has generated Bodhicitta, and as a result, takes the vow to liberate all sentient beings.
Buddha-nature: The mind of the Buddha; the potential within sentient beings to attain Buddhahood.
Dark Zen: A form of Zen Buddhism that emphasizes mystical union with Buddha Mind and the transcendence of the mortal body.
Dharma heir: In Dark Zen, someone who has directly seen Mind’s pure nature and can teach others.
Emptiness: A fundamental concept in Buddhism, denoting the lack of inherent existence in phenomena; for the Buddha, emptiness is the unreal, rather than the real.
Five Aggregates (skandhas): The constituents of the physical body, including the senses and consciousness.
Gotra: The archetype of the Buddha, a “germ” or “seed” of knowing that becomes an object of itself, eventually turning into Bodhicitta.
Hua-wei (word-tail): A mental image or sound, particularly in the context of koan practice.
Koan: A paradoxical question or statement used in Zen practice to provoke insight.
Mind: In Dark Zen, the basis of all existence, synonymous with Buddha Mind.
Mystical Zen: Seeking communion with our luminous Mind, not our body.
Nirvana: A state of disembodiment.
Paramitas: The perfections or virtues (charity, discipline, patience, strength, meditation, and wisdom) that lead to the “other shore” of enlightenment.
Pi-kuan: Direct insight into the unmoving principle, a form of Buddhist vipashyanâ meditation.
Samsara: The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, driven by karma and ignorance.
Satori: An indescribable mystical awakening that transcends human thought and sensory experience.
Sentient Being: A being with spirit who has the potential to attain Buddha-nature.
Six Robbers: The six senses, which, according to Bodhidharma, must be surpassed to reach Buddha-nature.
Tathagata-garbha: The embryo of the Buddha; a Spiritual fetus which is immaculate and matures to produce a spiritual body.
Transmission: Awakening to the whereabouts of Mind itself.
Zazen: Conventional Zen is learning to sit on your rump, enduring hours of pain. It is a form of low-level self-torture.