ZEN-JOU II


Basic understanding of ZEN-JOU

Dhyãna is an existential religious exercise, that cannot and must not be separated from trust in that which grounds and sustains life. The entire human being – body, soul, and spirit – must be released from its erroneous ways, healed of its sickness, by liberating it from the desires to possess, to be recognised, to be special, because one has knowledge. In so far as one is freed from bondage to the past, he will be freed from attachment to objects, and from anxiety and worry for the future: in the here and now we become filled with the authentic present, which is Dhyãna – Chinese Jou.

In order to enter ZEN-JOU the practitioner must risk confrontation with himself. The aim is to eliminate the obstacles which might lead us away from our true path. A clear decision to give oneself to this way is required, in order to overcome the powerlessness in which one is enwrapped. In this process, the cause of our sufferings, that is the repression, anxieties, illusions based in our inner contradictions, will appear openly in our consciousness. All of these demand awareness, recognition, endurance and surrender. In this act of handing over, one can trust that he is accepted, and enabled to reconcile with himself, with others and finally with the Author of Life. The deeper one looks within oneself, the clearer one knows that one’s being is not isolated, but it is connected with all that which is sustained by Life-Itself.


Requirements for practising ZEN-JOU
  • Acknowledgement that one’s identification with any object is an illusion.
  • Acknowledgement that our dualistic form of understanding existence is a cause of our human deficiency and an acceptance that it needs to be replaced.
  • The grip of illusions that we ‘can manufacture everything’ loses its hold, because one recognises that illusions are linked to actions that cause harm, even destroy one’s life.


In embarking on this road, motivation is not clear at the beginning, but it needs to be progressively clarified and freed from any form of self-interest. In the practice of ZEN-JOU we should not expect to receive anything, that is to say we expect nothing from oneself, but everything from the life-giving principle itself. If life is given to us we may not consider it as our possession, for it is not our own.


Structures offered by ZEN-JOU

The programme offered here is based on manifold practices, experienced in Japan, Korea and China: furthermore, there are links with NENBUTSU, the unceasing prayer practised in China and Taiwan. ZEN – JOU does not belong to a specific school, but its fruit is transmitted in each case in such a way that it meets the complexities of our humanness, that is, it seeks to open up opportunities that give us true insight. If the path of Zen is followed correctly, - the path of Zen being a spiritual path developed and practised especially in the East -, then its practitioners will experience in a positive way the unification of their split existence. Our dualistic existence can be reformed or healed if we take the spiritual path known as ZEN, maintained and practised in the East. A basic problem in practising these exercises is that trapped powers set free in the practitioner of ZEN-JOU, that means special abilities awakened, remain without integration into one’s whole being, because one is attached to the need to be special. This can strengthen the egocentricity and can lead to narcissistic actions that are more sublime than before, leaving recognition of these movements more difficult to detect both for the subject and for the observer. This fundamental problem will be given special attention during the courses.


Structure of the day
  • It includes a programme of exercises which correspond with the level of the course offered,
  • Uninterrupted silence,
  • Teishou – an explanation of the process,
  • Divine service,
  • Dokusan – Personal interview.


The term Sesshin means that attention is fully directed to the centre or the heart in order to concentrate the dissipated consciousness and to reunite it with the innermost being. In this process, the perceptive abilities calm down, and through that they gain freedom to find their way back to their authentic functioning.
a). The basic course in ZEN-Sesshin will introduce participants to an elementary understanding of ZEN exercises. Through a daily exercise of Zen, lasting at least six hours, the path of Zen should open itself to participants, providing opportunity for them to move into this mode of consciousness. This basic core course is also offered to those who practised Zen already, since the foundational challenges pervade the whole path of Zen.
b). ZEN Session I: A basis understanding of ZEN is presupposed at this level. Obstacles rising to consciousness as a result of a time of more intensive exercises – about eight hours a day – will be dealt with during the personal interview.
c). ZEN Session II is offered to experienced participants who engage in exercises for ten hours a day. A modified form of personal interview is offered to lay people. It is designed to expose the inner obstacles and their integration. In the Teishou, various texts composed specially for lay people will be provided, designed to open them to insight into their own goodness. All statements about ZEN are characterised – more or less – by logic other than a propositional logic. The essential logic of ZEN can only be grasped while making one’s way through the exercises. Freedom from attachments in the basic sense furthermore, is a necessary predisposition for entering into the logic disclosed by the exercises. In this manner our actions, thoughts and words will no longer remain split, but they will be integrated or united.

Fr. Gebhard Kohler    August 2008
www.zen-jou.org