Zen & Vajrayana - different paths to the same goal

Written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu


Although the practice of Zen ignores the cultivation of the body and focuses completely on the “spiritual aspect,” while the Vajrayana practice places equal emphasis on the cultivation of the “body” and “spirit,” the ultimate goal for these two schools is the same. In other words, the paths of Zen and Vajrayana eventually become one. Although Zen practitioners do not engage in the practice of Energy Yogas, during the process of complete translation of the egotistical consciousness into the Condition of Emptiness, and when the cessation of thoughts occurs, the energy in the entire body will naturally return to its source.

There was this one method we used in the past. There is a particular point inside the body at the third-eye charka. When one quiets down completely, the whole body’s “ching,” “chi,” and “shen” (generative, vital, and spiritual energy) becomes concentrated and return to their source at that one point. It is a very natural phenomenon, requiring no maneuvering of one’s own. Therefore, at this moment when the entire body’s “ching,” “chi,” and “shen” become concentrated at that single point, the same goal achieved by Vajrayana practitioners is arrived at by Zen practitioners. In the cultivation of the Energy Yoga (a Vajrayana practice), the practitioners first develop a full and vigorous chi to open up the central channel, then they bring all of the chi in the body to one single point. This turns out to be the same mechanism that is at work when a Zen practitioner truly enters into a state wherein the self is transcended. Although Zen does not engage in the practice of “chi, channel, and light drops,” at the moment when the egotistical mind is completely transcended, the energy in the entire body also returns to its source. This is why the two paths eventually become one.