The Webster’s Dictionary definition of Zen is a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism that aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation. It says that it is a noun. Interesting, because an article I read recently gave me the idea that it was an adjective.
I received a complimentary copy of WonderTime magazine in the mail last week. I requested it because I so enjoy the Family Fun magazine and they are published by the same company. But WonderTime is not Family Fun. For more reasons that just one article, but this one particular article was about Zen. I finished the article with the impression that Zen means peace or rather peaceful, but evidentially I have been given the wrong impression.*
The author of the article had been encouraged to look at her life with more appreciation so that her life would be more Zen. All this bothered me deeply because it seemed to be working for this woman and it lead me to wonder about peace through Christ. If peace can be achieved as easily as basically willing it to yourself, what makes the peace of Jesus so different from Zen?
The Bible clearly talks about peace as a feeling…in some places. In Philippians, the peace that passes understanding can be understood as a feeling, sort of… But peace in the Bible is much more commonly understood as the opposite of war…as in war with God, that is our sin nature warring against God, putting itself up as god in defiance of Him.
What was so troubling to me was that I wanted the kind of peace the article talked about. I want to stop and enjoy my baby instead of being so caught up with what’s for dinner and is the laundry done. Clearly if I think that I can achieve this peace the article talked about on my own, I am exalting myself (or my self) above God – I understand that, but why did this woman feel she had found peace (or Zen as she called it) when I know the only way to peace is Jesus? Either she was mistaken (she did not truly understand what peace is) or what she found is short lived…or maybe it is that her peace does not surpass understanding. I could understand her peace, it isn’t easy to allow yourself to have the kind of peace she described, but it is not anything beyond understanding. If you stop and smell the roses, you will have a greater appreciation of life. Jesus’ peace is not a greater appreciate of life. There is nothing understandable about peace in adversity.
Ultimately Zen’s peace is only for the here and now. Jesus’ peace is based on the promise of Heaven and the surety of God’s sovereignty. Zen lets man be at the center, Jesus insists that He is. They are not compatible.
*Or maybe "Zen" is like the word "Organic" which has come to commonly mean something that it does not really mean at all. Organic means that something is made up of carbon, when you buy "Organic" food, they just mean pesticide free. Organic food IS organic, but then non-organic food is organic too. I don't care that much, but the distinction bothers my husband a lot!
