"1. Do you practice Zazen? If so, what do you believe you gain from it?"
"As the most practical method of attaining spiritual enlightenment the followers of Zen propose the practice of Dhyana, known as zazen in japanese." -suzuki
2. If you had to describe Zen Buddhism to someone in hopes of them joining it, what would you say to them?
what is the sound of one hand clapping?
"3. Can you describe Zen Buddhism’s idea of Nirvana, and how to attain it?"
"when unenlightened buddhas are sentient beings. when enlightened, in an instant sentient beings are buddhas." Hui neng
zen views enlightenment in a few different stages which i wont go into, but for the most part, it is believed you can attain enlightenment in this lifetime, this is the "sudden enlightenment" u read about.
"4. There are many different hand and body positions taken during meditation, such as shashu and gassho. Do they have any particular meaning, or are they just to keep the body moving?"
everything is done for a reason, in this case i have no idea, although i do know they arent crucial to spiritual awakening.
"5. Do you have any advice to make meditation more effective or more likely to work?"
this is the wrong way to look at it, when you meditate you could be on a bus, or in a park or eating lunch. zazen specifically can be used for many different things other then "seeing the original face" as a chan(zen) practitioner would say. if your goal is to direct the qi energy to the bai hui(crown of the head) you can do so in zazen, or if you wish to place the intent on the dan tian you can do so aswell, but such practices are more often associated with higher levels of meditation, few understand the qi energy to comment on it intelligently. either way in short, the most important aspect of making any type of meditation more important, is a master there to guide you.
6. What do you think about Zen Buddhism (if anything) is similar to Confucianism or Taoism?
everything, gong ans, zazen, sudden enlightenment, can be traced back to pali scriptures. taoism has done little to affect chan buddhisms true nature, even though the two have influenced each other over the years. chan buddhism has had a profound effect on confucianism and neo-confucianism, and somewhat vice versa depending what schools u talking about. either way suffice to say, the similarities between these religions are superficial at best, the taoists view of wu ji is similiar to the buddhist view of wu xin but the methods used in debased and traditional methods found in both religions are different. case in point in zazen taoists ultimately emphasise alot of visualisation on the qi energy, evidence of this can be found in taoist literature and other sources. buddhist focus on emptiness.
7. Do you feel that films or television have portrayed Zen incorrectly?
dunno, to much out there. never saw buddha with keanu reaves but im sure the surfer lingo could have thrown me off here or there
