Ed. Note: This article was extracted from The Facts on Zen Buddhism
Theologically Zen Buddhism denies relevance to God and practically speaking it is atheistic. Ruth Fuller Sasaki denies relevance to God while affirming absolute relevance for “THIS”:
“Zen does not hold that there is a god apart from the universe who first created this universe and then created man to enjoy, or even master it.... Rather, Zen holds that there is no god outside the universe who has created it and created man. God—if I may borrow that word for a moment—the universe, and man are one indissoluble existence, one total whole. Only THIS—capital THIS—is. Anything and everything that appears to us as an individual entity or phenomenon, whether it be a planet or an atom, a mouse or a man, is but a temporary manifestation of THIS in form.”[1]
Zen masters may argue they are not atheists since they stress neither belief in God nor disbelief in God. “Is God dead or not? That is the most serious question of all. If you say yes or no, you lose your own Buddha-nature.”[2] Lassalle claims: “No understanding Zen master will attack the Christian’s faith in God. In most cases, the Zen master himself will not be an atheist. Nevertheless, he will forbid that his disciple think of God, that is think about God as one usually does.... A Zen master once told his Christian disciple that his idea of God might change after he was enlightened. He did not say that the Christian would or should give up his belief in God.”[3]
But Lassalle ignores the fact that this is often exactly what happens. Zen masters do attack the Christian’s faith in God because in Zen the very concept of God in Christianity is a delusion preventing enlightenment.
Dr. Lit-Sen Chang was a practitioner of Zen for 50 years before his conversion to Christ. He declares in no mistakable terms that “Zen is a very peculiar and subtle form of atheism.”[4] In fact, the practical atheism of Zen is part of its appeal. Westerners or skeptics who have felt themselves “burdened” with a Judeo-Christian concept of God have converted to Zen for just this reason, to “give up belief in God”