Followers of our recent series on early Zen masters (and there were many, especially in the Far East), may be interested in this new session of short biographies on masters of Advaita Vedanta in southern India. Advaita has many similarities with Zen.

The series starts with Shankara, an early master who attempted a fusion of Buddhism with the spirituality of the Upanishads. He succeeded and created Advaita Vedanta, which is a powerful movement to this day, especially in southern India.

The session closes with 20th-century master, Ramana Maharshi, a much-loved saint — in its genuine sense — who spent his life on the famed Arunachala Hill at Tiruvannamalai. Not to be missed.

Start reading here.

Many apologies for yesterday’s long downtime on our main server. The hard drive chose a Sunday to give up the ghost, so it was replaced and tweaked back into life.

It had been playing up for a few weeks, so — digits crossed — it will be fit for purpose in future.

Where does the Zen come in?

A Life of Rinzai by John M Evans. In the Zen Masters Series.

For anyone following our Zen Masters’ series over on Spiritual Nirvana, the sixth and final biography is now underway :

The life of Rinzai (Lin Chi) is an interesting one. Not only did he found the famous Rinzai Zen school in Japan, but he also had a hilarious, and violent, relationship with his teacher Huang Po, who was the subject of our previous biography.

To read the life of Rinzai click here.

A Life of Huang Po by John M Evans. In the Zen Masters Series.

If you are following our Zen Masters series over on Spiritual Nirvana, you may like to know that the Life of our 5th Zen master, Huang Po, is now getting underway.

Huang Po was interesting in a number of respects. He coined the concept of “original mind”. He was also the master of Lin Chi, or Rinzai, after whom one of the major Japanese schools of Zen is named.

Method is the central principle in Zen. Moreover, no Zen master placed so great an emphasis on the method of awakening — as opposed to the practice of doctrinal forms — as did Huang Po.

You can find links to the four previous biographies in the Archive section in the sidebar.

Start reading the life of Huang Po.

A Life of Bodhidharma by John M Evans. The Zen Masters Series.

For all those readers following the Zen Masters series over on our webtitle, Spiritual Nirvana, we’re now starting the third : A Life of Bodhidharma.

Following on from the lives of Bankei and Dogen, we now go right back to the first days of Zen — then known as Ch’an in China after the tea plant which monks used to keep themselves awake during meditation. Bodhidharma is reputed to be the founder of this now venerable school of Buddhism, which down to this day has an elaborate tea ceremony.

It is said he arrived in China from South India around the time of King Arthur in the West. From his practice of sitting for hours staring at a wall, the whole Zen movement takes its cue.

Read : A Life of Bodhidharma — Part One.