Zen & God
Zen is an interesting concept because, among other reasons, of its foundations in Buddhism. Buddhism teaches of Nirvana and that there is no God. Does that mean to be Buddhist you must renounce God?Zen and Heaven
In order to fully experience the joy and bliss of heaven, I must act with integrity and speak with honesty. If I only do something for reward of heaven or fear of hell, then I am not truly performing a good deed. To do good, I must do something that results in good without the idea of being rewarded for my good deeds be a motivating factor. Otherwise, I am only doing good for the reward I expect to receive for it, and not because I truly want to do good.Zen Good and God
In order to truly want to and do good, I have to act good and speak good without expecting any reward for doing so. Thus, I believe Buddhism has answered this puzzle by teaching its followers to forget the idea of heaven and a God. Therefore, when a Buddhist performs good, they are doing something truly selfless, and that is the best way to attain the beauty of heaven and God.Heaven opens its gates to those who are good persons with no expectation or desire to be rewarded or recognized for that goodness. Zen is the result of walking the path provided by Buddhism (Zazen is the actual walking on the path), and with a mind free of desires and expectations, I can truly impress my virtue upon the higher powers or higher being that most definitely does exist, regardless of any claims by Buddhist literature.