SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Today we’re introducing you to the basics of Japanese Buddhism, plus highlighting some of the Buddhist images you’ll see in Japan and help you distinguish them from Shinto ones.

Japan
(Buddhism • Buddhism made simple • enlightenment • religion • religion in Japan • shinto • Zen)

Free Zen-like mobile game about broken pots contains the wisdom of ancient Japanese philosophy

Cara Clegg
Sep 30, 2015

Do you think putting together broken bits of pottery sounds like fun? No, me neither. And I’d never imagine something that’s so tedious in real life would make a good basis for a game. However, that’s the theme behind this free Android app which draws upon an ancient Japanese philosophy and, after reading some reviews, I was convinced that I had to give it a go myself.

Internet
(Android • ceramics • culture • mobile game • video games • Zen)

Here’s how Zen meditation changed Steve Jobs’ life and sparked a design revolution

BUSINESS INSIDER
Jan 10, 2015

When Steve Jobs showed up at the San Francisco airport at the age of 19, his parents didn’t recognize him.

Jobs, a Reed College dropout, had just spent a few months in India.

He had gone to meet the region’s contemplative traditions — Hinduism, Buddhism — and the Indian sun had darkened his skin a few shades.

The trip changed him in less obvious ways, too.

Although you couldn’t predict it then, his travels would end up changing the business world.

Japan, USA
(Apple • meditation • Steve Jobs • Zen)

Zen cat proves the ultimate high comes from music【Video】

Scott R Dixon
May 27, 2014

Between spending all day basking in the sun and playing in boxes, there’s no doubt that the life of a cat is pretty great. And a Japanese musician has reinforced this with a recent video he uploaded of his cat achieving what looks like feline nirvana. The owner, a Tokyo-based music teacher, seems to put his cat in a trance by playing the instrument on top of the cat. Click below to view the video of the cat who could serve as an anti-drug PSA, teaching the world that the best way to get high is through music.

Japan
(cat • cute • funny • guitar • relaxation • video • Zen)

Mercedes Benz measures the brains activity of Zen monks to evaluate their new car【Video】

Casey Baseel
Nov 15, 2013

Given Mercedes Benz’s reputation for luxury, it’s tempting to dismiss the automaker’s cars as being strictly for trust fund sorority girls or high-flying lawyers who just made partner.

Mercedes does have quite a bit of performance cred too, though, particularly for its extra-sporty cars that bear the mark of AMG, the company’s in-house tuning and motorsports division. But while you can find plenty of driving enthusiasts who get excited by the cars coming out of Stuttgart, in a new video Mercedes tries to stir the hearts of a new demographic: Zen monks.

Japan
(cars • religion • science • tradition • Zen)

How to Organize Zen? Japanese Buddhists’ Adapt to Western Views of Their Religion

Master Blaster
Oct 17, 2012

What do you think of when you hear the word Zen? For most people, “organized religion” probably isn’t a phrase that pops up immediately. This can be a bit of a predicament for Zen Buddhist missionaries working in places like Europe and North America.

The word, which comes from a Japanese translation of the Chinese word chán, literally means meditation, and has developed a romantic sense of being purely in the moment and devoid of all thought. This concept has been focused on by various artists in Western culture like Jack Kerouac, with a diminished emphasis on the less sexy doctrines and worshiping of Buddha that are very much a part of the whole religion.

This image dichotomy is something that the Headquarters of Missionary Work for the Soto School of Buddhism in Europe has to deal with all the time.

Excite News Japan recently went to interview them on the state of modern Soto Zen Buddhism abroad. Check our rundown of their findings below!