Developing out of Hindu traditions and building on Hindu concepts, Buddhism perpetuates the mystical strain of Hinduism. The historical Buddha himself practised Yoga for years, before abandoning it for a more moderate regime, and Buddhism can be seen as a reform movement opposing the severest excesses of traditional Hindu mysticism. Buddhism can properly be styled a purely mystical religion, since its sole purpose is to enable all its practitioners to achieve mystical transcendence in the state of nirvana, either in their present incarnation or in a future one. Buddhism has no secular clergy in the Christian sense, only monks and nuns, who strive to achieve enlightenment through spiritual exercise and right living, thus shedding the burden of karma which keeps them in the world of perpetual reincarnation.
Though all Buddhism is mystical in emphasis, some sects are notably more so than others. This condition partly arose out of traditional Buddhist emphasis on the transmission of doctrine in voluminous sutras and on elaborate metaphysics, whereas mystical experience is often felt to transcend language and rational distinctions. The Zen school of Buddhism, which firsty arose in China in the 6th century ad, partly as a result of cross-fertilization with Daoism, and later spread to Japan and other countries, concentrates on immediate realization of the voidness of things by the demolition of conceptual structures. Zen teaching thus often uses apparently meaningless riddles (koans) or even blows in order to break the mould of the recipient's mind and free them for nirvana in the present life. Esoteric Buddhism, especially Buddhist Tantra, also developed a mystical discipline in which masters lead disciples to enlightenment by rigorous physical and mental exercises, creation and contemplation of mystic designs or mandalas, and the communication of secret truths through gestures and postures known as mudras.
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"Mysticism," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008
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