February 23, 2010
In The West, Zen Would Appear To Be The More Practiced School Of Buddhism. Why Do You Think This Might Be?
Very good question waygro!!!
The reason ZEN caught on was because in the 60′s many of the counter cultural thinkers of the day such as Alan Watts etc. popularized ZEN . ZEN is much less dogmatic and more of the essential nature of Buddhism. Dzogchen is also more along the lines of spirituality then mainstream mahayanna Buddhism.
Email me if you have any more questions here…I have been studying this stuff for years. 
Good Luck,
dharmabear
suggested reading:
Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen's Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist EthicsDuring the first half of the twentieth century, Zen Buddhist leaders contributed actively to Japanese imperialism, giving rise to what has been termed... Read More >
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Comments on In The West, Zen Would Appear To Be The More Practiced School Of Buddhism. Why Do You Think This Might Be?
I wouldn’t think that was true, but you might be correct.
I would assume because Zen Buddhism conflicts less with the values of Western philosophy compared to some other forms of Buddhism.
Materialism and sensualism are rampant in Western society, and Westerners don’t wish to give them up. Zen does not require that sacrifice but instead directs the mind to a deeper connection with things.
Absolute faith is placed in a person’s own inner being. Zen came to Japan in the 13th century five centuries after the orthodox forms of Buddhism. It appealed because of its emphasis on the uselessness of words and the insistence of action without thought.
Zen teaches the possibility of enlightenment in the here and now, unlike the tendency that have developed in other strands of Buddhism as far off goals. It teaches that enlightenment is a spontaneous event, totally independent of concepts, techniques or rituals. Zen Monks are based on doing things, learning through experience.
Esoterically regarded, Zen is not a religion but rather an indefinable, incommunicable (fukasetsu) root, free from all names, descriptions, and concepts, that can only be experienced by each individual for him- or herself. From expressed forms of this, all religions have sprung. In this sense Zen is not bound to any religion, including Buddhism. It is the primordial perfection of everything existing, designated by the most various names, experienced by all great sages, saints, and founders of religions of all cultures and times. Buddhism has referred to it as the “identity of samsara and nirvana.” From this point of view zazen is not a “method” that brings people living in ignorance (avidya) to the “goal” of liberation; rather it is the immediate expression and actualization of the perfection present in every person at every moment.
Because we’re just not taught to know what the differences are.
I think that it is because it is the most well known school over here.