Zen is short for Zen Buddhism. It is sometimes called a religion and sometimes called a philosophy.
Zen Buddhism originates in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Around 500 B.C. he was a prince in what is now India. At the age of 29, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his privileged life to seek understanding. After 6 years of struggling as an ascetic he finally achieved Enlightenment at age 35. After this he was known as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake"). In a nutshell, he realized that everything is subject to change and that suffering and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things which, by their nature, are impermanent. By ridding oneself of these attachments, including attachment to the false notion of self or "I", one can be free of suffering.
In general, Zen is different from other religious groups. Zen is not a religion in the sense that religion is generally understood. Zen has no God to worship, no ceremonial rights to observe, no "future abode" to which the dead are destined. Zen is free of all dogmatic principles that Christianity and other religions are tied to. Zen has no set doctrines which are imposed on its followers for acceptance. Zen teachings come out of one's own mind. It is addressed to the human heart. It is a living experience, a "creative impulse."
The essential practice of Zen Buddhism is zazen or 'sitting meditation'. The idea is to let go of the habitual thought processes and self-grasping that usually fill our minds and realize our true nature. The practice of zazen requires you to find a quiet place to sit and to spend some time focusing on the breath.
Zen hopes to promote such an intuitive understanding in preference to attempts being made towards an intellectual understanding - it holds that if a question is innately felt in the right way then the answer will arise, innately, in response.
Zen Buddhism does not seem so much to place emphasis on the attainment of Nirvana as a state where desires have been abandoned but seems rather to hold in view the goal of an intuitive experience of Satori Enlightenment "wisdom" that is independent of words.
Zen Buddhists therefore believe it preferable to be born into the human world and to practice Zazen with the aim of ultimately becoming Buddha.
Buddhism is essentially a religion of Enlightenment.
Zen Buddhism is a religion that can be considered a philosophy, due to the fact that the followers of Zen do not worship a god. The followers of the samurai’s religion meditate to uncover the "meaning of life." Zen has a deep past, due to the fact that it was developed from Buddhism and transformed into a mixture of Taoism, Confucianism, Indian spiritualism, and Buddhism (Ross 140). If a closed-minded person tries to understand the spiritual meaning of Zen, the most that the person will understand of Zen will be a definition. A non-Zen practitioner that is open to new ideas may be able to understand the deeper meaning of the "religion of no religion" (Ross 144). To fully understand the meaning of Zen, a Zen practitioner must meditate. There are many ways to meditate, most during which the thinker is seated. (Walter 2) To fully understand this philosophy, one must understand its definition, its roots, and strive to understand its deeper meaning.
But I still stand by the contention that, aside from occasional honorable exceptions such as yourself, every Western Buddhist I've ever known has been a physical and moral coward, a passive-aggressive weenie, and a condescending, more-spiritual-than-thou snob. I believe there may be something inherent in the religion, I mean, philosophy, that attracts people who want to appear "spiritual" without adhering to the inconvenient rules and demanding disciplines of the Western monotheist faiths.