Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism notable for its emphasis on practice and experiential wisdom.
Zen may also refer to:
Places
- ZEN (Palermo), short for Zona Espansione Nord, a quarter in Palermo
People
- Zen Gesner (born 1970), an American television and movie actor
- Zen Kajihara (born 1966), a Japanese theatre actor
- Zen Luzniak, a U.S. soccer defender
- Joseph Zen, SDB (born 1932), a Chinese Cardinal of the Catholic Church, the sixth Bishop of Hong Kong
- Lezley Zen (born 1974), an American pornstar hailing from Charleston, South Carolina
- Reniero Zeno (died 1268), also known as Renier Zen, the 45th Doge of Venice
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional entities
- Zen (Blake's 7), a fictional computer from the television serial Blake's 7
- Aurelio Zen, Italian police detective and title character of the book series by Michael Dibdin
- Zen the Intergalactic Ninja, a comic book character
- Zen, one of the stepsiblings of the title character in Jacqueline Wilson's novel The Suitcase Kid
Films
- Zen (2009 film), a fictional biography of Zen master Dogen
- Zen (2007 film), a drama film written and directed by Gary Davis
- Zen Noir, a 2006 surrealist Buddhist murder mystery by independent filmmaker Marc Rosenbush
Games
- Zen Bound, a puzzle game for the iPhone OS developed by Secret Exit
- Zen of Sudoku, a Sudoku-based computer game
- Zen Pinball, a 3D pinball game for the PlayStation
Music
Groups
- Zen (Chinese band), a Chinese rock band
- Zen (Dutch band), a Dutch rock band founded by Siegfried 'Siebe' de Jong and Dirk van der Ploeg
- Zen Alligators, a short-lived rhythm and blues band that arose out of the ashes of Horslips
- Zen Café, a Finnish rock band that was founded in Turku in 1992
- Zen Guerrilla, a rock band originally from Newark, Delaware and currently from San Francisco, California
- Zen Tricksters, an American Grateful Dead cover band
Albums
- Zen (DJ Krush album), the ninth album released by DJ Krush
- Zen (Zazie album)
- Zen Arcade, the third studio album from the American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released 1984
- Zen: The Music of Fred Katz, 1957 album by Fred Katz
- Zen-Nippon East Waste Tour '91, video album produced by the Japanese band The Blue Hearts
Songs
- "Zen", a 2013 song by Anitta from the album Anitta
- "Zen", a 2020 song by X Ambassadors (with Grandson and K.Flay)
Literature
(Alphabetical by author's surname, then title)
- Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness (1998), a book by James H. Austin
- Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity (1990), a collection of essays by Ray Bradbury
- Zen: The Religion of the Samurai (1991), a book by Julius Evola
- Zen in the Art of Archery (1948), a short book by Eugen Herrigel
- Zen Shorts (2005), a children's picture book by Jon J. Muth
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), a philosophical novel by Robert M. Pirsig
- Zen at War (1998), a book by Brian Daizen Victoria
Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media
- Zen (TV series), a 2011 TV drama series based on the Aurelio Zen novels by Michael Dibdin
- Zen Habits, simplicity blog with more than 130,000 subscribers
Computing, science and technology
- Zen (microarchitecture), a processor microarchitecture from AMD
- Zen (portable media player), a portable media player designed and manufactured by Creative Technology
- Zen (software), computer Go software
- Asus Zen UI, a front-end touch interface developed by ASUS with partners
- Zen Cart, an open-source online store management system
- Zen Coding, a set of plug-ins for text editors
- ZEN Vision:M, a portable media player developed by Creative Technology, launched 2005
- ZEN Vision W, a portable media player, developed by Creative Technology, released 2006
- Zerknüllt (German: zen gene), a Hox gene in the Antennapedia complex
- Yandex Zen, a personal recommendations service
Enterprises and organizations
- ZEN (department store), an defunct upmarket Thai department store chain owned by Central Group
- Zen 49, a group of German artists who came together in Munich in July 1949
- Zen Internet, an Internet service provider based in Rochdale, England
- Zen Studios (formerly Rubik Interactive), a Hungarian software development company based in Budapest
- Zen-Noh, National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations in Japan
- Zen-On Music Company Ltd, a music publishing company based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in Japan.
Transportation and vehicles
- Maruti Zen, a car sold in the Indian market by Maruti Suzuki
- ZENN, an electric vehicle
Other uses
- Chen (surname), romanized as 'Zen' in Wu Chinese
- Zen, collateral form of Zeus
- ZEN (professional wrestling), a professional wrestling stable in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
- FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, abbreviation