How is Honmon Butsuryu Shu different from Zen Buddhism?

 Zen Buddhism has different schools so there is a different emphasis within each of these schools. Most people in the West have a basic idea about Zen as we have had some exposure to it over the last last 100 hundred years. 

Zen has some really great stuff, I respect the positive influence Zen has had in Japanese culture and Chinese culture before the Cultural Revolution. The influence in Japan has been quite profound, in my personal opinion through years of living in Japan and discussing this with Japanese people, is that artisans/craftsmen and tradesmen have a heightened sense of achieving perfection in their chosen field. Their world renowned eye for detail and producing top quality products in contemporary times such as motor vehicles, electronics, food etc all came from practicing the art of patience and perfection cultivated over many hundreds of years. Zen had a major role to play in developing this mind set

It is difficult to describe Zen, this would be unfair of me to do so as I am not a Zen practitioner. What I do know is that it is quite different to what we practice in H.B.S. The main difference being the focus of practice being on meditation in the Zen tradition versus the focus of oral chanting in HBS. The idea of chanting a mantra can be confronting for westerners as this is something the vast majority of people have never experienced. 

In meditation the practitioner clears the mind of extraneous thoughts and if lucky has glimpses of "empty mind" which can lead to moments of enlightenment - to understand the true nature of the universe. However, even seasoned Zen monks will tell you this is extremely difficult to achieve, even for the professionals and takes time most people do not have.

Through chanting, HBS practitioners are aiming for a similar result but through a more efficient path. Through chanting our 'odaimoku' of 'Namu-myo-horeng-kyo' (homage to the Lotus Sutra) we focus our attention on our 'gohonzon' (scroll) and assertively chant. We focus our mind on the words which helps to negate other thoughts entering out mind (but of course this is still difficult to achieve). Our mental sharpness is that of being proactive and in the moment whereas the Zen practitioner can tend to fall into a passive introverted state.

The end result is that Zen and HBS are very different in their respective focus and outcome. The Zen practitioner needs to be very careful not to fall into mental despair as deep meditation can take the individual to dark places, it can also remove us too much from the real world around us if we become too insular. The philosophy of empty mind, being in the present moment and forsaking the self, could end up with exactly the opposite to the intended. An introverted inward looking person who is obsessed with the self. I am sure with a good teacher, these issues can be mitigated.

Although meditation is not practiced in HBS, there are Nichiren schools that do have small elements. Meditation can still be a powerful way of settling the mind before embarking on something - to get into the zone. But there is a real risk of it being counter productive if done for any length of time. A 3 minute meditation before chanting is fine.

Why do Westerners seem to seek out Zen schools rather than other forms of Buddhism? 

As previously mentioned, there is a familiarity aspect to this but also a selfish one. Western thought is based heavily around the notion of the SELF. Who am I? What is my place in this world? People mistakenly believe that through Zen they will somehow find themselves. In the end it becomes a self indulged egotistical pursuit. The true nature of ANY Buddhist practice including that of Zen is to not think of yourself first. This is not to decry that notion of self identity, it is just that Buddhists don't believe we are all that important. What is far more important is everything else around us, our friends, family, society. Any Buddhist practice needs to be focused on what can I DO for other people. This universe is not about us.

In conclusion, we need to forego the ego. A lot of our despair in life (suffering) simply comes about because we think far too much about ourselves. HBS is very much about the collective not the individual.