I can only make sense of ZEND by assuming that Araucaria is referring to the Zend (Avesta), which is (loosely and I think erroneously) the Parsee 'bible'; 'lasts' is a reference to 'z' and 'end'; and then we have Zen + d, already explained. So I guess it's an attempt at a single definition with a double wordplay, or something like that.
Araucaria's offering was good fun as ever, but once or twice on this occasion his 'libertarian' style came close to taking liberties, I thought.