ZEN
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- ZEN
- Creator
- Dow, Thomas W.
- Identifier
- From the mystic East
- Language
- English
- Source
- Panorama Volume XIII (No.7) July 1961
- Year
- 1961
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- From the Mystic East by Thomas W. Dow ^Jhtan is the Chinese word for meditation; in Japa nese, it is zen. Contrary to all appearances, college stu dents do medidate. Confucius once said, “At fifteen my mind was directed to study, and at thirty I knew where to stand.” A psychologist would agree that as children we are too ego-centered and full of vitality to be aware of life’s seriousness. But sooner or later we are forced to face life and attempt to solve its riddles. This awakening usual ly comes at some time during adolescence, when the arou sal of sexual love causes a split in the ego, making it turn outside itself. We start to seek the meaning of things. We want to know what life is, what we ourselves are, what it means to exist. In this search students beat out ever newer and more interest ing pathways. The rationalistic faith in the physical sciences which had begun during the Enligh tenment was still strong at the beginning of our century. In the preceding century Schopenhauer, Neitzsche, and Marx had made their inroads for the cause of anti-intellect ualism, but the trend was not yet dominant. It remained for the physical scientists them selves to shatter their own faith. In exploring the mic rocosm, they came upon Hei senberg’s “Principle of Un certainty.” In the world of the atom there was no inexo rable law of cause and effect. They were troubled by the mysterious Planck’s constant. In studying the real world, they distorted its workings by the very process of their ob servation. They could prove that at the same time light was both wave and particle. Einstein’s theory of relativi 56 Panorama ty destroyed the possibility of any fixed points. His fur ther postulation of a universe based on non-Euclidean geo metry destroyed even the cer titudes of traditional mathe matics. Thus many students gave up on the physical sciences and turned tow.ard the social sciences in the thirties. Freud completely destroyed the ba sis for the rationality of man. Communism and fanactically nationalistic socialism won followers by the legion. Yet again the students were disi llusioned by the genuine hor rors of World War II and by the huge gap between the real and the ideal commu nism. From France, the reaction of existentialism quickly spread throughout Europe. Moral freedom was seen to be the main concern of the indi vidual man; and the impor tance of the individual in con trast to the group was em phasized. Experience rather than analysis was subscribed to—thus many existentialists were novelists and play wrights. The failure of exist entialism sprang from its at titude of pessimism and des pair. The existentialist has an overdose of existential anxie ty, and he sees no purpose in life. All he finally achieves is a burden of sadness. Thus there have been rec e n t intellectual reactions against existentialism. The most important movement in this country has been the Beat Generation. Lacking unity and a coherent state ment of its doctrines, “beat” characterizes a certain atti tude of a limited artistic and literary circle. However, the importance of the movement may be proved to lie in its preoccupation with an exotic philosophy called Zen Buddh i s m. Previously, Eastern thought had not been totally neglected. Schopenhauer and Goethe had enjoyed the fruits of Buddhism many years ago. The Buddha was Siddhar tha Gautama of the Sahyas, the “Enlightened One.” The trend of thought he developed has been called Christianity minus a Supreme Being. Just as there have been Christian existentialists, there are exitential elements in Buddhism. The Buddha didn’t claim to be God. He didn’t involve himself in speculations about what comes after death, or what the nature of infinity is. Buddhism was a reaction against Hinduism. The Bud dha was the prince of a rich Indian state about five hun dred years before Christ. Dis satisfied with the Hindu an swers to man’s plight, he gave up wife and wealth to seek July 1961 57 an answer. Wandering about India, after many adventures, he sat down under a bodhi tree until he became enlight ened. Then he spent the rest of his life attempting to ease others along the difficult path he had trod. In many ways, his wisdom and his compas sion resemble that of Christ, f he Buddha’s approach to B life is embodied in his Four Holy Truths. The first of these is that life is suffer ing. The second is that the cause of this suffering is de sire. The third is that the cure for suffering lies in overcom ing desire. The fourth is the way in which this cure can be accomplished, the Eight fold Path. The latter consists of right knowledge, right as piration, right speech, right behavior, right livelihood, right effort, right mindful ness, and right absorption Thus we have diagnosis and treatment. After the death of the Buddha at an advanced age, his movement gradually changed and split into two main bodies, Theravada and Mahayana. Mahayana spread from India into China, where it was influenced by Taoism, and thence to Japan. During the course of these centuries, Zen became a distinct school of Mahayana. Much of the character of Zen is due to the fact that it became institu tionalized in the form of a school of monks or masters, and students or apprentices. The koan, which is essential ly a paradox, was the method used in teaching. The theory was that by transcending lo gic, the student would be ele vated to a higher plane on which he could more easily reach enlightenment. The student had to master the ko ans individually by medita tion. The master provided only problems and whippings. Enlightenment was to be ar rived at through direct intui tion. However, this enlighten ment transcends all means of expression; therefore it is foolish to attempt to describe it. Zen is actually a form of Eastern mysticism. Once the practitioner of Zen has at tained enlightenment, he sees life in a new perspective. He transcends time and eternity, truth and falsity, good and evil. In short, he sees all life as one. ¥ ¥ ¥ 58 Panorama
- pages
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