Some have said that Zen is radical empiricism. This is consistent with my sense that the goal of Zen practice is to gain an absolutely clear awareness of immediate experience, as free as possible from discursive interpretation. One might argue that all experience is interpreted; perhaps a structure of interpretation is, in fact, a condition for having experience. But this does not challenge the Zen project, which aims to avoid discursive interpretation. The most immediate possible experience maybe interpreted, but then it is this most primitive interpretation that Zen seeks. This is, perhaps, what it means to recover one's original face.
Does Zen promise awareness of absolute, objective reality? If "absolute, objective reality" means "reality as it is in itself, free from human or any other interpretation," then the answer must be "no." No human being can ever gain access to such a reality. If, however, "absolute, objective reality" means "the non-discursive, structure of immediate human awareness as such," then the answer might be "yes." Perhaps such a structure is a universal feature of all human experience and is thus "objective" in an attenuated sense, forming the basis of all possible phenomena, as they appear to human beings.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Goal of Zen Buddhism
Perhaps speaking of a goal is antithetical to Zen practice. Yet no person engages in any practice, especially one requiring discipline over a long period of time, without having some kind of general goal in mind. What is this most general goal in the case of Zen Buddhism?
Zen is, most basically, a set of practices and a way of life with one, central objective, which is to abide in the immediate awareness of phenomena exactly as they appear.
Some might wish to make compassion the central objective of Zen or at least a central objective. But I suspect that universal compassion is one of those essential features of phenomena as they appear to human beings. So, one who attends to the central objective should discover compassion for his or herself as well as for all sentient beings. Even so, those who have yet to make this discovery in their own experience are encouraged to practice compassion for its beneficent effects and as one of the practices which tend to promote true awareness.
Zen is, most basically, a set of practices and a way of life with one, central objective, which is to abide in the immediate awareness of phenomena exactly as they appear.
Some might wish to make compassion the central objective of Zen or at least a central objective. But I suspect that universal compassion is one of those essential features of phenomena as they appear to human beings. So, one who attends to the central objective should discover compassion for his or herself as well as for all sentient beings. Even so, those who have yet to make this discovery in their own experience are encouraged to practice compassion for its beneficent effects and as one of the practices which tend to promote true awareness.
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