Expert: Joe McSorley - 7/24/2008

Question
I have recently started to read, study, and discuss Buddhism (especially Zen)
and am truly in awe. Although I find most of what I come across to be very
true to the conditions of the mind and incredibly wise, I still have some
trouble bringing this way of thought in harmony with the Western ways of
philosophy. Until recently, I have resisted studying philosophy because I
wanted to cultivate my own beliefs through purely my own experience. Since I
have started studying Buddhism, I have realized that I already have employed
many of its principles, yet I come to some road blocks. I have always been
curious about the universe and the truths that lays beyond our daily lives.
Math and Science are my intellectual passions. I have found in some
descriptions of Buddhism that curiosity about  life and beyond is discouraged.
When I have read such aspects, I get discouraged. As a student entering into
my first year of college as a Physics major, I am optimistic about my studies
and would like to thoroughly explore many different intellectual schools of
thought, but I am very interested in Buddhism particularly, and would like an
experienced Buddhist's opinion about whether you believe that
intellectualism and Buddhism can go hand in hand. Thank you very much.  

Answer
Dear Phoebe,
 I truly believe that intellectualism is the greatest motivator of true insight into Zen.  It is not till the ego truly realizes the limits of dualistic thought that it is laid bare before us.  When we exhaust our intellectual ability we create the conditions for true awakening.  One of the sayings of the Eightfold Path of Buddhism is right thought.  I recently heard a lecture from a Buddhist monk who proclaimed ‘right thinking is no thinking’ and I could not disagree with him more.   If one uses deep intelligent inquiry into anything in life we realize there is a dilemma; that all things exist relative to one another and never exclusively or substantially on their own.  It is truly realizing this as its core that can move one towards deep existential realization in Buddhism.  Right or correct thinking leads to deep honest inquiry and that is critical in awakening.  Just mindless following to me is the worst type of practice.  The Zen master Rinzai used to criticize those that walked around with empty minds as ‘shave pate shit sticks”.  I think it is true intellectual curiosity that has driven many to Zen in the first place.  Those who were dissatisfied with their life and religions are sometimes driven to extremes of deep intellectual inquiry.  When this inquiry reveals that the mechanism for this search is itself the problem then we can begin to realize just what a dilemma human consciousness presents.  
   I know of one Zen teacher who was driven by Zen not by an interest in Zen but because he was driven by trying to understand time.  With me it was the idea of eternity that drew me to Zen and not the religion.  I met a physicist years ago who was driven to Zen by the concept of  ‘nothing’; how can nothing be?   If you go to the end of the universe is there nothing beyond?  If there is space, that is not nothing, so what is pure nothingness?  This drove him to come to study Zen not in a religious way but to solve a true scientific question he had.
  In Sam Harris’ book “The End of Faith”, a book I strongly recommend, he writes about the nature of self in the seventh chapter and it’s a beautiful articulation that resonates with the Zen view of the Kyoto School.
We cannot be that which we perceive for if we perceive it, it is outside of our consciousness, therefore, we can never perceive who we are.  This is pure logic yet it clearly shows the dilemma of trying to know who we are as an individual and lays in front of us the limitations of our own minds.
  Since you are interested in philosophy I would also recommend “Zen and Western Thought” by Masao Abe.  I was fortunate to spend several years around Dr. Abe and he was one of my two teachers.
 Unfortunately you are right about some Buddhist teachers, Zen too, that take a very simplistic view of the inquiry into our nature.  I often run across Zen teachers whose ability to think critically is severely compromised when it comes to contradictions in what they teach.  I have sat through many Zen lectures that showed little insight and understanding of the philosophy behind Buddhism.  Buddhism teaches the interdependent co-origination of things, that everything is not just connected but interdependent and mutually defining, completely inseparable yet we exist seemingly separately. I heard a Zen priest at a temple explain this as “you know the coffee cup you’re drinking out of, well , do you know who made it and what there life is like?  Do you think about them and how this cup connects you to them and how their energy was in the cup when they made it in some village is China?  Well, this is the interconnectivity of things.”  If this had been my introduction to Zen I would have never continued studying it and this was the head priest of a big temple in the US.  Besides, my cup was made in Mexico. ( that’s a joke)
   Be that as it may there are still some tremendously intelligent and insightful teachers like Dr. Richard DeMartino, Dr Masao Abe, Shinichi Hisamatsu and Zenkei Nishida who take on the deep issues of Buddhist philosophy.
  One last thing; you don't need to come at Zen from the intellectual process, many seem to have a natural non-intellectual intuition into the nature of human consciousness and do come to true awakenings on that path.  
 Good luck to you in your search.
       Joe