AboutJoe McSorley Expertise I can answer questions dealing with Taoist philosophy and Zen and not the historicity and religion of Buddhism and its different schools. I studied under Dr. Richard DeMartino and Masao Abe of the Kyoto School of Zen.
Question Good evening sir, I want to learn zen. Is it a meditation, or a kind of practice, pls enlighten me. I am a staunch believer of the Supreme consciousness. Kindly guide me.
Rgds.
Answer Dear Suneeta Prakash,
To even attempt to say what Zen is becomes a problem in itself. In today’s world it has come to mean many things some of which I would not call Zen. It has become a system of meditation practice, koan tests and other things which have become their own system of status and merit so far removed from the Zen of the old masters. So, even at the most mundane level, when you want to study something called Zen there are different parties offering different things. Neither I nor anyone else can enlighten you, it is your task and yours alone.
I would highly suggest your read D.T. Suzuki’s “What is Zen” to start with for he gives a fairly clear understanding of it. Unfortunately today the practice and rituals of “Zen” has become what Zen is for most people. There is no lack of Zen masters on web but what they have mastered I do not know.
From the Zen standpoint our minds do not see reality, we do not see things as they are but only in self-reflection or dualistic distinction. It is a picture or reflection of reality but not reality. Our minds have to separate in order to know something. To even know that we are we have to separate from that which we are not so the sense of self cannot exist without an inherent separation, a subject/object duality where we are the subject separated from the objects around us. We are because of what we know we are not yet we do not know who it is that stands in contradistinction to these other things. We know that we are but not who we are. We are a subject that perceives itself as an object and thus is alienated from itself. The problem is that the very act of perception creates this problem; we cannot be what we perceive because perception can only happen in a dualistic state. We know that we are, that we are alive but we don’t really know who is that is living. It’s like seeing your shadow and wondering who is casting it. If you step back you only move away from it, if you move forward it moves forward so how do you see who is casting it? The normal human mind, or ego consciousness, can only know things by this act of separation. In doing this we only know things from our own separated perspective but never really know anything as it is to itself.
The plight of our dualistic mind in described by Dr. Richard DeMartino in “The Human Situation and Zen Buddhism”:
“The ego, requiring an object to be a subject, can never attain complete fulfillment in or through any object. Such fulfillment, while authentic, is still limited, temporary, and tarnished. Despite the true richness of its creative subjectivity, the actual abundance of the contents of its life, the real greatness of its accomplishments and successes, the ego as ego is left unfulfilled. Unable to sustain itself within itself, and perhaps tormented by feelings of its own undeservedness, guilt, or sin, it comes to now melancholy and despondent moments of loneliness, frustration, or despair. Inwardly plagued by restlessness, insecurity, or a contempt and even hatred of itself, outwardly it possibly manifests any number of psychological or psychosomatic disturbances. “
Our personal view is an illusion of what true reality is, this cannot be seen by our dualistic minds. When we overcome this mind, which is really the only way we know ourselves to be, we die to the personal viewpoint that we clung to so dearly and see from a new viewpoint. This is called the Great Death in Buddhism, to die to who you think you are and awaken to whom you really are. It should be the goal of real Zen practice to overcome this process of the mind so that awakening has the opportunity to happen. It is not a matter of studying sutras, chanting or meditating but to actualize and overcome the dualistic discriminating mind with whatever means possible. The intellect is used to understand this and to approach a resolution but the intellect will not take you there, it must be overcome. True, deep self -inquiry to the root of existence is Zen practice. What Zen is, is the attempt to achieve awakening through whatever means and not the rituals and traditions that have been passed down. Zen is worthless without actualization and all practice must be done with this as the sole purpose. If you choose to embark on this path it should lead you to a deep and thoroughgoing solution.
Please read D.T. Suzuki. I hope this helps you, take care,
Joe
