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Zen – this three letter iconic word includes so many practices and philosophies, often in contradiction with one another. In its origin, it embodies an aspiration to revisit the unfettered teachings of the Dharma as bestowed by Shakyamuni who, unlike Kasyapa and (St) Paul, had no great inclination to big-time politics or to the founding of churches and parishes. Central to the teachings is the realization of the (ultimately) illusory nature the self, the cultivation of friendship, or sangha, the realization that life (ultimately) sucks, especially if one’s ambition is to grab as much as one can and/or hope to hoodwink death.
Within Zen one will find a theistic leaning – towards ‘big mind’ i.e. the identification of the self with the entire cosmos. Some would say that ‘big mind’ is a God substitute, or a shadow of God, a bit like saying “Fine, I’ll let go of the self, only if I can exchange it for a cosmic self”. This is bargain-Zen, insurance policy-Zen.
Within Zen one will also find a deconstructive approach, geared towards the experience of groundlessness or relativity or interdependence or emptiness (sunyata), a painstaking process of recognition of the non-substantiality of the self. Meister Eckhart called this ‘intimate poverty’. The Zen tradition calls it ‘grabbing an ordinary person’s nose and twisting it hard’. Or:
The thief left it behind
Moon at the window
(Ryōkan)
What this may awaken is a sense of deep perplexity when faced with the sheer vastness of the phenomenal world. After which one puts the kettle on... Yes, God is dead, but it’s not such a big deal. The shadows of God also vanished - all the assorted religious, psycho-social ideals, from enlightenment to universal solidarity – after which we can have tea with milk, one sugar please. This is not cynicism of course, but rather a form of profound scepticism.
:: continue reading on the Institute for Zen Therapy site
Manu Bazzano is part of the IZT team. You can visit his own website at: www.manubazzano.com.
moon photo by Derek Gavey
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