Sunday, December 17, 2023

Mindfulness in Zen Buddhism (Alan Watts)

Alan Watts (Audio Archives, KPFK.org); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Chasing satori is like herding oxen.
On being "Zen," California British philosopher Alan Watts (alanwatts.org) can explain, if anyone can. And it may well be that no one can. One who knows does not speak, and one who speaks does not know. That may be true, but one can point. It is like the movie My Dinner with Andre. What was Andre on about? It's a great movie, but he can only point. There's no direct saying that can communicate. That may not make sense, but it becomes clear with practice. When asking a spiritual question, one will get a mundane answer. When asking a mundane question, one will be given a spiritual answer. It's the custom, not a rule of the universe. Let there be suchness. (What is suchness?) Nice weather we're having? (Weather, what's wrong with the weather?) It is empty, void of qualities, fickle as a thought. (Huh?) You're catching on.
No, seriously, what is Zen?

Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word chan, which is China's attempt to pronounce the Pali word jhana (jhan), from the Buddhist Sanskrit dhyana (dhyan). That word means "meditation" (which originally meant meditative absorption) but Zen has come to mean what one finds through meditation, through calming and training the mind by mindfulness.

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