Zen

The word Zen means »meditation«. (It is the Japanese word, corresponding to the Chinese Ch´an and the Hindu Dhyana.) It is the central idea of a special sect of Buddhism which flourished in China during the Sung period (between a.d. 1000 and 1300) and entered Japan in the twelfth century. Without knowing much about it, we might be certain that the Zen sect was a worthy and noble one, because it produced a quantity of highly distinguished art, specifically painting. And if we knew anything about Buddhism itself, we might say that Zen goes closer than oter sects to the heart of Buddha´s teaching: because Buddha was trying to found, not a religion with temples and rituals, but a way of life based on meditation. However, there is something eccentric about the Zen life which is hard to trace in Buddha´s teaching; there is an active energy which he did not admire, there is something like a sense of humor, which he rarely displayed. The gravity and serenity of the Indian preacher are transformed, in Zen, to the earthy liveliness of Chinese and Japanese sages. The lotus brooding calmly on the water has turned into a knotted tree covered with spring blossoms.

Worth bearing in mind that the word `Zen' comes from the same Indo-European root as the words `semantics' and `semaphore' and `semiotics'. Worth bearing in mind lest you, as an English (or German, French, Spanish, Russian...) speaker think of Zen as somehow alien or exotic or `Eastern'.

Strange that the 'mondai' (riddles) of Zen Buddhism contain references to both trees and handclapping (does a falling tree make a noise with no-one to hear it – and what sound would one hand clapping make...?) As I remember it, the Bible has the best solution to these hypothetical questions: when the Kingdom of God comes on earth, all the trees (or those that are left after Man's destructive reign) will burst out clapping and singing...And I expect you'll hear it to the ends of several universes!!

We run from rain, but not from fire. Polish the soul with study, or dust will dull the image. What is the sound of one hand clapping? Yikes. We are the only species that mistakes inanity for profundity.

That´s the trouble you see, we ent ever prepared to learn anything, we close our minds the minute anything unfamiliar appear. I could never listen to music. I used to like some on it but then I´d lose patience, I´d go to bed in the middle of a symphony, or my mind would wander ´cos the music didn´t mean anything to me so I´d go to bed or start talking.

»Sit back man,« he´d say, »listen to it. Let it happen to you and you´ll grow as big as the music itself.«

And sometimes he talk as though you didn´t know where the moon or the stars was. Is that Zen?