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!!

'The body is a bodhi tree,

the soul a shining mirror.

Polish it with study

Or dust will dull the image.'

--Siddartha Gautama (The Buddha)

»The little alien was a true zen master. When I asked him what was the sound of one hand clapping, he gave me this cassette...which doesn't fit my machine.«