On Zen
I'm not an expert on Zen, and I'm skeptical of anyone who claims to be an expert on anything, including Zen. With religion, expertise is supported by little more than a circular claim of authority.
So with that caveat, let me say something about Zazen - Zen "sitting meditation," which is, to many, the very core of Zen "practice."
I am amused at all the micro-detail you can find in Zen literature about exactly how to do this. I was impressed by Osho's advice on this. It doesn't really matter how you "sit" or even that you meditate at all. Meditation develops self-awareness, which includes the insight that the self is "constructed," ephemeral or, in the thinking of some "fictitious." It is a fact that very few people observe their own thought processes. For most of us, most of the time, we are more or less unconscious following a thought that arises out of the depths of our minds. We don't usually ask of ourselves, "Why do I think that" or even "Why did I do that"?
Getting a grip on this kind of self-awareness opens up a whole new way of experiencing the world. To me, that's a benefit. To others, going through an unexamined life is just fine.
An essential work on this concept is Thinking, Fast and Slow.
So with that caveat, let me say something about Zazen - Zen "sitting meditation," which is, to many, the very core of Zen "practice."
I am amused at all the micro-detail you can find in Zen literature about exactly how to do this. I was impressed by Osho's advice on this. It doesn't really matter how you "sit" or even that you meditate at all. Meditation develops self-awareness, which includes the insight that the self is "constructed," ephemeral or, in the thinking of some "fictitious." It is a fact that very few people observe their own thought processes. For most of us, most of the time, we are more or less unconscious following a thought that arises out of the depths of our minds. We don't usually ask of ourselves, "Why do I think that" or even "Why did I do that"?
Getting a grip on this kind of self-awareness opens up a whole new way of experiencing the world. To me, that's a benefit. To others, going through an unexamined life is just fine.
An essential work on this concept is Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Kahneman's treatment is breezy and readable. He makes no attempt to tie his observations to any kind of brain science or philosophy. He just makes the point that 99% of the time, we run on automatic. Most of our decisions are made "without thinking." Thinking is slow and involves effort. We avoid it.
These insights have revolutionized Economics, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
One Kahneman is worth 100 self-styled zen gurus. He has pulled back the curtain on how the mind works. With this foundation, we can get tremendous insight into our own minds - not inconsistently with core Zen goals.
This is just one illustration of how modern science can support the Zen goal of self-examination, or even, in my case, more or less replace it. I can watch my mind work without zazen. While zen (and Taoism) shun "theory" (except their own), "theory" helps when it is based on verifiable subjective experience.
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