From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Sun 24 Nov 2002 - 20:54:36 GMT
Zen Buddhism and Existential Phenomenology: The Dancer and
the
Dance
by Joe Dees
There can be little disagreement that existential
phenomenology and Zen Buddhism have been within the past
three-
quarter century two of the greatest infuences upon the
developmental
trends of contemporary thought. The "way" of Zen and of EP
(these
abbreviations shall hereafter be used), and in some cases of both,
arereadily apparent within the works of many of the recent
seminal
thinkers in art, whilosophy, religious studies, sociology,
psychology,
poetry and prose literature.
We are here concerned with delineating congruities within
these two influences which may perhaps form the grounds of their
common popularity; we shall listen to their respective songs and
strive
to hear the mutual harmonies with which they have so effectively
resonated within our times, ourselves, our (progressively
blending)
societies, and our shared world. We shall consider them in
relation to
time, self, society, world, perception, language and metaphysics.
First,
however, we wish to show some historical and general similarities
between them.
Zen and EP are both syntheses of two formerly independent
philosophical trends. The two trends synthecized within Zen are
Taoism and Buddhism; the two synthecized within EP are, of
course,
phenomenology and existentialism. The two syntheses share an
aversion to closed systems; Zen's first principle is the primordial
inexpressibility of the all-encompassing, and EP refuses to be
statically
defined, although it is grounded in Being-in-the-World. Since the
first
principle of Zen is a totality (reminiscent of the Tao) in Zen, it can
be
seen that these are basically two ways of saying the same thing.
They also, according to some adherents, consider themselves
in the same terms as disciplines. D.T. Suzuki describes Zen as
"radical
empiricism"; William James, a strong influence upon Edmund
Husserl,
the founder of phenomenology, gave his method the exact same
label.
TIME
For EP, the meaning of the Being-in the-World (or Dasein) is
temporality; "it's" meaning is evolved within, stretched along, and
perdures through time. Since Dasein is primordially temporal
(within
time), Dasein self-conceives finitude. This is because eternity
would of
necessity be equivalent to the absence of time - it's correlative
opposite
absolute - because time needs to be relativistically compared with
itself
to possess a meaning. This meaning is relative to the Dasein (lived
time). This comparison may be seen as a juxtaposition of
moments, but
this is to erroneously spatialize time; time is actually continuous
in that
time and its beholders flow through and correlate each other
spatiotemporally. The present 'as such" could be a victim of
infinite
regress into infinitesimality, nut lived time is the interpenetration
of past
and future: a moving consciousness-node.
At the same time (excuse the pun), the temporality we live is "all
the time in the world" for us, for before birth and after death the
Dasein
is not in the world and thus cannot apprehend its primordial
temporality
through and by means of it. In this sense, each life is a personal
eternity. Each moment is now, each now is different from the
previous
"now" moment, yet arises from it and is connected with it via
relevance
and similarity, and all the nows are a flowing totality through
which the
Dasein *becomes* (more on that word later) rather than providing
a
static cage for inert being.
Zen poetically expresses these same themes within two
concepts; The Eternal Now (Nirvana) and the Wheel of Becoming
(Samsara). When one becomes enlightened (the experiences of
Satori
and Samadhi), Nirvana and Samsara and seen to be one and the
same.
There is no need in Zen to trivialize this understanding by lengthy
commentary; the enlightened one intuitively grasps the
phenomenal
common ground underlying the disparate conceptual exegeses of
it.
SELF/WORLD
For both EP and Zen, the self as *essence* does not exist.
Essence is in-itself, and both the existential phenomenologist and
the
Zen acolyte refuse to grant the self an existence independent of
the
world. This refusal is expressed by Jean-Paul Sartre in his famous
dictum, "Existence precedes essence", which itself may be derived
from
Martin Heidegger's exposition of Dasein as "in each case mine",
and as
lying "in its existence". Since freedom is a result of temporality
and
choice, it is the ability to change in time according to intention.
Thus
not only is essence particular (a contradiction demonstrating an
absence, since an essence is a universal), but since essences are
changeless, a human essence can only appear after further change
is
impossible (that is, after death). Therefore, the essence of Dasein
is
established only after its historicity is entirely consigned to the
past, or,
as G.W.F. Hegel says, "essence is what has been". We create our
meaning through interaction with the world; thus, only when we
are
finished living can our meaning be complete. This evolution of
human
meaning through time is known as becoming.
Hui-Neng also expressed this understanding within his Shen-
Hsiu refuting gatha, an insight that crystallized into the central
Zen
tenet Wu-Hsin, the Zen Doctrine of No-Mind. Wu-Hsin has an
important corollary, namely, Sunyata (Void or Emptiness), or No-
World.
This may be interpreted as an original lack of meaning. Neither
the
world nor the mind has meaning apart from each other; only
within their
interpenetration is Suchness (Tathata) revealed. Thius Tathata is
itself
Sunyata, for Suchness is seen to be Empty of intrinsic meaning or
essence apart from its intentional apprehension and the meaning-
giving
(Sinngebung) function of consciousness-of.
EP also sees the world (before our imposition of meaning upon
it) as brute facticity, and devoid of extrahuman meaning. The
Dasein
and the Lebenswelt (lived world) are correlatives; each is
necessary to
imbue the other with meaning, for one furnishes the Being, and
the
other furnishes the perspective relative to that Being which
constitutes
Meaning. The Dasein is still part of the world whose
meaning(s)(s)he
creates, and that thus contemplates itself in a part-beholding-the-
whole
fashion. Why fight the creation of meaning (netural to the
correlation as
it is) by polishing the nonexistent mirror of the original face?
SOCIETY
EP has never been called a quietism - in fact, it has been
criticized for being too loud. However, the idea still persists that
Zen is
a quietism, in spite of the apparent contradiction of this statement
with
the facticity of Zen's influence). The activity of Wu-Hsin is
designed to
not allow the vicious circle of contradictory concepts to
preoccupy one's
mind and interfere with the actualization of one's projects in the
world.
There is, however, an important difference. Whereas the spirit
of existentialism, the prescriptive counterpart of the descriptive
phenomenology, is basically seen as a rebellion against social
injustices, Zen's world-view is biased towards the promotion of
social
cohesion. Both stances are useful, and an accentuate-the-positive-
eliminate-the-negative synthesis suggests itself as the employment
of
complementary means to a common end (a just and peaceful
world).
WORLD
In EP intersubjectivity is the yardstick of "objectivity" (in quotes
because of the impossibility of apprehending any object from all
perspectives and because the object as an ideal independent of the
subject is a falsely dualist conception). Not to realize that the
world is
shared and that the foundations of one's own created meaning rest
firmly on the ground of the empirical world is not to understand
the
essence of meaning as a correlative (with the primordial character
of
'aboutness'). Meaning, like the freedom which makes it possible,
must
be measured against its referential field, the lived world of nature
and
society. Mitdasein (being-with) is for Martin Heidegger a lived
reality,
as is Dasein's manner of Being-in-the-World, Care.
Zen also perceives the valuelessness of solitary existence
(which is existentially inauthentic), and insists upon interaction
with
both nature and society as necessary for self-actualization. This is
a
rejection of passive self-thought. Quietism interferes apprehension
and
enlightenment; this is why Boddhisatvas reject trancendence in
favor of
engagement. Within EP, existence is a symbiotic enterprise
simply
because to express there must be others to whom one's expression
is
directed - expression od the existent self is directed towards the
other.
Within both Zen and EP, social interaction is the meaningful
choice.
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