Zen's great escape from the cage of thought, language and concepts

The goal of Zen is the actual realization of ultimate reality.  This realization called kenshō is really about our escape from the invisible cage of thought which includes language and concepts. Ultimate reality viewed from within this cage is not ultimate reality anymore than the finger pointing to the moon is the moon, itself. Kenshō is only possible if we can break out of this cage, staging a prison break so to speak.  Those who have escaped from this cage are the only ones who know what the term "ultimate reality" is pointing to.  These are the Buddhas.

For Zen Buddhism, the koan is about a prison break from the invisible cage of thought, including language and the concepts words evoke.  In Zen, the signifier includes thought, language and concepts whereas the signified is the hua-tou 話頭, what is actually prior to thought, language and concepts being the real substance of the universe. 

In the West things are a bit different.  The signifier refers to a symbol, sound, or image whereas the signified is a concept which is distinguished from the sign. This difference is significant.  It is all still within the cage earlier mentioned.  That it is still within the cage is enough to make Zen almost impossible to understand from a Western perspective.

Looking at this matter further, we can see the difference between Zen and the West in Joshu’s ‘Mu’ 無.  It begins when a monk asks Joshu, “Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?" Joshu answers, “Mu!”  Mu means no.  Both the question and Joshu’s response belong to the invisible cage.  We could say that Mu is one of the bars.  But as for the real Buddha-nature, it is beyond the cage.  It is the hua-tou which is also true reality.  It is before the arising of a single thought, word or concept.

This is where the Zen adept has to go.  The adept is not interested in a conceptual interpretation of this koan through language.  In fact, that is the problem.  The koan has no answer other than personally to see the hou-tou. 

Put another way, in order to know our Buddha-nature we have to break out of this invisible cage which is represented by Mu; which acts both like a barrier and a checkpoint 關 through which we cannot pass owing to the fact that we are attached to words and the concepts they evoke. 

And would it be true to say that Zen is always showing us the invisible bars of this cage? Yes! But it is also saying that we have to escape from this invisible cage.  We have to effect a prison break! 

 

Comments

[n. yeti]

Dave B:

What a predicament you have created for yourself, my dear friend. It is like a terrible beast is prowling toward you, already salivating over its moist and tender dinner. If you stay, the beast will surely devour you. But if you run, it will catch you in the blink of an eye.

You had best cease this idle chit chat and sort out what to do. Time is running out and no one here can help you.

[Jung]

"Your beating falls upon your own back, n yeti. Its clear a lack of conceptual thought is why he said no when he should have said yes. Or conventional conceptual thinking rather than metaphysical."

Unnecessary to assert any further conclusions on this one as my earlier assessment was just verified. Case closed.

I have had moments where I found the Zennists repetitive excursions and invested energy into the thorny and ghostly land of the spiritually lost questionable. With this I mean the Reddit crowd he often refers to, or others in his immediate surroundings.

Yet, having observed an increased mental lunacy spreading over the Internet, among some "islands" of spiritual isolation being the social networks and of course the various areas over the world, growing mega-cities, I now better understand his great effort to offer the simplest conceptual pointer towards the genuine buddha dharma with this blog and of course, over-simplified discourses on the unconditioned reality of its true splendor.

[dave b]

"David B: If someone gave you a Zen beating it would be an act of compassion."

Your beating falls upon your own back, n yeti. Its clear a lack of conceptual thought is why he said no when he should have said yes. Or conventional conceptual thinking rather than metaphysical.

[Jung]

"The reason he said "no" is he knee jerk reacted rather than stopping to think. The knee jerk reaction is of course a dog can't be or become a Buddha."

The idiots zen-idiom: When nothing I say is right, go wrong.

[n. yeti]

David B: If someone gave you a Zen beating it would be an act of compassion.