Second Essay

3. One of the widely read 嚙踝蕭missionaries嚙踝蕭 of Zen to the western world is a Christian (Catholic) priest. Can one be a Christian and an adherent of Zen Buddhism? Explain.

The answer would be both 嚙踝蕭yes嚙踝蕭 and 嚙踝蕭no嚙踝蕭. From the Zen Buddhist point of view, one can both be Christian and a Zen adherent; from the point of view of Christianity, there is only one God and therefore surely cannot at the same time be a n adherent of Zen Buddhism. Nevertheless, if one leaves aside Christianity of supernatural dualism and goes towards Kierkeguaard嚙踝蕭s Religiousness A as 嚙踝蕭a new basis for Christianity after the latter嚙踝蕭s reliance on 嚙踝蕭objective嚙踝蕭 truth has failed嚙踝蕭 (Ci嚙踝蕭s handouts), in this case, even from the point of view of a Christian, being Christian is compatible with being an adherent of Zen Buddhism.

The assertion that from the point of view of Christianity it cannot be a Christian and an adherent of Zen Buddhism brings us the discussion of supernatural dualism in Christianity. Supernatural dualism in Christianity refers to the assertion of an otherworldly ideal by definition unattainable in this physical world but as the only source of conferring meaning to the life in physical world. This ideal or source, in Christianity, is called God. Christian God is the only God in the world that to obey him, to seek him and to conform to the laws made by him are the only ways of happiness or meaningfulness.

From this Christian point of view, Zen Buddhism whose has another guru like Buddha betrays Christian theistic understanding. The only religiousness possible in Christianity of supernatural dualism is the worship of the God, who creates this world, makes commands and guidance as well as sets up orders. This reminds us of Spinoza: To reach the state of eternal happiness, immortality, transcendence and sacred, there is only the one-way to go: to believe in God and act out his teachings for our sinful mortals. This exclusiveness and insistence in supernatural dualism renders a marriage between Christianity and Zen Buddhism impossible because supernatural dualism is exactly what Zen Buddhism wants to get rid of; the way Zen Buddhism remains religious by doing away with supernatural dualism or insisting in conferring meaning only in other world will be further illustrated later.

As mentioned above, in the second point of view of Christianity, being Christian can be at the same time an adherent of Zen Buddhism, where Kierkeguaard嚙踝蕭s Religiousness A replaces supernatural dualism as the basis of Christianity. To adopt Kierkeguaard嚙踝蕭s Religiousness A is not to deny entirely the existence of God as facts but to remove firstly of all, the exchange elements in Christian religiousness and secondly to resolve the paradox generated by supernatural dualism, which all together deprives the meaning and values of this physical world and confers them all in the otherworldly, transcendental ideal but at the same time shuts down the access to it. Kierkeguaard, then, attempts to do away with the dimension of weakness in Christianity, which Nietzsche would say this weakness is a sense of self-hatred built into Christian beliefs, and to release the force of strength in Christianity, which is similar to Zen Buddhism in a way that it reopens the horizon of possibilities and alternatives to individuals.

Kierkeguaard, like Nietzsche, also sees the self-hatred, self-denial feature in Christian supernatural dualism. To seek the supernatural God is to kill God. The paradox goes like this:

Let us now go further, let us assume that the eternal, essential truth is itself the paradox. How does the paradox emerge? By placing the eternal, essential truth together with existing. Consequently, if we place it together in the truth itself, the truth becomes a paradox. The eternal truth has come into existence in time. That is the paradox. (Kierkeguaard, 209)

If God can be sought in this physical world by our limited ability and language, he cannot be supernatural. If he is not supernatural, he is not God. On the contrary, if God, since he is supernatural, can never be sought by mortals and therefore mortals were left eternally helpless, empty and meaningless, it is very stupid to seek God which could in neither way help. Moreover, if God can be sought somehow, the relations between God and mortals remained the character of exchange. Christians give up temporary pleasures and instant desires in order to exchange for immortality, eternality, peace and happiness from God. This is another way Christians killed God. God is related to human beings in nothing sacred and supernatural but profane and physical. Christian beliefs are like speculation in stock market. The difference maybe in stock market one can still predict a range of gain or loss; while in his relation to God, his investment can never guaranteed for he does not know anything God and God is like a wild guess to him. This paradoxical predicament, to Kierkeguaard, however, could be resolved.

Against this self-denying entrapment, Kierkeguaard offers a way out: to admit the unbridgeable gulf between the natural and the metaphysical and to live without bothering over it. In this way, he is not denying anything, even the Christian God. What he offers to us is one word, 嚙踝蕭if嚙踝蕭.

He stakes his whole life on this 嚙踝蕭if嚙踝蕭; he dares to die, and with the passion of the infinite, he has so ordered his whole life that it might be acceptable 嚙碾 if there is an immortality. Is there any better demonstration for the immortality of the soul? (Kierkeguaard, 201)

To live a life with the attitude that if there is immortality. In this way, individuals no longer have to conform to any objective standards but to live out themselves in their own ways. So be Christian is to live by their 嚙踝蕭ifs嚙踝蕭: since it is an 嚙踝蕭if嚙踝蕭, Christians can now walk their own ways to immortality. More accurately, Christians no longer walk on the same path to the same end: to seek their beings, then, is to aware and embrace their becoming. They finally enlighten that it is impossible for the becoming to be the being. This impossibility used to be held dearly by Christians, which Kierkeguaard said, 嚙踝蕭the most common expression of lunacy is just this 嚙碾 to relate oneself absolutely to the relative.嚙踝蕭(Kierkeguaard, 422) The being, as fixed and absolute as it may seem, however, is relative to one嚙踝蕭s becoming: when God is a 嚙踝蕭if嚙踝蕭, mortals can start their life by thinking in their own context, in their particular time and space. The focus is shifted from the otherworldly to this world this moment again.

This shift also seamlessly slides into the Zen Buddhist ideal. The Zen Buddhism is a reaction against orthodox Buddhist internal inconsistencies and paradox. This reaction is another manifestation of Kierkeguaard嚙踝蕭s Religiousness A as new Christian basis. It also resolves the paradox of desires. Only when the desires of getting to Nirvana are given up, the Buddha nature emerges. This is like to stop seeking God, therefore the paradoxical melancholy is resolved, and you get here what you want to find in there. Zen tells you that Nirvana is just another desire you have to give up. What are desires? Desires are something you want but you still cannot get it or get closer to it. Desires are always then and there. It is in this way Buddhism identifies desires as the source of sufferings in life. Zen then tells us not to pay attention to our own desires but just be. It makes you suffer only when you and your desires are at a distance. An unbridgeable distance like that between God and mortals. You can never get there if you keep your gaze there. In the story 嚙踝蕭Muddy Road嚙踝蕭, Ekido who felt uncomfortable when Tanzan carried a girl over the mud is the one keeping his gaze there. On the contrary, the idea of females never came across in Tanzan嚙踝蕭s mind. He just did what he did and that was all. Tanzan forgot Buddhist rules and so the Zen Buddhist nature flourished in him. Live at this moment at this place and be concentrated now and here. Then you are in Nirvana. It is like when somebody asked his master how to forget his unhappy memory, the master would tell him a story entirely irrelevant to his question. Then they might start a long conversation followed that insightful story and he was asked to talk to his master everyday. Since he was preoccupied with what the master told him, he forgot he wanted to forget something. At the end, the master knew that he forgot what he wanted to forget. He no longer mentioned his desire to forget not because he was afraid of being scolded by his master but he just forgot it. The master would not give him advice on how to forget something; instead, he would just leave it aside. This reminds us of Kierkeguaard:

Eternal happiness, as the absolute good, has remarkable quality that it can be defined only by the mode in which it is acquired嚙皺Nothing else can be said of eternal happiness than that it is the good that is attained by absolutely venturing everything. (427)

Zen is not to be sought but to be forgotten and ignored after hearing it. For some people, they have never heard of Zen but can be very good at doing Zen. From the point of view of Zen Buddhism, one can both be Christian and a Zen adherent. 嚙踝蕭Nansen said: Mind is not Buddha. Learning is not the path.嚙踝蕭 As long as one is a Christian who is not seeking metaphysical goal in it but just embeds himself intensely and overwhelmingly in being Christian, Zen would say being Christians is just one alternative to do Zen. If one leads his way of life as a Christian wholeheartedly, he can also be qualified as an adherent of Zen Buddhism. A Zen Christian would be one that lives his life every moment with his passion and in greatest earnestness.

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