/lit/ - Literature

mu

>>1717434
i'm more of a traditional buddhist. i understand some of the zen koans but none of them have snapped me into a higher state of consciousness like they're supposed to. i do like their emphasis on internal enlightenment. some of the other paths rely overly much on following more enlightened people.

I am The Circle and The Circle is me.

Have you read epicurus?

Anyway some of those ideas are used in cognitive treatments called mindfullness meditation which have some efficacy

Zen is fun but not really analytical. Don't take it as a hardcore discourse as you would take Hellenic philosophy. Its very mystical.

If it comes from the 80's it probably has been tarnished by new age.
Just saying.

>>1717657
not really. not mystical at all it is the most natuuralistic philosophy, with 0 metaphysics of its own, and it is the state of natural harmony in terms of the meditative result with which successful zen is codetermined. .

Zizek:
>. . .although "Western Buddhism" presents itself as the remedy against the stressful tension of capitalist dynamics, allowing us to uncouple and retain inner peace and Gelassenheit, it actually functions as its perfect ideological supplement. One should mention here the well-known concept of "future shock" that describes how people are no longer psychologically able to cope with the dazzling rhythm of technological development and the social changes that accompany it. Things simply move too fast, and before one can accustom oneself to an invention, it has already been supplanted by a new one, so that one more and more lacks the most elementary "cognitive mapping." The recourse to Taoism or Buddhism offers a way out of this predicament that definitely works better than the desperate escape into old traditions. Instead of trying to cope with the accelerating rhythm of techno-logical progress and social changes, one should rather renounce the very endeavor to retain control over what goes on, rejecting it as the expression of the modern logic of domination. One should, instead, "let oneself go," drift along, while retaining an inner distance and indifference toward the mad dance of accelerated process, a distance based on the insight that all this social and technological upheaval is ultimately just a non-substantial proliferation of semblances that do not really concern the innermost kernel of our being. One is almost tempted to resuscitate the old infamous Marxist cliché of religion as the "opium of the people," as the imaginary supplement to terrestrial misery. The "Western Buddhist" meditative stance is arguably the most efficient way for us to fully participate in capitalist dynamics while retaining the appearance of mental sanity. If Max Weber were alive today, he would definitely write a second, supplementary, volume to his Protestant Ethic, entitled /The Taoist Ethic and the Spirit of Global Capitalism/.

I don't really know much about this, but I do enjoy listening to Alan Watts a whole lot. He's all over youtube if you want to take a look.

The best intro book has to be The way of zen by Alan Watts some may argue that he gets it wrong. But it is a steeping stone.

Does Zen shun empirical evidence? What exactly is this higher state of thought thing about? Wasn't Duncan Idaho's first ghola a Zen Buddhist (it's been quite some time since I read the Dune series)?

>>1717670
Now that looks like an interesting read. Care to post a source, kind sir?

>>1717846

YES plz.

>>1717664
I don't think Metaphysics equals Mysticism Onion. All the generic texts (I haven't read academic ones I confess) on Zen are Mystical. Sometimes they DO offer nice insights into life. But other times they are little more than fables with Morals not unline Aesop's. And that's a compliment.

>>1717919
A stronger argument is that it is inherently tied to Buddhism and thus Mystical.

>>1717434
Read The Dharma Bums. It's not the most thought provoking piece of literature about Zen Buddhism, but it certainly relates to your point about it being present in popular culture.

>>1717919
no those are bad taoist writers. read some smullyan or something, he's okay but not godly like me.

>>1718081
>not godly like me

Hmm. Are you godly Onion? Do you write? My 4chan mail ID is in the field. I don't care about spam. So send me something to read.

>>1718089
i want one too!

onion you'll sign my copy of your book first, right?

right?

>>1718089
i write only love letters right now. when i am out of the present stupor i'll write soem philosophy

>>1718096
thats stupid

are you a les?

>>1718096
Love letters is OK. As long as they are addressed to males (if you don't think your privacy is important).

>>1718096
oh and why do you use the mercury symbol?

wouldn't you rather use the venus symbol?

>>1718103
mercury is the symbol of philosophy, fluid connection between levels mediated by clarity. i am mercury when i want to survey. when i am a mother or teacher i'll be venus. i don't know how to be mars yet and hopefully never will. earth is difficult since there are lots of people there.

>>1718114

>>1717846
>>1717881
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/2/western.php

>>1718122
truman you can sit in the corner.

im a buddhist yes.... i suggest you broaden your view and not just stick to zen, it is only a single school. I draw my knowledge from everything i can from zen to even entirely different religions(?) like hindusim or even christianity. But at heart im a buddhist.

>>1718129

Excellent.

>>1718153
Well I mostly draw my knowledge (if you can call it that) from science and philosophy, but certain things I've read and liked have been compared specifically with Zen as similar. I wouldn't have any problem looking into other forms of Buddhism later on, although from what I've heard Zen is the most... grounded in reality form, while the others can sometimes creep into religious territory. I don't know this, it's just what I've heard, but that's not something I'm terribly interested in. (I've read from a few religious texts and didn't find anything worth keeping that wasn't available in some other form elsewhere)

Theravada is the way to go motha fuckas!