Zen Buddhism on the Limits of Knowledge and the Practice of Wisdom

The article examines how Zen Buddhism conceives the relationship between intellectual knowledge and holistic wisdom, contrasting this with Western philosophy's tendency to reduce philosophy to epistemology. Drawing on Aristotle and the history of Western philosophy, it poses the question of whether modern philosophy has become narrowly focused on knowledge. It then turns to two modern Japanese philosophers of the Kyoto School, Nishida Kitarō and Nishitani Keiji, who were both Zen practitioners and scholars of Western philosophy. The article investigates how the Zen tradition, using Mahāyāna Buddhist and Daoist texts, reveals the limits of knowledge and the delimiting effects of knowing, and how Zen meditation and holistic practices cultivate wisdom to intuitively apply perspectivally delimited knowledge.

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Abstract

This article examines how the Zen Buddhist tradition has conceived of the relation between intellectual knowledge and holistic wisdom. It begins with some reflections on Aristotle and the history of Western philosophy in order to pose the metaphilosophical question of whether, in modern times, philo-sophia has become more narrowly philo-epistēmē. With this critical question in mind, and in order to approach the Zen Buddhist tradition’s very different understanding of the nature of knowledge and the pursuit of wisdom, the article turns to two modern Japanese philosophers of the Kyoto School who were Zen practitioners as well as scholars of Western philosophy, Nishida Kitarō and Nishitani Keiji. The remainder of the article is dedicated to investigating how the Zen tradition—by drawing on and developing Mahāyāna Buddhist (and also Daoist) texts, teachings, and practices—has sought to reveal not only the limits of knowledge but also the delimiting effects of acts of knowing. Moreover, it discusses how Zen meditation and other forms of holistic practice are intended to awaken and cultivate a wisdom that enables one to intuitively understand when, where, and how to employ this or that perspectivally delimited form of knowledge.