Zen Language in Our Time: The Case of Pojo Chinul's Huatou Meditation
Philosophy East and West 2005 DOI: 10.1353/pew.2004.0047 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that Zen's use of language, as exemplified in Chinul's huatou meditation, can be understood through parallels with Merleau-Ponty's visibility, Kristeva's semiotic, and Kierkegaard's anxiety, providing a paradigm for the Zen Buddhist vision. |
Abstract
Zen philosophy of language is discussed by exploring the concepts of live anddeadwords,involvement with meaningand involvement with words, and the three mysterious gates as they are employed in Pojo Chinul's huatou meditation. A comparison is made betweenthe Zenuse of language and Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of visibility, Julia Kristeva's idea of the semiotic and the symbolic, and Kierkegaard's concept of anxiety, in an attempt to provide a paradigm to understand the Zen Buddhist vision.