Is Zen/Chan a Mysterium Ineffabile?
Ming Dong Gu
May 22, 2023 DOI: 10.4324/9781003395348-2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Key points | Argues that Chan enlightenment can be understood rationally and intellectually through analysis of Chan practices such as seated meditation, gong'an, and wenda. Proposes that enlightenment is an extraordinary mental state in which conscious thinking temporarily stops and the mind momentarily "erases" what has been impressed on the psyche since birth, and that this return to the prenatal mental state functions like rebooting a computer, restoring emotional and mental health. |
Abstract
Chapter 2 addresses the consensus on Chan as a specimen of Oriental mysticism. It begins with a review of the debate between Suzuki and Hu Shi over whether Chan enlightenment can be rationally understood by human intellect and reason. By examining the major methods of Chan cultivation for attaining enlightenment and accounts of testimony by Chan masters and practitioners in history, it argues that Chan enlightenment can be understood rationally and intellectually through an analysis of Chan practice in terms of the new view. By analyzing the major Chan practices including zuochan ( zazen or “seated meditation”), gong’an ( koan or “Chan paradoxes”), and wenda ( monda or “Chan dialogue”), it confirms enlightenment as an extraordinary mental state in which the human mind temporarily blocks the process of conscious thinking and brings a momentary “erasing” of what has been impressed on the psyche since birth. This chapter also answers the question of why Chan practice needs to “return” to the prenatal mental state. To use the rebooting of a computer as analogy, a return to the prenatal psyche in enlightenment is a rebooting of the mind, which restores a person to emotional and mental health.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |