"Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom;
yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom;
seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
Doctrine and Covenants 88:118

"And the gatherer sought to find pleasing words, worthy writings, words of Truth."
Ecclesiastes 12:10



Saturday, May 26, 2018

Satori and the Unconscious

Suzuki's longest (and for me the hardest) section is on Zen and the Unconscious.

He spends a great deal of time on theological debates amongst late first millenium Chinese Buddhists fraught with technical terms and attempts to relate them to the psychological/spiritual experience of Satori.  He finds the unconscious mind of the late 20th century West (fraught with Jungian understandings) a useful tool for trying to describe what is admitedly undescribable. 

While not presented as a religious experience, Alexander Bennett describes a moment of Zen like concentration in a Kendo meet that may have parallels with what Suzuki is trying to explain -



"My opponent was a formidable fencer, but I was resolved to give it my all and let the result take care of itself.  Not far into the bout, I managed to score a strike to the head - a decisive hit.  I felt no particular elation, no desire or excitement after taking the lead.  I was in the zone.  Then before I knew it, I had scored a second point to his head."

Alexander Bennett
Bushido and the Art of Living


"in the zone"
"let the result take care of itself"
"no particular elation, no desire or excitement"

These terms of non-attachment Bennett calls mushin 'no-mind' - term very important to Suzuki's decription as well.

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