Another Mindset

By Mukul Sharma

The word Zen comes from the Chinese word ch’an, derived ultimately from the Sanskrit dhyana, or meditation. It’s also acombination of Taoist and Confucian thought that teaches simplicity and tranquillity: how to live in harmony with nature and with the Tao (“He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know”).

But although Zen attaches supreme importance to meditation as a means to enlightenment or satori, it’s different from the dharanaor dhyanaof yoga because it’s essentially a receptive state: an emptying of the mind rather than the focusing of it. In it, a teacher doesn’t discuss or argue with a pupil. The teaching is only acquired through intuition. Or it’s never acquired at all.

The teacher may, however, present a koan to the pupil, like, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” or “What was your face like before you were born?” These are paradoxical questions with no logical answer, and meant to subvert the dominance of the rational process by paralysing the mind to make the recipient more receptive to intuition.

A teacher may, therefore, say what may appear at first to be a totally nonsensical statement, an impossible question or even an unsolvable riddle to which there’s no reasonable resolution, but it’s used instead to baffle the intellect and still an overactive mind.

The mind then struggles to find a solution but sooner or later has to abandon the project. Realisation that the usual yes/no, subject/object, causeand-effect view of life is not the only reality, opens a person to a new dimension of possibilities that had not been considered earlier.