More Room On The Bus
Christians
as well as Buddhists
can practice Zen
just as
big fish
and small fish
are both
contentedly living
in the same ocean.
Zen is the ocean,
Zen is the air,
Zen is the mountain,
Zen is thunder and lightning,
the spring flower,
summer heat,
and winter snow;
nay more than that,
Zen is the man.
— excerpt, What Is Zen? by D. T. Suzuki p 45
2 thoughts on “More Room On The Bus”
In Taoist thought, the essence of life cannot be named. In many ways, at least to me, this makes a great deal of sense. As much as language is essential for community, the understanding of nature is more ethereal and therefore not as subject to a definable nomenclature. Once we define something it becomes imprisoned within the context of whatever language we are using at the time. As much as those who enjoy the beauty of philosophy would like to attempt to corral our raison d’etre (and I’m not suggesting we stop trying), the process is ultimately a Sisyphusian task that may require a perspective not yet available to the human mind.
I have thought about Wittgenstein’s manner of expressing your point. He said, “the things of which we cannot speak, of those we must be silent.” Language is a tool whose primary function is to bring to bear the usefulness of the intellect to the problems of survival. Humans have precious little instinct left and we rely wholly upon our reason to maintain our species. As there are limits to our knowledge, granted the boundaries have been greatly expanded lately, — there is much that remains unknown. It is that to which language can at best only allude. Perhaps like a finger pointing at the moon, to use a Buddhist metaphor. All to often we mistake the finger that is pointing, for the moon…… I think this goes far to explain how it is that we have religions, with sacred texts, a god/gods, rituals, dogma, etc.