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Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Zen and Intuitive Response
Message-ID: <501@we13.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-May-83 11:35:31 EDT
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Posted: Fri May 27 11:35:31 1983
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Date:Fri, 27-May-83 11:35:31 EDT
Organization:Western Electric - Montgomery Illinois


              Zen and Intuitive Reponse(Part 2)

       The quality of life  that  you  become  innerly  attuned  with,  the
     indefinable  force  that permeates all existence, is the tao.  The tao
     is the way of all things, ultimate  reality,  ever  present  and  ever
     manifest-but only for that part of consciousness that doesn't look for
     it. Because the tao loses its  essence,  its  flavor  and  aroma,  its
     appealing  quality  when consciousness tries to capture and make it an
     object of the rationalizing  mind.  This  is  why  Zen  decrys  terms,
     symbols, wordy definitions, and the consequent intellectual search for
     the "meaning of life" as futile attempts-like trying  to  outrun  your
     own  shadow, bite your teeth, or smell your nose: attempts distracting
     and ultimately frustrating.
       There are ways but the way is uncharted;
       There are names but not nature in words;
       Nameless indeed is the source of creation,
       But things have a mother and she has a name.

       The secret waits for the insight
       Of eyes unclouded by longing;
       Those who are bound by desire,
       See only the outward container.....
                                       Lao Tzu

       Zen calls for the primacy of intuition and instinct over reason  and
     logic  in  matters  too  tenuous  for  words  or  too  exigent for the
     intellect. The tao which  cannot  be  perceived  through  conventional
     modes  of  rational  inspection  of scientific inquiry is available to
     consciousness, but only on an intuitive level, not  as  an  object  of
     rational  thought.  In  such  a  sense  Zen  might be discribed as the
     "Radical intuitionism" of William Barret in Selected Writings  in  Zen
     Buddhism. "Radical intuitionism means that Zen holds that thinking and
     sensing live, move, and have their being within the  vital  medium  of
     intuition".  Zen wants to show that our spontaneous movement into each
     moment is basically guided by our intuitive  consciousness.   (cont'd.
     in part 3)