The Role of Zen Buddhism
in the Modern Scientific Era
Yongjeung Kim
Emeritus Professor
Dongguk University
---o0o---
1. Our Scientific Era
and its Doomsday Effect
I want to begin to write
this essay with mentioning Prof. Seonglae Park, who is the famous scholar
in the history of science. Prof. Park carefully explained in his heading
remarks of the quarterly journal, ¡°Gwahak Sasang¡±(The Thought of
Science) how the West occupied the East, and how the moral civilization of
the East has been changed by the Western mechanic civilization and
anticipated the situation of the coming 21st century world as follows:
I dare to say that human
beings would be disappeared just before 3,000 years. As dinosaurs
disappeared in the past, human beings, who reigned during a few million or
ten thousand years and ruled this world with their absolute power, would
be completely disappeared in the earth too.1)
Even though what he said
suggests a direct warning for human beings who live in this modern world,
his warning must be seriously considered due to his thoughtful
scholarship. He is very cynical about the real contribution to our
capitalistic and individualistic society. He continues to say:
The coming 21st century
will begin in a chaotic condition with the fever of capitalism and
individualism. we tend to interpret the word 'ism' as an expression of
will of human beings....However, capitalism and individualism are not
'isms' by which we, human beings, consciously remake our world. They are
nothing but the results of the thought in which we let our nature leave,
namely, the give-up of our will. In the past a thousand years, the fact
that capitalism or individualism has been survived among other thoughts
means that we gave up our attempt to improve our society with our
will.2)
Any body would agree
that the crisis of our modern world occurs because of the unlimited
enlargement of human beings' nature, the unlimited economic development,
and the accompanying the destruction of environment and the falling-down
of our natural humanity. Of course, I do not ignore the advantage that
capitalism and technology have given us. In other words, its flourishing
material growth. But, the problem is the material civilization radically
flourished, while the mental civilization is decreased. Furthermore, men
forget what nature gives us and what freedom they really have to enjoy.
Karl Jaspers once pointed
that the modern history of the West has been made with a ¡°false
enlightenment. According to him, the spirit of the modern Europe tended to
go 'either-or' direction, namely, going into a mechanic view of nature but
not a harmonious view. Hence, the modern spirit of Europe becomes falling
into insincerity. 3) Here, the 'false enlightenment' means that our
knowledge, will, and act are based on the mechanic view of nature by which
our intellect becomes insincere.
According to Jaspers'
criticism, Descartes did not see the limit of science and forgot its
practical aim. And, he attempted to construct 'universal science.'
However, his idea was dogmatic and was based on a mechanic mythology. 4)
In other words, in the beginning the spirit of Europe aimed to a kind of
balance between organic and mechanic views of nature. But, Cartesian
'universal science' overemphasized the mechanic view and a technological
knowledge and finally mechanic control of natural environment. Hence, man,
who is often symbolized as 'the son of nature' or 'the humanity of
internal nature,' is buried with the destruction of external nature.
Today the limit of
science is shown in the world here and there; that is, the destruction of
natural environment and the collapse of humanity as well as the limit of
science itself. The American science critic, John Horgan, says how the
limit of science is going on as follows.
Moreover, science itself,
as it advances, keeps imposing limits on its own power. Einstein's theory
of special relativity prohibits the transmission of matter or even
information at speeds faster than that of light; quantum mechanics
dictates that our knowledge of the micro realm will always be uncertain;
chaos theory confirms that even without quantum indeterminacy many
phenomena would be impossible to predict; Kurt Godel's incompleteness
theorem denies us the possibility of constructing a complete, consistent
mathematical description of reality. And evolutionary biology keeps
reminding us that we are animals, designed by natural selection not for
discovering deep truths of nature, but for breeding. 5)
Science itself does not
give men a complete truth but a partial truth by which men are destined to
satisfy. In his book, Horgan presents ten kinds of eschatology;
eschatology of development, philosophy, physics, cosmology, evolutionary
biology, social science, neuro science, and et cetera. For him, the
radical development of science itself shows the end of science. Quoting
Gunther Stent, Horgan argues the paradox of development and the end of
science.
If there is a limit of
science and a difficulty by which there cannot be any development of
science, science will be developed in a very speed just before meeting
such difficulty. When science is shown successful, powerful, and
effective, it means the end of science coming close. Stent said in his
book The Incoming of the Golden Age that this speedy development of
science makes us think such development and will be stopped in our life or
one or two generation.¡± 6)
The above quotation
predicts that the end of science is coming close in proportion to the
speed science develops.
Science has a
double-value, positive and negative. If science is employed in a negative
way, for example, the war using atomic bomb, the earth and our world would
be ruined. In addition, the moral consciousness of human beings would be
crashed.
In modern society, the
life of men is getting comfortable and wealthy, but they are interested in
seeking after pleasure. What is worse, they make a mistake the effect of
drug and virtual reality for the true reality. Stent cynically ended his
argument in his book that sooner or later our scientific development will
be stopped, ...and all our attempt for art and science during 1,000 years
finally will let our life seem a true result by a just impromptu
happening. 7) Although we do not much need to worry all these negative
phenomena, we still have to keep in mind these phenomena because the
negative phenomena are getting serious.
The principal problems of
our modern techno-scientific society are rooted from intellectuality,
measurement, quantification, symbolization as well as bureaucratization,
materialization, economicalization, business-making. Although the
industrial society has been developed by the above items, these items,
which come from the reason-based thoughts, are nothing but mechanic
systems which are against our true life. The systematic and mechanic power
of the modern techno-scientific society respects the dignity of humans,
while such power debilitates the value of life and is indifferent to the
dignity of our human life.
Therefore, A. N. Whitehead
earlier found that although matter itself lacks sense, value and aim, the
mechanic and materialistic view of nature comes from the classical view of
physics because it is supposed that matter is absolutely real. 8) So,
Whitehead called such materialistic view of nature as a lose of value and
aim, and attempted to change it into a holistic view of nature.
Erich Fromm, who was the
greatest of psychoanalysis, realized that the mechanic power of modern
technological civilization wrongly guided our true life into senseless
thing and finally drew our life into a material death. 9) This disease of
necrophila is made by the external power of modern environment in which
the bureaucratic, technocratic information system consists. What is worse,
school system and education are easily involved in such a negative modern
system.
Among all these difficult
conditions, the information society alienates and isolates human beings,
and finally transforms the moral men into the machines. Today we live in
the period of great change that we have not experienced. In the name of
the frontier science, the development of technology established the
invention of new materials with the super-computer and the satellite
communications. Besides, by the genetic science, we became to make a new
kind of species and a radical development of agriculture and livestock
farming, and the medical science.
But, the unlimited flood
of mas media and the computer game guide young men to be given to the
intemperance for their sexual instinct and make them the playful murder.
The problems of information society are shown in other cases: for example,
the problems of virtual reality on the dimension of cyberspace, computer
hacking, and the outflow of information and etc: all these cases make us
consider moral questions we have not experienced in the past.
Especially we cannot
properly cope with our technological crisis, because we realize that with
moral treatment, we cannot well control the technological problems of
computer. For example, because the organism of long-range gun, missile or
atomic bomb is absolutely unhuman, even any coward can kill a million
people at a moment only using buttons without a serious conscience. In
fact, in the modern automatic machine, computer chips and automatic
sensors are attached, and so we easily forget our responsibility about the
results when we operate the buttons of the machines. Then alienation from
using the machine is made. In next chapter, I will discuss such alineation
problem with the information engineering.
2. Information
Engineering and Alineation
The modern society
establishes its network system through autonomy, separation, or
cooperation. For example, each robot, which has relatively a simple tool
functioning independently and cooperating with other parts of it,
establishes a given aim.
Since 1990s, people have
been interested in the artificial life (AL) rather than the artificial
intellect (AI). That is, beyond the artificial intellect, they have
researched making a kind of artificial life. The research of AL goes a
step farther than the research of AI. Christopher Langton is the scientist
who used the word 'artificial life.' He presumed that if the ability of
'self-copy' might be defined 'life,' with a relatively simple model an
artificial life can be made. In his model of AL consists of a cellular
automaton which is a two dimensional grid. Each grid means a cell and each
time transforms into a new cell responding to the mixture of a current
condition and others. At this moment, a collection of each grid-cell is
defined as life. 10)
The alive image through a
computer graphics is also considered as a kind of artificial life because
through the graphic image, real or unreal life can be depicted in a given
space-time condition without any difficulties. The live expression through
the computer graphics has an 'elementary meaning' among the several
visualization of simulation. For example, a high quality of technology is
necessary in order to express the move of human body with the computer
graphics. If this technology can be acquired, a high quality art can be
made only by the computer graphics. Then, a real machine like an alive
animal can be an area of artificial life.
Now we meet a new era
treating a life without a real life, namely, an artificial life. At the
late 20th century, the leading technology is information by computer,
while the beginning 21st century will be laid with the science of
artificial life as the leading technology. Recently by the robot
technology, a micro-precision machine goes into the human body and then
treat the disease of human body. DNA simulation is possible even on the
computer, and by the life information technology, the reproduction of
sheep becomes possible. At the moment, agriculture and livestock farming
and medical science contributes for human welfare by the DNA simulation
and the technology of reproduction.
On the other hand,
negative phenomena of life science happens to young generation: for
example, a possibility of virtual reality which harms their personality
and make them be in a chaotic state. The confusion of virtual reality and
true reality are paradoxically made by the development of science. Another
example of the negative phenomena is a third kind of life and an
absolutely new kind of bacteria which are produced by the extravagant use
of the reproduction technology.
The more urgent problem
is the human alienation by the increase of information system. Today most
young generation spend their time playing the computer game, and so they
do not have enough time to talk with their family. In a certain sense,
computer is a machine which helps to isolate humans. Computer, as a
machine which is a phase of a given game, offers an isolate space to
people: personal computer offers a series of discontinuous scenes. All
these scenes are the thing given but not a chosen by people consciously.
In it, there is a given rule, but people operate the given scene by a
programmed rule.
By the development of the
information technology of the computer, labor is replaced by robot and
plants are robotized. According to this robotization, men's labor is
restricted and isolated by automation. Men work with a fixed order and a
given information which are already programmed by the production and sales
fields.
Although all these
programmed information originally are set up for men's welfare, they feel,
in a sense, anxious to the given machine-like ordering. A reasonable
question what nature and humans are become meaningless by such development
of science, in which humans are proved as a limited entities. The anxiety
was due to the development of warfare, which was possible by the
scientific civilization through the 1st and 2nd World wars. Human anxiety
is not due to a special object or event but a limited existence of humans
which is rooted from the power of science. Furthermore, the anxiety comes
from the increase of much freedom which is made by the progress of
industrialization and a misguided democracy.
For Kierkegard, men feel
anxious to the possibility of freedom, namely, the free choice of picking
up the fruit of good and evil, when Adam and Eve heard God's order ¡°Not
to eat that fruit.¡± 11) According to J. P. Sartre, man cannot escape from
his existence because he is a man. Hence, anxiety comes from man's
existent choice. But, nowadays people get losing the feeling of anxiety by
the progress of information society. 12) Such lose must be 'oblivion'
which is different from Heideggerian 'existence forgetfulness' or J.
Derrida's. (which was mentioned in his speech published in 1968's book The
End of Man.) Men just act according to the programmed order of
computerized database. When they perform any work depending upon computer,
they are overwhelmed by it, and finally get forgetting their existence and
losing their personality.
In fact, insects and
animals do not feel anxiety. instead, it is right if they just live
following their natural equipment or their own information system. But,
now men act by a given programmed information when they use computer and
cannot live without computers. Hence, they do not feel any more
existential anxiety and a sense of death, and finally do not need to feel
such assumed anxiety.
Men become busy with the
development of information media rather than taking a rest. They spend
most time using beeper and handphone, and invest more time watching
television, typing on the computer, sending facsimile to others. Although
the development of multimedia gives them a great advantage, such
development take their valuable time and energy.
Norbert Wiener, who
invented cybernetics, claimed that if the modern man is interested in
'know-how' by which a method of establishment is acquired and neglects
'know-what' with the question ¡°What is the value and aim of man's
life?,¡± he won't help kill themselves. 13) He also warns: ¡°The time is
too late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door. Human atoms
are knit into an organization in which they are used, not in their full
right as responsible human beings, but as cogs and levels and rods.¡±14)
In any way, in this modern
information society, men must choose from the programmed menu of computer.
If most works we have to treat are practical things in our ordinary life,
we cannot have much time the important problems, ¡°what the ideal life we
must pursuit.¡± What is worse, we cannot escape from the network system
because we spend a lots of time for making program and using the given
programmed data on the computer.
In a short word, the
modern man falls into a programmed system, like in a cage and alienates
himself. The question is how man can recover such alienation. It is
possible through the Zen meditation by which he becomes a 'true man.' The
only way to become the true man is acquired by the Zen meditation.
3. The Recognition of
the Quantum Theory
Although I have
criticized the negative side of the modern science and its culture, I also
have to point out a positive side. For the positive side, I will consider
the philosophy of the Middle Way of Buddhism and the thinking method of
quantum physics in terms of their epistemic way. It is because the quantum
theory can help for mediating religion and science, and East over West:
the quantum theory will present an absolutely different thinking method
from the traditionally existing causal determinism.
In the beginning of 20th
century, from the fact that the micro materials of electron and photon
tend to have a double qualities of particle and wave at the same time, the
quantum physicists began to understand the quality of quantum: that is,
they realized the quality of wave from that a quantum makes diffraction
and an intereference fringes. But, when they realized that a quantum
reflected an electron from the surface of metal by the photoelectric
effect, they also must accept that a quantum is a particle. When they
found the double quality of particle and wave of a quantum, they had to
change their existing understanding of nature.
As you see, in the
beginning of 20th century two radical development of the relativity theory
and the quantum mechanics changed the traditional views of matter and
world. Since the quantum mechanics has been born, the opposed theories of
particle and wave are modified into a unified theory for a quantified
particle and wave. That is, the quality of particle and wave for light is
not a separate character, rather shows a double character of an identical
substance: in other words, the double character is considered as a
'wavecle.' Matter consists of the continuum of particles which oppose and
mediate each other, and matter finally reveals a complementary property of
micro material. Supposing the existence of a photon, the wave of light is
accompanied with a particle which holds a quantum units of energy, and
then matter and energy become to have a double character of wave and
particle. It is by the complementary function of the double character that
a new understanding of physics is made. In a macro way, both matter and
light consist of a continuous wave, while in a micro way they also consist
of a discontinuity of particles. N. Bohr's theory of complementation is
the result that men attempted to understand the double character of wave
and particle without any difficulty.
By this double character
of wave and particle, it is possible that an uncertain element lies in the
micro world of the photon, electron, and atom. In 1927, Heisenberg
measured this uncertainty in which he tried to measure the position and
speed of the quantum particle at the same time. We want to get an exact
measurement of the position of an electron, while we cannot get any
knowledge about the momentum of the electron. In the other hands, if we
can measure the momentum of the electron, we cannot do its position. This
paradox happens because if an electron is fixed in a certain position, the
process of 'fixing the electron' makes an effect for the momentum of the
electron. The attempt to measure the momentum of the electron also makes
an effect for us to realize exactly the position of the electron because
the momentum shakes the position of the electron.
This paradox is due to the
original meaning of nature rather than the limit of human recognition
accompanied by technology. That position and momentum of an electron
cannot be measured at the same time shows that in a micro world a causal
determinism is meaningless. 15)
By N. Bohr and Heisenberg,
we become to know that the position and momentum of a particle cannot be
measured at the same time, because the atoms of matter and light are
resulted as the phenomena of particles in a certain experiment, and as the
phenomena of waves in the other experiment. Consider a more logical answer
why these different phenomena occur. Hans Reichenbach explains the problem
of this paradox mentioning L.V. de Broglie. While the classic physicists
had been involved in the two-valued logic for the double character of
particle and wave, de Broglie dared to think a possibility that light
could consist of a particle as well as a wave. For him, the two-valued
logic, 'either-or' logic, must be replaced by 'both-and' logic in which a
complementary theory would be made. He set up a three-valued logic which
consists of 'true (T),' 'false (F),' and 'indeterminate (I),' and then
considered a true result by an experiment of a momentum of a particle as
an indeterminacy. What a particle is in a state of indeterminacy means
that when a momentum of a particle is determined, the determinacy is
uncertain. That is, when an utterance is true, the other utterance must be
in an indeterminate state from the given condition. Furthermore, de
Broglie's 'both-and' character of particle and wave makes us interpret a
possibility that particle and wave exist at the same time. Of course, such
existence does not mean that they are real in a certain condition, rather
real only in an interpreting condition. That is, both particle and wave
are true all the time. 16)
His argument is to
divulge a limit of human recognition, and makes us imagine the thought of
the middle Way in buddhism. For N. Bohr, it is meaningless to ask what the
electron is. And, according to Paul Davies, with the development of Bohr's
idea, the Western philosophical view of the whole and part, and the macro
and micro world is radically changed.
So the quantum reality of
the microworld is inextricably entangled with the organization of the
macroworld. In other words, the part has no meaning except in relation to
the whole. Thus holistic character of quantum physics has found
considerable favour among follows of Eastern mysticism, the philosophy
embodied in such oriental religions as hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
Indeed, in the early days of quantum theory many physicists, including
Schrodinger, were quick to draw parallels between the quantum concept of
part and whole, and the traditional oriental concept of the unity and
harmony of nature.¡±17)
With the paradox of
Schrodinger's cat which is understood by Paul Davies and J. Brown, I will
show a similarity of quantum mechanics and Zen Buddhism. 18)
A cat is penned up in a
steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device. Suppose that
the probability of radioactive substance half in a given period. If the
radioactive substance flows out, the counter tube discharges, and moving a
hammer by an attached cord shatters the flask which holds hydrocyanic
acid. Then, the hydrocyanic acid comes out and the dies.
According to the quantum
theory, matter consists of a double-laid state in which radioactivity can
flow out or not. Then, we can suppose that the probability of life and
death of the cat is half. The probability of alive and dead state is half
if we express the cat in terms of the quantum mechanics. How to understand
this strange state is expressed by the paradox of Schrodinger's cat.
In our common sense, the
cat should be dead or alive. There is no choice between alive and dead.
Because each probability of alive and dead state of the cat is half, we
cannot say that the cat is alive and dead. If we, however, observe these
states, one of the states occurs in a real condition. If we suppose that
the cat is alive, and open the steel chamber, the cat is found alive,
while if we suppose that the cat is dead and open the chamber, the cat is
dead. That is, according to our chosen will, the cat is alive or dead.
Technically saying, we can say that a wave function is broken and each
state has its own value.
Although all these
results happen in a micro state of an electron, when we understand nature,
these results have a significant meaning in which our subjective
recognition works. This curious relationship between particle and us is
found as the spin state of particle.
The particle of neutrino
and electron have a kind of internal rotation, namely, a spin (of course,
all elementary particles have a spin). If we make an experiment apparatus
to find the direction of spin and choose a certain direction for a
co-ordinates, we discover that the spin is pointing a field-direction.
That is, the spin of the particle is always pointing the direction we
choose. A particle always points a direction as we want to point. In the
micro world of the elementary particles, our subjective element is
mediated. This state is very similar with the cases of 'a smile with the
flower shown' and 'an immediate communication from mind to mind' in
Buddhism in which people can intuitively feel a co-understanding without
any word. In the case of the quantum mechanics, particles of electron work
like human beings pretending to communicate by the mind. Of course, we do
not know why this happens.
Davies and Brown argues
that the significant role of observation in the quantum mechanics lies in
dealing with the relationship between matter and mind. That the wave
function suddenly changes when we observe the quantum shows the idea that
mind is over matter. This idea is similar with the Buddhist idea 'Buddha
nature all over the world': the physical state affects the spiritual state
and vice versa.
P. Neumann uttered that
anything cannot 'break' the wave function. The wave function, however, is
broken when man's consciousness is involved. In other words, when a result
of measurement enters into man's consciousness, the complex pyramid
organization of quantum is easily shown as a distinct reality.
For Eugene Wigner, mind
plays an important role in which mind determines the nature of measurement
and makes happen an irreversible change of the quantum state of matter.
As Davies and Brown says,
the relationship of mind and matter in the quantum physics is very similar
with the thinking method of Eastern religion in many ways. In Zen
Buddhism, there are some important arguments: 'language beyond language'
and 'a secret beyond canon.' A true reality is understood only by mind
from mind and the canonical truth is understood just by our
self-reflection but not by the Buddhist canons themselves. All external
things and events are only the mirror-like thing of our original nature
and all canonical principle are just the musical echoes of our true
nature. Therefore, we should not identify our original nature with such a
mirror-like thing or echoes. We can identify ourselves only if we directly
observe our original nature.
The reality of Zen
Buddhism is well understood by the relationship between Buddha and
K??yapa. 19) K??yapa is known as the founder of the Indian meditation.
Originally 'dayana' meant a concentrated meditation. On the other hand,
the Chinese meditation meant the sudden enlightenment. Hence, the real
nature of meditation means the revelation of self and self-proof.
According to D. T.
Suzuki, the Zen meditation presents a method in which we go into an object
itself and realize the object as it is. To know what a flower is a means
for us to become the flower, blossoming with the flower and getting wet
with rain and being exposed to the sun. Hence, the flower wants to talk
with us and at the same time I share, with the flower, joy and suffer. Now
I can understand the phase of the flower, namely, its life. Not only I
know the mystery of the universe with enlightenment but also I know the
mystery of itself. 20) At this moment, universe and I are unified: in this
unity universe becomes me and vice versa.
Here, the Zen meditation
and the quantum mechanics meet each other. That is, the quantum mechanics
cannot be explained by the two-value thinking as the Zen meditation cannot
do. Although in a sense the quantum mechanics is a new way of recognition,
it indirectly is to show as what the Zen meditation is. In next chapter, I
will explain the Buddhist thought of the Middle Way with 'language beyond
language' of the Zen meditation. When we understand that thought, we also
can find the logical ground of the intuitive world of the Zen meditation
in which life and death are unified as one.
4. The Epistemology of
the Middle Way
Nagarjuna unfolded his
philosophy of the Middle Way by paramartha-satya and lokasamvrti-satya:
Nirodha-?ryasatya belongs to the param?rtha-satya and suffering,
attachment, and way belong to lokasamvrti-satya: that is, the
paramartha-satya means a state of salvation, while lokasamvrti-satya means
its previous state or a means of the paramartha-satya. Therefore,
Nagarjuna said that paramartha-satya cannot be required without
lokasamvrti-satya, and without such paramartha-satya, we cannot get
nirvana. 21) The point we have to keep in mind here is that
paramartha-satya is divided into both an expressible absolute and an
unexpressible absolute, and that lokasamvrti-satya must be considered
reasonable as well as non-reasonable.
Param?rtha-satya of an
unexpressible absolute is the true suchness beyond language' as a truth,
while param?rtha-satya of an expressible absolute is the 'true suchness
depended upon language.' The latter belongs to the lokasamvrti-satya
because 'satya' depending upon language cannot be an experience of
salvation. The Hegelian dialectics proceeds in a reasonable way depending
on language. So, such dialectics cannot deal with 'the transformation of
reasonableness into un-reasonableness.' Nagarjuna's 'dialectics of
negation' does not accept reasonable thinking. To negate reason, we have
to be reasonable which is a self-negation of reason. Through a reasonable
thinking we discover a paradox and throw it away. The self-negation of
reason is performed by the paramartha-satya which is expressible by
language; that is, negating language by language. Hence, T.R.V. Murti
calls this form of logic as 'reductio as absuridum.'22) Although the
expressible stage might be reasonable, this stage is still unreasonable
because it has a paradox in which a reason has to be explained by reason.
So, we must reveal the unreasonableness and then we can transcend from the
limit of language and get nirvana.
Won-Hyo (617-686) said:
¡°To cut all kinds of problems of the world with wisdom is a secular law
but not a principal law. It is because in the emptiness there is no dying
thing and no making thing die, and so everything is empty and is in a
state of nirvana.23) In other words, for him there is no division between
truth and falsity, which are not different. His idea is analogous to the
idea that 'stopping observation' is two wings of birds and two wheels of
carriage.
Although Won-hyo
criticizes some parts of the thought of the Middle Way, his original idea
of truth and falsity is same with Nagarguna's. Truth and falsity (or
secularity) are same, in which we should not be attached to not only
falsity but also truth. We have to throw away the attachment for truth and
falsity.
Won-hyo's idea becomes
clear if we research one of 'the first dialect' which explains Sung-lang's
thought that two different values reveal the Middle Way. His dialect might
be schematized as follows.
** Two different
values reveal the Middle Way.
1.
Birth/Death..........the Middle Way for Secular Value
2.
No-Birth/Death...........the Middle Way of True Value
3. Not-birth/Death and
Not-(No-Birth/Death)............the Middle Way of Revealing Two Different
Values 24)
According to the above
schema, birth/death is set as the Middle Way of secular value. Most people
believe that there in this world birth and death really exist. Hence, the
law of birth/death is considered a secular or false value and
no-birth/death is considered as true value. Since many intellects do not
have any difficulty to understand the fact that there is no-birth/death,
in this schema birth/death and no-birth/death is set to be responded to
the secular or false value and the true value, respectively.
If we, however, consider
birth/death as a real phenomenon and no-birth/death as a real phenomenon,
our consideration is also mistaken. We need a unity for two different
values which reveal the Middle Way.
Therefore, Sung-lang
explains two different values as follows.
"Those two values are a
mysterious teaching for the Middle Way as well as a true sermon in which
our culture and language are searched. Being and non-being are discovered
by a principle. Although being and non-being are separate and cannot be
recognized as a unity, reality is found as one principle. Hence, with the
ways of truth and falsity, we can educate people to make them find a right
way.25)
Won-hyo, in his
Sipmunhwajaengnon(ä¨Ú¦ûúîµÖå) said: ¡°When people, who had attained
Buddhahood, lived, their world was peaceful. However, in the future world,
people are involved in a vain arguments and fight each other, and finally
they would not escape from their inevitable retribution, namely, karma.¡±
26) So, Won-hyo said that with the light of wisdom the world can be
equal.27) He continued to say: ¡°Like the difference of birds's marks in
the air, the example of the air accompanies with such difference. Although
the birds's marks once existed, we cannot differentiate the actual marks
of birds.¡±28) After all, enlightenment is attained by throwing away
fancies which always occur. The state without fancies is like the air.
Now we know that the
quantum mechanics and Zen meditation share with the thought of the Middle
Way in terms of recognition of the world. Although there must be more
careful understanding about this argument, I, at least, can claim that
quantum mechanics and Zen Buddhism are in the state of complementation.
5. The Contemporary
Meaning of Zen Meditation in the Era of Science
Today the scientific
civilization can be described as the civilization of machine, possession,
ambition, and competition. On the other hand, by the Zen meditation we can
acquire culture for life, non-possession, freedom from desire, and
harmony. We, however, know what the problems this techno-scientific world
have. We also find a similarity between the quantum mechanics and the
Buddhistic thought of the Middle Way. Hence, modern science tends to hold
favorable and non-favorable view with Buddhism. Then, we need a careful
insight to discriminate the right and wrong points about the effects of
modern science.
As I said before, people
are not interested in recovering their natural humanity. They are losing
their mind just being interested in using computer, television, handphone,
money and enjoying sensual pleasure and playing golf and gambling. To
escape from these bad situations, we must consider the real meaning of the
Zen meditation.
People often say that
yoga is for attaining ecstasy and Zen meditation for enlightenment. As the
Great master Seo-Ong once said, enlightenment is acquired when man becomes
free without having any discrimination against others. All critical
situation is due to our dualistic thought and unfair discrimination. The
extreme materialism, individualism, and egoism bring our world to a crisis
and aggravate conflicts and split. Zen meditation accepts all forms of
State, nationality, religion, thought, and culture. That is, Zen
meditation provides a universal ground in which all forms of societies are
harmonized.
To prove the effects of
Zen meditation, I will explain Zen meditation summarizing its five steps
(which are read in Korean as follows.)
1. Jeong Joong
Pyun.....the Pyun in the Jeong (substance behind phenomena)
2. Pyun Joong
Jeong.....the Jeong in the Pyun (phenomena transitioning to substance)
3. Jeong Joong
Lae.....coming from the Jeong (phenomena coming from substance
consciously)
4. Gyum Joong Ji....the
arriving in the Gyum (substance and phenomena coming together)
5. Gyum Joong Do.....the
settling in the Gyum (substance and phenomena harmonizing each other)
Suzuki said that "The sho
[Jeong in Korean] and hen [Pyun in Korean] constitute a duality like the
yin and yang in Chinese philosophy. Sho literally means 'right,'
'straight,' 'just,' 'level'; and hen is 'partial,' 'one-sided,'
'unbalanced,' 'lopsided.' 29) He explained the relationship between Jeong
and Pyun in English as follows.30)
1) Jeong is translated in
English as follows; ¡°the absolute, the infinite, the one, God, dark
(undifferentiation), sameness, emptiness, wisdom, and the universal. And,
Pyun is translated as follows; the relative, the finite, the many, the
world, light, difference, form and matter, love and the particular. I will
quote Suzuki's explanation for the five steps.
[Jeong Joong Pyun] means
that the one is in the many, God in the world, the infinite in the finite,
etc. When we think, the [Jeong] stand in opposition and cannot be
reconciled. But in fact the [Jeong] cannot be the [Jeong] nor can the
[Pyun] be the [Pyun] when either stands by itself. What makes the many
[Jeong] the many is because the one is in it. If the one is not there, we
cannot even talk of manyness.¡± 31)
2) ¡°[Pyun Joong Jeong]
complements (1). If the one is in the many, the many must be in the one.
The many is what makes the one possible. God is the world and the world is
in God. God and the world are separate and not identical in the sense that
God cannot exist outside the world and that the one is indistinguishable
from the other. They are one and yet each retains its individuality: God
is infinitely particularizing and the world of particulars finds itself
nestled in th bosom of God.¡± 32)
3) ¡°We now come to the
third step in the life of the Zen-man. This is the most crucial point
where the noetic quality of the preceeding two steps transforms itself
into the conative and he becomes really a living, feeling, and willing
personality. Hitherto he was the head, the intellect, in however exacting
a sense this might be understood. Now he is supplied with the trunk with
all its visceral contents and also with all the limbs, especially with
hands, the number of which may be increased even up to one thousand
(symbolizing an infinity) like those of Kwannon the Bodhisattva. And in
his inward life he feels like the infant Buddha who uttered, as soon as he
came out of his mother's body, this pronouncement: 'Heaven above, earth
below, I alone am the most honored one.'¡±33)
The [Jeong in Jeong Joong
Lae] is not used in the same sense as in [Jeong Joong Pyun] or in [Pyun
Joong Jeong]. The [Jeong] in [Jeong Joong Lae] is to be read together with
following [Joong] as [Jeong Joong], meaning 'right from the midst of
[Jeong] as [Pyun] and [Pyun] as [Joong]. Jeong Joong Lae is like the
'thunderous silence,' which is the eye of the hurricane. The eye is the
center of the hurricane and without the eye the hurricane does not occur.
The eye is what makes the hurricane possible. Eye and hurricane conjointly
constitute the totality. When the Gyum Joong Ji arrives, it jumps in the
hurricane escaping from the eye, namely, the center. Here, both Jeong and
Pyun are enfolded by the wind which comes from all over directions. Then,
man becomes the hurricane itself.
[Gyum] means 'both' and
refers to the dualism of black and white, dark and light, love and hate,
good and bad -- which is the actuality of the world in which the Zen-man
leads his life now. While [Jeong Joong Lae] still reminds us of something
in the preceding two steps, [Gyum Joong Ji] has altogether left them
behind, for it is like itself shown of its intellectual paradoxes, or
rather, it includes indiscriminately, undifferentially, or better,
totalistically, everything that is intellectual or affective or conative.
It is the world as we have it with all its 'brute facts,' as some
philosophers take them, irrevocably facing us. 34) The Zen-man finally
realizes that 'klesa' is Bodhi, and at this level experiences that
appearance which is reasonably understood, and substance is one.
Furthermore, appearance and substance cannot be separated and must be in a
complementary condition.
Let's continue to
understand Suzuki's explanation: ¡°We now come to the last step,
[GyumJoong Do]. The difference between this and the fourth is the use of
[Do] instead of [Ji]....But, according to the traditional interpretation,
[Ji] has not yet completed the act of reaching, the traveler is still on
the way to the goal, whereas [Do] indicates the completion of the act. The
Zen-man here attains his object, for he has reached the destination. He is
working just as strenuously as ever; he stays in this world among his
fellow beings. His daily activities are not changed.¡± 35)
In the fourth step,
Zen-man really wants to jump into the universe. His desire might be called
a step of meta-cosmic. On the other hand, this fifth state is the
transmeta-cosmic state, in which the Zen-man must come back to the
condition unifying both appearance and substance. Although he is described
as a hero, now he discovers a paradise in this world and becomes to
respect all trivial things. He comes to be sincere for himself and helps
others and shows a life-model for them. He hereby becomes a true-man.
Suzuki summarized all five
steps as follows: ¡°These five are divisible into two groups; noetic,
affective or conative. The first three are noetic and the last two are
affective or conative. The middle one, the third 'step,' is the transition
point at which the noetic begins to be conative and knowledge turns into
life. Here, the noetic comprehension of the Zen life becomes dynamic. 'The
word' takes flesh; the abstract idea is transformed into a living person
who feels, wills, hopes, aspires, suffers, and is capable of doing any
amount of work. In the first of the last two 'steps,' the Zen-man strives
to realize his insight to the utmost of his abilities. In the last he
reaches his destination, which is really no destination.¡±36)
The American philosopher
of religion, Thomas Merton said in his book Mystics and Zen masters that
¡°If the West continues to underestimate and neglect the spiritual
heritage of the East, it may hasten the tragedy that threatens man and his
civilizations. If the West can recognize that contact with Eastern thought
can renew our appreciation for our own cultural heritage,...then it will
be easier to defend that heritage, not only in Asia but in the West as
well.¡±
Now the time that religion
and Western science meet each other was made. I will specify such meeting
of science and religion, quoting a Korean newspaper.
¡°Recently an attempt was
to find a commonality between two different thoughts. With using
brochures, television and making workshops, this great meaningful
conference was given in Berkeley, California with the topic 'Science and
the meaning of mind.' Most scientists who participated in this conference
were Christians, Jews, and Islamics. For a long time they attempted to
solve the conflicts between religion and science. There was a common sense
in this conference in which the universe had a purpose and by its purpose
human beings would be really existed.¡±
- Munhwa Daily (number
2054) July 20 -
6. Conclusion
Since 1970s, I have been
researching comparative philosophy as well as philosophy of science to
harmonize modern science and Eastern religion and ethics. Gwahak Sasang
(Thought of Science), the quarterly journal in which I have worked as a
chief-editor, has been published to harmonize Eastern religion and
science.
In his Dharma teaching,
the Great master Seo-Ong once said that the real nature of man penetrates
his consciousness as well as unconsciousness, and does his free and easy
state, and finally enlighten himself without any limitation. Such
unlimited penetration of human nature is to attain the divine
enlightenment.
According to Seo-Ong, men
have to critically consider their given civilization which has been
affected by modern science, and consider the relationship between their
civilization and the Zen meditation. When the relationship between them is
well harmonized, men can solve the problem how their future world must be
guided. Seo-Ong presents his idea as follows to solve this problem.
In Zen Buddhism, we can
find a principle of existence in which one and many is unified, and
particulars and universals are also unified. Without particulars, 'one'
becomes meaningless, and without one, particulars are split, lacking
unification. Today men are losing such a 'universal one' because of
particularism due to the modern science, and is taking conflicts. In a
short word, our modern civilization is implicated in seeking after
particulars still losing 'one.' Men can easily be fallen into a mental
disease. To solve this problem, they have to create a new kind of
scientific civilization in which one and many are unified. Then, men can
harmoniously develop their civilization anticipating a peaceful world.37)
The significance of Zen
meditation is found when it is the basis of harmony and unification of all
over things in the world, because by the meditation people can be in an
absolute freedom. As Seo-Ong said, the absolute freedom is accomplished by
'penetrating freedom' itself. Furthermore, through the absolute freedom
all conflicts disappear and finally all antagonistic concepts of truth and
falsity, the absolute and the opposite, one and many, good and evil,
beauty and ugliness, and 'I and you' are harmonized in which 'one' belongs
to 'two' and vice versa.
Erich Jantsch, who is the
Austrian physicist and one of the founders for Rome Club, said that
¡°Buddha's thought is the best example of process philosophy, an that each
man is the mind at large and with evolution of his mind each participate
with the sacred principle and purpose.¡±38) If we can say that the real
meaning of the Zen meditation is identified with the purpose of all
universe through the Zen meditation, we can actively participate with the
dynamic state of the holy universe.
Footnotes
1) In the ¡ºGwahak
Sasang¡»Vol.25, (Seoul: Bumyangsa Press, 1998) P.24.
2) ibid., pp. 24-25
3) Karl Jaspers,
Rechenschaft und Ausblick, R. Piper & Co. Verlag (Munchen), 1951, pp.
240-241.
4) Karl Jaspers, Descartes
und die Philosophie, (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter & Co., 1966), p. 97.
5) John Horgan, The End of
Science, p.13. Also refer to gunther Stent's The Coming of the Golden Age,
(Garden City N.Y.: History Press, 1969)
6) ibid., p. 20 Also Refer
to Gunther Stent's The Paradoxes of Progress, (San Francisco: W.H.
Freeman,1978)
7) ibid., p.
8) A. N. Whitehead,
Science and the Modern World, Cambridge, 1938, pp. 61-68.
9) Erich Fromm, The Heart
of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil, 1968, p. 59
10) M. Warldrop,
Complexity, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992). Refer to chapter 6.
11) Refer to The Concept
of Anxiety of Kierkegard.
12) Refer to Sartre's
Being and Nothing.
13) Norbert Wiener, The
Human Use of Human Being, Cybernetics and Society, AVON BPPKS, 1967. p.
253.
14) Ibid., p. 254.
15) P. Brown and J.
Davies, The Ghost in the Atom, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
16) Hans Reichenbach, The
Rise of Scientific Philosophy, University of California Press, 1973, pp.
175-184.
17) Davis, Brown, op.
cit., p. 12
18) Davies, Brown, ibid.,
pp. 29-35.
19) ò¦êÅÖâ(Zhiyuelu), Vol.
1, p. 11.
Buddha once delivered a
sermon for people. Ending his sermon, Buddha picked up a flower and showed
it to people without a word. People were embarrassed with his strange act
and sat with curiosity. Only K??yapa smiled. here, Buddha said: ¡°I know
how the right truth is saved and how nirvana lies in our deep mind. The
real image pretends to have no image. The delicate way to open the truth
is to know 'the language beyond language' and 'the secret beyond canon.' I
hereby give you truth.¡±
20) Erich Fromm and D. T.
Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis, Harper & Row, 1970. p.134.
21) ØÇÙÊ˧ÚÏ,
{ÔÔåÇñýùê×âÞÖßÌ}, Ë»ÓÈÞä, pp.120-121, éÌâ§, {ñéÖå}, 8, 24, 10.
22) T.R.V. Murti, The
Central Philosophy of Buddhism, George Allen and Unwin, 1974, p.132 and
p.140.
23) Junghee Un, Won-Hyo's
Taes?ng Kisillon So(ÓÞã«ÑÃãáÖåáÂ), IIjisa Press, p.211.
24) Naeseok Kim,
'Sung-lang's Thought of Three-Principle,' in Anthology of Buddhistic
Essays for honoring Dr. Baek Seonguk, Dongguk University Press, pp. 43-67.
25) Refer to the same page
of the above book.
26) Refer to his
introduction of Sipmunhwajaengnon(ä¨Ú¦ûúîµÖå)
27) Refer to introduction
of the above book.
28) Refer to the
introduction of the above book.
29) Erich Fromm & suzuki,
op. cit., pp.60-61.
30) Ibid., p. 61.
31) Ibid., p. 61
32) Ibid., p. 61
33) Ibid., pp. 61-66
34) Ibid., p. 67-73.
35) Ibid., p. 74
36) Ibid., p. 60
37) Seo-Ong, The
Collective Essays of Dharma Teaching, Minjoksa Press, 1998, p. 196.
38) Erich Jantach, The
Self-Organizing Universe, Pergamon Press, 1980 (trans. by Dongsun Hong,
1989) pp. 422-423.
Source:
http://kr.buddhism.org/zen/koan/Yongjeong_kim.htm
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Update: 01-09-2003
