The Magic of Zen and Nonsense Literature
Reading time: 6 minutes
In the monastic life of the Zen Buddhist monks, a certain period of time is specially reserved for practicing mental skills. This period is characterized by the absence of physical work (except for the necessities) and is known as 'The Great Sesshin'. It concerns one week every month during the so-called Summer Sojourn (April – August) and Winter Sojourn (October – February).
The master gives a lecture once a day. At the end of each lecture, the Four Great Vows are proclaimed three times by all:
“How innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them all.
How inexhaustible our evil passions are, I vow to exterminate them all.
How immeasurable the holy doctrines are, I vow to study them.
How inaccessible the path of Buddhas is, I vow to attain it.”**
** From “Essays in Zen Buddhism” by D.T. Suzuki
According to the laws of logic, the above vows are impracticable and thus rather nonsensical, but that is precisely what makes them worthy of Zen because it’s exactly logic, which is conceptual by nature, that prevents us from seeing the world as it really is. We only see the world as we want it to be, every one through his or her own glasses. According to Zen that’s the source of all conflict because the harder we believe in our own truths, the harsher we will judge and convict another who holds different view.
Zazen, the sitting meditation form of Zen Buddhists, aims, among other things, to make the practitioner better acquainted with his or her subconscious. The better we become familiar with it, the clearer our subconscious motives that underlie our thoughts, feelings and behavior become. The more familiar - and less anxious-we become with it, the more relaxed we become in our judgments, both towards others and towards ourselves. Sharp in observation and soft in judgment creates an open and curious attitude because the fear of the unknown (our subconscious) is getting smaller and smaller. We get to know ourselves better and better.
Zen thus seeks to make us look again like newborn children, for whom everything is a miracle and without distinguishing between things. Of course, we need distinction to be able to communicate with each other about anything and everything. Logic has an important function in our daily lives, but the way it currently seems all-pervasive causes great imbalance and conflict. The Zen Buddhists seek to redress this imbalance by appealing to our intuitive abilities, where there is no place for logic.
One of the mental skills of Zen is to have students answer koans. These are completely illogical stories and riddles that cannot be solved the faculty of rational thought, such as the following story:
Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: “What is the most valuable thing in the world?” The master replied: “The head of a dead cat.” “Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?” inquired the student. Sozan replied: “Because no one can name its price.”$
$ From “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” by Paul Reps
Understanding Zen texts and dialogues goes beyond the rational mind and appeals to other ways of looking and understanding. Zen penetrates directly into "what is," leaving the world of concepts far behind. It is thus able to fully accept the continuously changing nature of things and does not get caught up in wanting to hold on to what cannot be held. A good example of this is music.
If a musical note is held for too long, it becomes annoying. It is precisely the dying away of one note that gives way to the birth of a new one, and as a result, melody is created. Music doesn't point to anything but itself. The meaning of music is nothing but the music. Whatever we see or think to discover in it, it cannot be grasped and is as fleeting as life itself.
The same phenomenon is found in the so-called nonsense literature. This form of writing does not aim to point to anything other than the text itself. This is difficult for us to understand because language is designed to point at something, not to point at nothing. But if you start looking for deeper meaning in koans or nonsense literature, you get lost in a labyrinth of your own imagination. In other words, you are going to think about something that you should not think about. It's about experiencing, not thinking.
Notable examples are Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and Edward Lear’s “Complete Nonsense.” However, according to G.K Chesterton, there is a fine distinction to be made between Carroll and Lear. Says Chesterton: “Carroll was a serious and conventional mathematician in daily life, and this strange double life in earth and in dreamland emphasizes the idea that lies at the back of nonsense – the idea of escape, of escape into a world where things are not fixed horribly in an eternal appropriateness, where apples grow on pear-trees and any odd man you meet may have three legs… His wonderland is a country populated by insane mathematicians. It seems that the whole is an escape into a world of masquerade, and if we could pierce their disguises, we might discover that Humpty Dumpty and the March Hare were Professors and Doctors of Divinity enjoying a mental holiday.”†
† From “The Defendant” by G.K. Chesterton
As you can see here, Carroll’s nonsense doesn’t yet escape the realm of intellectualism, which is exactly the realm Zen urges us to escape from. Therefore, from a Zen point of view, Lear has much more to offer us, not because it’s nonsensical, but its nonsensicality much more lies in the poetical and even emotional realms. According to Chesterton, Lear introduces his unmeaning words and his amorphous creatures not with the pomp of reason, but with the romantic prelude of rich hues and haunting rhythms. So without further ado, here’s Edward Lear, and assess the movements of your mind while reading his limericks; are you trying to make sense of it, or can you see?
A selection of Limericks from “Complete Nonsense”
There was an Old Person of Basing,
Whose presence of mind was amazing;
He purchased a steed,
Which he rode at full speed,
And escaped from the people of Basing.
There was an Old Man of Nepal
From his horse had a terrible fall;
But, though split quite in two,
With some very strong glue
They mended that Man of Nepal.
There was a Young Lady of Turkey,
Who wept when the weather was murky;
When the day turned out fine,
She ceased to repine,
That capricious Young Lady of Turkey.
There was an Old Person of Cromer,
Who stood on one leg to read Homer;
When he found he grew stiff,
He jumped over the cliff,
Which concluded that Person of Cromer.
There was an Old Man in a Barge,
Whose Nose was exceedingly large;
But in fishing by night,
It supported a light,
Which helped that Old Man in a Barge.
There was an Old Person of Barnes,
Whose Garments were covered with Darns;
But they said, ‘Without doubt,
You will soon wear them out,
You luminous Person of Barnes!’
There was a Young Lady from Poole,
Whose Soup was excessively cool;
So she put it to boil
By the aid of some oil,
That ingenious Young Lady of Poole.
And finally, a nonsense song
The Table and the Chair
1.
Said the Table to the Chair,
‘You can hardly be aware
How I suffer from the heat,
And from chilblains on my feet!
If we took a little walk,
We might have a little talk!
Pray let us take the air!’
Said the Table to the Chair.
2.
Said the Chair unto the Table,
‘Now you know we are not able!
How foolishly you talk,
When you know we cannot walk!’
Said the Table with a sigh,
‘It can do no harm to try;
I’ve as many legs as you,
Why can’t we walk on two?’
3.
So they both went slowly down,
And walked about the town
With a cheerful bumpy sound,
As they toddled round and round.
And everybody cried,
As they hastened to their side,
‘See! The Table and the Chair
Have come out to take the air!’
4.
But in going down an alley,
To a castle in the valley,
They completely lost their way,
And wandered all the day,
Till, to see them safely back,
They paid a Ducky-quack,
And a Beetle, and a Mouse,
Who took them to their house.
5.
Then they whispered to each other,
‘O delightful little brother!
What a lovely walk we’ve taken!
Let us dine on Beans and Bacon!’
So the Ducky and the leetle
Browny-Mousy and the Beetle
Dined, and danced upon their heads
Till they toddled to their beds.
Jolly greetings,
Erik Stout
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