PRELIMINARY
ratheritsutterances,assumequiteapeculiar,uncouth,andeven
enigmaticalaspect. Suchpeople, lookingat Zenmoreorless
conceptually, consider Zen utterly absurd and ludicrous, or
deliberately making itselfunintelligible in orderto guard its
apparentprofundityagainstoutsidecriticism.But,accordingto
thefollowersofZen,itsapparendyparadoxicalstatementsare
notartificialitiescontrived tohidethemselvesbehindascreenofobscurity; butsimplybecausethehumantongueisnotan
adequateorganforexpressing the deepesttruths ofZen, thelattercannotbemadethesubjectoflogicalexposition;theyare
tobeexperiencedintheinmostsoulwhentheybecomeforthe
firsttime intelligible. Inpoint offact, no plainer and more
straightforwardexpressionsthanthoseofZenhaveever beenmade by any other branchof human experience. "Coal is
black"—this isplain enough; butZenprotests, "Coal isnot
black."Thisisalsoplainenough,andindeedevenplainerthanthefirstpositivestatementwhenwecomerightdowntothetruth
ofthematter.Personal experience, therefore, is everything in Zen. No
ideasareintelligibletothosewhohavenobackingofexperience.
Thisisaplatitude.Ababyhasnoideas,foritsmentalityisnot
yetsodevelopedastoexperienceanythinginthewayofideas.
Ifithasthematall,theymustbesomethingextremelyobscureandblurredandnotincorrespondencewithrealities.Togetthe
clearestandmostefficientunderstandingofathing, therefore,
itmustbeexperiencedpersonally.Especiallywhenthethingis
concernedwith life itself, personal experience is an absolute
necessity. Withoutthisexperiencenothingrelative toits pro-
foundworkingwilleverbeaccuratelyandthereforeefficiently
grasped.Thefoundationofallconceptsissimple,unsophisticated
experience.Zenplacestheutmostemphasisuponthisfoundation-
experience, and it isaround this that Zen constructsall the
verbalandconceptualscaffoldwhichisfoundin itsliteratureknownas"Sayings"{goroku,].;yu-lu,Ch.).Thoughthescaffold
affordsamostusefulmeanstoreachtheinmostreality,itisstillanelaborationand artificiality.Weloseitswholesignificance
whenitistakenforafinalreality.Thenatureofthehuman
understandingcompelsusnot toputtoomuchconfidencein
thesuperstructure. Mystification isfar from being theobject