Introduction to “Zen Mind, Thinker’s Mind”

[Note: I have finished writing and editing my new book "Zen Mind, Thinker's Mind." I will begin the process of preparing the cover and lay-out, and when that is done, it will be self-published. This book took months longer than I had anticipated to write and edit, because I kept adding material, and it took me at least 15 read-throughs to work out the "glitches." But I'm very happy with the final manuscript. Here's the Introduction, so you know what to look forward to when it becomes available.]

In 2018, I decided that my next writing project would be a Buddhist “trilogy” consisting of texts on Dzogchen, Zen, and Pali Buddhism. I was motivated to undertake this project because I believe that Buddhism is in need of an “upgrade.” As I see it, there isn’t a single living Buddhism teacher or writer who has “cracked the code” and is able to properly elaborate on Buddhadharma, Consciousness, and Awakening. Given my view of the “fallen state” of Buddhism and my belief in my ability to “resurrect” it, I began my project.

I started my “trilogy” with the Dzogchen text, but at the point I was half-done writing it, a series of epiphanies convinced me to put it aside and instead focus on this Zen text. The gist of my epiphanies was that Zen, principally due to the influence of Madhyamaka, epitomizes the downfall of Buddhadharma; therefore, it deserved my first attention. Further, because Zen disses the thinking mind, I realized that it was most important from the outset of my project to counter its anti-mind ideology; hence the title Zen Mind, Thinker’s Mind.

The book consists of sixteen chapters, which I’ll now summarize:

Chapter 1. “Mind and No-Mind”: Sheds light on the usage and meaning of the terms Mind, mind, no-mind, Awareness, and awareness, which are often used loosely, contradictorily, and/or synonymously by Buddhists.

Chapter 2. “The Emptiness of Emptiness”: Considers Nagarjuna’s doctrine of emptiness and concludes that his “Middle Way” is not a middle way at all, but rather, an extreme way that, egregiously, reduces Ultimate Reality (the Divine Existent) to a non-existent emptiness.

Chapter 3. “The Tetralemma and the Two Truths”: Critiques the Tetralemma (the four-cornered system of argumentation often applied in Buddhism) and the doctrine of the Two Truths (conventional and ultimate), and finds them untenable.

Chapter 4. “Light on the Lankavatara Sutra”: Provides a ground-breaking explication and elaboration of the text’s more abstruse teachings.

Chapter 5. “Ken Wilber’s Fourth Turning”: Critiques Wilber’s thesis on the Turnings of the Wheel (especially the “Fourth Turning”), and provides an alternative vision (of Five Turnings) based on my Electrical Spiritual Paradigm (ESP).

Chapter 6. “Sam Harris on Waking Up”: Exposes Harris’s ignorance regarding religion and spirituality, and identifies him as a clueless mystic and an overrated thinker.

Chapter 7. “Dark Buddhism”: Critiques Morgan D. Rosenberg’s book Dark Buddhism: Integrating Zen Buddhism and Objectivism, and provides an alternative vision of “Dark Buddhism.”

Chapter 8. “Zen Mind, Non-Thinker’s Mind”: Provides arguments and evidence to counter Third Zen Patriarch Seng Ts'an’s famous saying: “Stop talking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you will not understand.” The subchapters of this chapter are excerpted from my book Beyond the Power of Now.

Chapter 9. “Buddhist Politics 501”: Argues that left-wing politics (socialism/statism), which most Buddhists favor, is violent and immoral, and that right-wing politics (capitalism/individualism) is non-violent and moral, and therefore the right politics for Buddhists.

Chapter 10. “Electrical Flesh, Electrical Bones”: Argues that Zen needs to convert to Electrical “religion,” and advances a brief theory of Electrical en-Light-enment. This chapter is excerpted from my book Electrical Christianity.

Chapter 11. “Who Am I?”: Considers Self-enquiry (finding out who one truly is) in the contexts of current and mid-twentieth-century Buddhist teachings, and concludes with an in-depth analysis of Self-enquiry that is unparalleled in Buddhist literature.

Chapter 12. “Some Sayings of Huang Po”: Provides commentary on some of iconic Zen Master Huang Po’s most enlightening sayings.

Chapter 13. “The Sword of Thusness”: Contends that there is just a single direct means or “method” to Enlightenment—that of Thusness, or Beingness—and elaborates it in the context of some sayings of Huang Po.

Chapter 14. “The Five Ranks of Master Tozan”: Provides unique interpretations of the five stanzas that comprise ninth-century Zen master Tozan Ryokan’s poem The Five Ranks, which describes the stages of Enlightenment in the practice of Zen.

Chapter 15. “Zen and Dzogchen”: Compares Zen and Dzogchen and explains how Zen can benefit by incorporating Dzogchen’s view and essential practices.

Chapter 16: “Future Zen”: Consists of edited talks between a few of my students and myself. Some of the conversations recapitulate (while expanding upon) subject matter in the previous chapters, and some break new ground.

Because this book contains considerable Buddhist and Hindu terminology, I have included an extensive glossary. As is the case with my previous nonfiction books, I have included my Spiritual Reading List, which I’ve upgraded with new additions.

The late, great Suzuki Roshi canonized the importance of the “beginner’s mind” in Zen. It is my hope that this book will do the same for the “thinker’s mind.”