Western philosophy has gotten many ideas “wrong” if we look at it from the perspective of Eastern school of thought, like we have Zen Buddhism. Byung Chul Han, who also wrote The Burnout Society, The Disappearance of Rituals (that I’m yet to read) argues about this in his Philosophy of Zen Buddhism, which acts like a conversation between these ways of approaching life.
Key Points
People view themselves as projects nowadays, how can they increase their “market value” even in the romantic arena. This branch of philosophers also call out the structure of society now for being the reason we have so many “mental illnesses”, subject discussed in The Burnout Society, and also Capitalism Realism, that I read (listened to) last year.
Overall, this point of view speaks to me because I feel called out every time I hear this. I am aware of how deep I am in basing my identity on efficiency, trying to achieve more and more, and comparing myself to some ideal. I do value working hard and having ambitions, I view these as intrinsic traits I possess.
Zen Buddhism does not aim to add upon the world any layers of morality or complex ideas. In Western philosophy, people take the world as is and based on this they construct ethics so on. Hegel thinks that religions all aims toward some absolute, either God (like in Christianity) or “nothingness” (like Buddhism). Hal argues he is wrong here about Zen Buddhism.
Monk asks, “What is Buddha?”
Master Dongshan answers: “Three pounds of flax.”
“God” is everywhere, there is no “substance” that we need to grasp for, it is already here.
The self is an always changing and not a fixed item we possess, for people to be saying things like “I lost myself”. The same goes for the interdependence between everything. (Is this Monism in western terms?)
Interestingly enough, Hal mentions that today we do not encounter The Other (which I believe is also mentioned in his book The Agony of Eros?). (Need to expand on this.)
The last idea is about friendliness as a state of being, especially being friendly to the present moment, hospitable towards the world. When you stop trying to dominate the present moment all the time, this is the original experience.