10.10.2025, Views on Zen – beat Zen, square Zen, and Zen
Zen lt. “Der Volksbrockhaus” 1961 (F.A. Brockhaus, Wiesbaden, 12. Aufl.), p. 885: buddhistische Sekte in China und Japan; gestiftet 6. Jahrh. n. Chr.; pflegt Selbstversenkung; Einfluß auf das japan. Geistesleben / according to a 1961 lexicon, [automat. transl.:] Buddhist sect in China and Japan; founded in the 6th century AD; cultivates self-absorption; influence on Japanese intellectual life.
10.10.2025, im Zen-Dojo am Münchener Ostbahnhof (https://zen-ostbahnhof.de/): „Zen in München“, www.zen-in-muenchen.de
Cf.
- 30.5.2024, from Moe’s Books (2476 Telegraph Av., Berkeley, CA): Alan Watts (1957): The way of Zen. Vintage Books / Random House. Excerpt: p. xiii, the “objective observers” … invariably miss the point and eat the menu instead of the dinner … p.3, Zen Buddhism is a way and a view of life … p.56, the anxiety-laden problem of what will happen to me when I die is … like asking what happens to my fist when I open my hand … p.86, it has been said, “The taste of Zen … and the taste of tea … are the same.” … p.99, famous definition of Zen, “When hungry, eat; when tired, sleep.” … p.109, za-zen or sitting meditation … p.111, “tea ceremony”, flute playing, brush drawing, archery, fencing, and ju-jutsu as ways of practicing Zen … p.112, however much za-zen may have been exaggerated …, a certain amount of “sitting just to sit” might well be the best thing in the world for the jittery minds and agitated bodies of Europeans and Americans … p.132, Lao-tzu said of the Tao: … The Tao, without doing anything …/ leaves nothing undone … p.134, Sitting quietly, doing nothing … p.190, If Christianity is wine and Islam coffee, Buddhism is most certainly tea, The totally undistracting emptiness and simplicity of the Taoist or Zen hermitage has set the style … for Japanese domestic architecture as a whole … p.196-7, Zen has no goal; it is a traveling without point, with nowhere to go … p.197, great importance is attached to the way of breathing …
- 13.3.2022, Re-reading Jack Kerouac (1958): The Dharma Bums. Signet Book, New American Library, New York, NY. – From the excerpt: p.52 “The secret of this kind of climbing”,” said Japhy, “is like Zen. Don’t think. Just dance along …” … p.54 “… the Oriental passion for tea … the first sip is joy, … the third is serenity, … the fifth is ecstasy …” … p.91 Zen intellectual artistic Buddhism he loved …
- 7.11.2019, Re-reading Pirsig (1974): Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. – Robert M. Pirsig (1974): Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. An Inquiry into Values. Bantam edition (1975) / Bantam Books, New York, NY.p.iii: Author’s note. What follows is based on actual occurrences … However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either. – Original reading: Oct. 1989.
- 15.3.2009, Flight from Narita (Tokyo) Airport westward to Frankfurt/Main, reading M. Horn (2001): Der kleine Zen-Garten (cf. 6.-15.3.2009 Japan-Reise)
- Abd al-Hayy Moore (2000): Zen Rock Gardening. Running Press Miniature Edition. Philadelphia, PA. p.8 Entering a garden is like opening a book … p.20 We usually find Zen gardens by Zen monasteries, inner courtyards, or in areas adjacent to landscape gardens. In a Zen garden, familiar paths and vegetation are replaced by a stark rectangle of flat raked gravel, stones, and space. p.20-1 The gravel is … combed in either long … straight rows, wavy patterns, or concentric circles around the rocks … p.22 These gardens cannot be entered in the usual sense, but are meant to be viewed … p.25 have been called “mental gardens” …
- In August 1993 acquired in Berkeley: Ann Charters (Ed.) (1992): The portable Beat reader. Penguin Books USA, New York. pp. 606-607, Alan Watts. “Watt’s importance to the Beat literary movement is his article “Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen”, written for the summer 1958 “Zen” issue of the Chicago Review … pp.607-614, Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen.
Addendum, 8.11.25
ChatGPT, when asked to summarize the distinction made by Alan Aatts between “Beat Zen”, “Square Zen”, and “Zen”, seemed well-informed. Key statements included:
- Beat Zen. Who: Associated with the Beat Generation (writers like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder). Spirit: Rebellious, spontaneous, anti-establishment, and anti-rational … … …
- Square Zen. Who: The institutional, traditional, or academic side of Zen — temples, teachers, and formal practitioners. Spirit: Orderly, moralistic, ritualistic, and often focused on proper form, hierarchy, and rules. … … …
- Zen (true Zen). Who: Neither the rebellious Beat nor the rigid Square. Spirit: Beyond both conformity and rebellion — spontaneous yet disciplined, free yet grounded … … …
Asked about translations into German, ChatGPT explained:
- Beat Zen. Literal sense: “Beat” comes from the Beat Generation — originally meaning “tired” or “beaten down” in 1940s American slang, later reinterpreted as hip, countercultural, spontaneous. Connotation: Free-spirited, anti-establishment, bohemian, living in the moment. Possible German translations: „Beat-Zen“ (keeping the original, common in German texts on Watts), „Zen der Beat-Generation“ (explicitly cultural), „rebellisches Zen“ or „freigeistiges Zen“ (emphasizes the spirit rather than the label).
- Square Zen. Literal sense: “Square” was 1950s slang for conventional, boring, or uptight. Connotation: Institutional, rule-bound, proper, conservative. Possible German translations: „Square-Zen“ (again, often kept as-is in scholarly texts), „konventionelles Zen“ or „formales Zen“ (conveys the orthodox, disciplined character), „bürgerliches Zen“ (captures the sense of socially “square” or conventional).
