ZEN BUDDHISM AND GENERAL SEMANTICS

Author(s): Jessica Bridges

Source: ETC: A Review of General Semantics , October 2006, Vol. 63, No. 4 (October
2006), pp. 430-436
Published by: Institute of General Semantics

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/42578677

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Student Paper

ZEN BUDDHISM AND

GENERAL SEMANTICS

Jessica Bridges*

"General Semantics can be considered an inter-disciplinary disci-

pline that makes it easier for you to live with yourself... to live with
others ... and for others to live with you." - Steve Stockdale

From Semantics,
Semantics,justonethiscanone
seeone
howcangeneral
statement see how
semantics and general
Buddhismon seem
the semantics
at website of and the Buddhism Institute General seem at
least compatible, and that they probably have similar goals. We talked at the
beginning of this course on Buddhism about how, even though it is offered by
the Religion department, it is as much about philosophy or psychology as reli-
gion, and it touches many different areas of thought. Just as Buddhism is an
inter-disciplinary subject, so is general semantics. Furthermore, general seman-
tics has the goal of reducing suffering in intrapersonal and interpersonal rela-
tionships, which is the aim of Buddhism as well. As one delves into the worlds
of general semantics and Zen Buddhism, one discovers many similarities be-
tween the two, but one also discovers important differences.

* Jessica Bridges recently graduated from Hendrix College cum laude with a bachelor of arts in
international relations/global studies. In the past year, she has traveled to Chile and Argentina,
assisted Hurricane Katrina victims in Pascagoula, MS, volunteered at Travis Park United Meth-
odist Church in San Antonio, joined a mission trip to Bolivia sponsored by the Lilly Vocations
Initiative, and plans to intern over the next year at Sojourners Magazine in Washington DC.
After that, she plans to continue her education in some field related to her many volunteer and
mission experiences.
430

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Zen Buddhism and General Semantics 43 1

To further explain general semantics, the Insti

General Semantics helps you differentiate, and integ

of as four different 'worlds.' [One is] the world 'out
that's always changing, in perpetual process. [This
world 'in here,' inside your skin, your nervous sys
which you (only partially) experience the world 'ou
world that's not words, the non-verbal world that y
and touch. [And this is contrasted with] the world o
of names, symbols, labels, opinions, assumptions, c
etc. In our world of words , we relate what we think
' out there, ' the world ' in here ' and the world that's

This description brings to mind phrases like "

"inter-being" which we have come to understand
What explains these similarities?

• If you deliberately practice general semantic

quences include:

• More effective, more discriminating commu

and with yourself

• More appropriate and desirable reactions, resp

to what occurs (or does not occur) in your fo

• A more tolerant, inquisitive, open-minded, "m

that is less prone to prejudice, stereotyping,
zations

• A greater degree of moment-to-moment awar

others', different perspectives. (Stockdale)

To describe general semantics as a "Western fo

dramatic and inaccurate, but one can observe con
two. Zen surely promotes "moment-to-mome
semantics may be a useful "raft" for attainment
J. Samuel Bois asserts that both disciplines "r
experience ... [and] the essentials of [each] are un
people who have some knowledge of both discipli
about the relations between the silent level of K
observation of Zen." (p. 35) Sheldon Klein propos
tains a system of general semantics ... The conce

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 432 ETC • October 2006

fundamental to Korzybsk
is not the thing.'" (Klein
Alfred Korzybski deve
Sanity. "There exists a hi
from noumena, the level
of statements about objec
jects..." (Klein, p. 89) The
general semantics seeks t
by a general semanticist
side by side, there are st
see something and then
process is not the same
Perception of the object
level, the 'Unconscious.
able character of what h
come into contact with
world can be seen as wh
General semantics and Zen Buddhism also share the belief "that the world
of abstraction is an 'illusion'; that even the object world of concrete phenom-
ena is an 'illusion' of abstraction"; they do not seek to escape this "illusion" but
to penetrate it. (Klein, p. 92) Everyone has unique perceptions of reality that are
conditioned by a number of factors. Western meta-linguist Benjamin Whorf
brings to light the interesting role that one's language plays. Klein describes
Whorf 's premise that "Different languages may organize reality differently ...
Hopi, for example, classifies many English nouns as verbs" and notes that "A
major implication of Whorf's work is that different languages yield different
logics." (Klein, p. 93) From The Way of Zen by Alan Watts, we see that in Chi-
nese, as well, "objects are events - our world is a collection of processes
rather than entities." (p.5) So no one's world of logic can necessarily be indica-
tive of the world of reality. Whorf explains eloquently, "We cut nature up, orga-
nize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are
parties to an agreement to organize it this way - an agreement that holds
throughout our speech community, and is codified in the patterns of language."
(Bois, p. 37) Realizing we have made this subconscious agreement can free us
from the code of language in which we conceptualize and relate with our envi-
ronment.
"Naturalness" refers to a condition we seek to attain in Zen Buddhism. As
opposed to "plants and stones [which] have no problem in being natural ... we
alone live in two worlds, the world of no-language and the world of language."
(Holmes, p. 160) Stewart Holmes calls these worlds "'Reality-1' and 'Reality-

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Zen Buddhism and General Semantics 433

2,' respectively. Reality- 1 really exists outside o

only as thoughts-feelings, semantic reactions, in
create our Reality-2 by transforming some stim
that are intended to represent Reality- 1, and we
Reality- 1. "We should realize that our language
standing for other symbols (mental constructs) t
'out there.'" (Holmes, p. 163)
One way that Zen enables us to break out of
through the koan. "The mind hankers to put th
but reality isn't concerned with these logical cat
fertile imaginations ... The Zen student is encou
category, the self, is itself a fiction, as is the self t
(Christ, p. 352) Henry Christ suggests that "to f
ries, but always with the awareness that these
sheds light on the relationship between educati
beyond categories: "Most formal education is heav
education is, in a sense, unlearning the categor
The differences between Eastern and Western
intellectual differences in these parts of the world.
some part in this, as well as all other cultural d
culture as an "individual as he grows from chil
going from an uncritical sensing stage, to classif
finally arriving at "the unifying stage of imme
ence." To the culture as to the individual, "gener
stage 4, formulated laboriously in a logical eme
while "Zen [is] the art of taking a long jump fro
this constitutes "the radical difference between
dhism." (p. 36) General semantics is "a symptom
and development through which our generation

Zen is an art rooted in Eastern principles ,

is a science which emerges from the Weste

From the title of Korzybski's foundation work

technical language he used to develop and expla
detect a key difference between general semanti
Zen is an art rooted in Eastern principles, while
which emerges from the Western world of tech
Western philosophy was necessitated by the resu

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 434 ETC • October 2006

demanded a new logic an

sion." (Klein, p.97) "The K
and self-reflexiveness are
and structure, and they
symptoms by guided aw
While the purpose of bo
mental constructs, "the
that of the Western [gen
disagrees with a Zen mas
blade of a sword cannot cu
cannot see itself.'" (Bois,
for the complex phenom
to the phenomenon the li
many questions brought
religion that values escap
uses such confusing term
having so many texts, al
toward the true spirit o
sword-mind analogy is to
as sword is to sword -plu
self-reflexiveness that
room within itself for m
how Self-1, Self-2, etc, a
This looks to me like the
spontaneity of the mome
can look back at who we
rience of that moment a
eral semantics is that in
thinking itself," whereas
entific steps toward self
This becomes evident w
the Zennist 'Void.'

There are many who interpret it literally and try to realize 'emptiness of mind'
by means of intense concentration. Such vacuity is absolutely negative and
does not contain any possibilities of revelation ... The nature of things, for us
aristotelians, is still more or less consciously the classical 'prime matter' and
the 'form' that makes each thing what it is ... In the East, the world within
which man lives and moves and has his being is apparently perceived as a
great indeterminate aesthetic continuum of space ... (Bois, pp.44-45)

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Zen Buddhism and General Semantics 435

To "get Zen, Westerners must awaken to the

and Emptiness is Form. According to Western lo
is ... a non-sense expression." (Bois, p.45) Bois f

... non-aristotelian logic [of the East is] more incl

logic that gives the shape to the 'thought-world' i
have our being ... The West ... cannot see, cannot u
the structures of the East, because it cannot pierce
... General semantics is an attempt to 'pierce the
(Bois, pp.45-46)

General semantics originates and exists in an

has vision for a non-aristotelian world in the f
drastically contrast with the East's Zen.
When considering the question of whether Ze
best course of direction for the West, I believe bot
and that they can complement each other. Bois
skill of philosophizing may take the place of the
the skill is not diametrically opposed to the art
other, making possible a type of first-order experi
ralistic approach does not seem to duplicate ... N
into which we must merge to enjoy interna
semantics can act as "cultural preparation" for r
calls 'the method of no method,"' but practice o
can help individuals more directly experience re
describes what he calls his 'rigorous objectivity
mystical subjectivity' as a therapist. He reports
the distance between these two selves. He solve
science and experience. Science is not an imper
person living subjectively another phase of h
vides an excellent example of how individuals c
ing to the self/no-self. By integrating all parts
moment's equality and penetrate the concept of
I agree with Bois when he says, "I am not re
"better alternative" for the West than general s
to fit with the living complex of traditions, mor
mon people of cultures outside the Indo-Europe
locked as we are within the symmetrical patter
The emergence of Zen in the West I believe has
of Western culture, and I think general semantics c

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436 ETC • October 2006

state of Western culture

"a conscientious of study
tics] of liberation." (p.46)
promise to the other for
how we make meanings w
better prepared to flow w
p. 164)

WORKS CITED

Bois, J. Samuel. "General Semantics and Zen." ETC : A Review o

Semantics 18.1 (April 1961): pp. 34-46.

Christ, Henry I. "Irony, Paradox, and the Zen Koan." ETC: A Rev iew
Semantics 25.3 (Sept. 1968): pp.350-354.

Holmes, Stewart W. "What is the Zen Master Talking About?" ETC:

of General Semantics 50.2 (Summer 1993): pp. 157- 164.

Institute of General Semantics <http://time-binding.org>

Klein, Sheldon. "Zen Buddhism and General Semantics." ETC: A

General Semantics 14.2 (Winter 1956-57): pp. 88-97.

Watts, Alan. The Way of Zen. New York: Random House. 1957.

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