Not Zen

Stories on life, death, enlightenment, zen buddhism, religion, philosophy, stoicism, meditation, daoism, kindness but not meekness, and samsara.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Not Zen 203: The Resilient Crow

›
The Resilient Crow In the deeps of a forest, a heavy chestnut tree fell. It crushed smaller trees beneath it. It broke the boughs of neighbo...
Sunday, July 6, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 407: Towards a Collection

›
The Poetic Structure of Collected Stories, Followed By Mundane Reality  Even before I finished a collection, readers pointed out the order o...
Sunday, June 29, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 406: The Mood War, Scenes 1-8 Together

›
  Here's a new, short novel: The Mood War.  That is, here below are links to  the ten percent of the material that Amazon allows as a pr...
Sunday, June 22, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 405: The Mood War, Scene 8

›
  copyright 2025 Acacia Gallagher [VIII] Incident Report (Partial) Defendant, Mood Battle Cell 3C, ICC Detention Center, the Hague Schevenin...
Sunday, June 15, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 404: The Mood War, Scene 7

›
copyright 2025 Acacia Gallagher [VII] Details from Interview 8 in Cell 3C ICC Detention Center, the Hague Scheveningen, the Netherlands HR-T...
Sunday, June 8, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 403: The Mood War, Scene 6

›
copyright 2025 Acacia Gallagher [VI] Incident Report (Partial) Defendant, Mood Battle Cell 3C, ICC Detention Center, the Hague Scheveningen,...
Sunday, June 1, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 402: The Mood War, Scene 5

›
copyright 2025 Acacia Gallagher MOOD WAR: DAY ONE   [V] Details from Interview 37 in Cell 3C ICC Detention Center, the Hague Scheveningen, t...
Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Not Even Zen Humor: The Muppets Challenge

›
Some silliness my wife asked for ... the 'challenge' is to replace five USA presidential administration posts with five Muppets. Her...
Sunday, May 25, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 401: The Mood War, Scene 4

›
  copyright 2025 Acacia Gallagher [IV] Incident Report (Partial) Defendant, Mood Battle Cell 3C, ICC Detention Center, the Hague Scheveninge...
Sunday, May 18, 2025

Not Even Not Zen 400: The Mood War, Scene 3

›
cover art copyright 2025 Acacia Gallagher [III] Details from Interview 34 in Cell 3C ICC Detention Center, the Hague Scheveningen, the Nethe...
›
Home
View web version

About Me

My photo
Secret Hippie

Why Zen?

When I was eight, I sat down in my father's library, got out a book called 'Zen Flesh, Zen Bones' by Paul Reps and read it. When I was nine, I read it again. When I was ten, my father caught me laughing as I flipped to my favorite stories. He questioned me at length - irritated at first but then pleased that I'd moved on to other translations of Buddhist and Zen Buddhist texts by Alan Watts. He said he'd rather I stuck to classical Greek philosophers and so he tried to lure me over to Herodotus. That might have worked if there were any works of note left of the pre-Socratic philosophers. As it was, the Zen and Daoist texts proved superior.

Why Not Zen?

In some ways, I grew up with Eastern philosophies but in most ways I'm traditionally Western. I don't think Zen has gotten it all right or is even the best form of Buddhism. I don't agree with anyone entirely. I haven't received transmission from any religious figure except maybe from everyone, all the time, and only occasionally with intention.

All contents copyright by Eric Gallagher
Secret HIppie trademarked by Eric Gallagher
View my complete profile
Powered by Blogger.