Mumon's Warnings
1. To follow the compass and keep to the rule is to tie oneself without rope.
3. To unify and pacify the mind is quietism, and false Zen.
-Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth
Discussion:
Mumon isn't the only one to warn against mindlessness, or emptiness, as it relates to Zen. This is not to say that meditation is not useful, but it is not Zen. It is a kind of food, but not the only food, and should not be confused with the purpose of life or the essence of Zen. Meditation is an understandable goal, and as such is often clung onto like wreckage by sailors who have not the courage to endure the horrors of the sea.
Zen is not a meal, it is more like drowning.
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