Walden And The Art Of Zen Essay

, Research Paper

If I were asked who my favourite Western Zen philosopher was, without any

hesitation, I would declare it to be Henry David Thoreau. Although he knew in translation

the religious writings of the Hindus, it may be unlikely that Henry David Thoreau ever

studied the teachings of the Zen Masters. Even then, the insight within his own personal

writings would irrefutably make him master of his own temple. The wisdom found within

Thoreau’s Walden can be clarified through Zen Buddhist beliefs and ideas as the two seem

to typically compliment each other.

Where, you might ask, does religion fit into the travelling adventures of Henry

David Thoreau. Religion has been a part of the literary tradition from the very start.

Some of the first books ever produced were handwritten copies of the Bible. Pamphlets,

poems, odes, and epics throughout the centuries have continued to reflect religious

content. I have also read insightful essays about the hidden Christian Symbolism in A. A.

Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. Well, why not the presence of Zen Buddhism within the

teachings of Thoreau’s Walden. In accordance with the history of literature, one might

say “Why not.”; in accordance with Walden’s content, I would say, “I couldn’t see it

being any other way.”

What is Zen Buddhism anyway. In the book Zen Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki says that

“Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being, and it points the

way from bondage into freedom” (3). In the theory of Zen, our bodies contain a spiritual

form of energy. When this energy is consciously tapped, we will be aware of all the

underlying impulses and desires of our heart. This “freedom” will cause us to experience

Kensho, (seeing into one’s own nature), thus becoming happier and more loving to those

around us. To reach the Buddhist goal of becoming one with everything, a person has to

embrace “nothing”. What is meant in the embracing of “nothing” is that one must

abandon his or her own ego and explore beyond the limits of social conformity. The

problem that lies in the way of reaching this “energy” is that most people have suppressed

it due to personal and society driven ignorance. When this barrier is overcome, we are in

tune with the significance and knowledge of life. In his thoughts and in his words,

Thoreau has seemed to utilize that energy in Walden, opening his “third eye” to the world

around him

Zen teacher Choa-chou said that, “Zen is your everyday thought” and Walden is a

collection of the everyday thoughts of Henry David Thoreau. Walden is a factual record

of Thoreau’s life experiences living alone in a house that he built with his own hands, on

the shore of Walden Pond in Concord Massachusetts. Zen suggests that to solve life’s

problems, one must directly implore the elements of personal experience as opposed to

book-knowledge. This approach is known as Jiriki. Jiriki refers to a person’s own

attempt to “attain enlightenment through his or her own efforts”. In Walden, Thoreau

offers the outcomes of his experience to the reader in hopes that they too will gain

freedom from them.

While living on the shores of Walden, Thoreau’s simple lifestyle can almost be

summed up with the Zen saying “Chop wood, carry water”. Thoreau earned his living by

the labour of his own hands and considered his lifestyle, “very natural and pertinent”

(728). Thoreau achieved tranquillity by means similar to those found in Zen scripture.

He writes, “So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, trying to hear

what was in the wind” (736). This is, to me, reminiscent of the Zen koan “What is the

colour of wind.”

Throughout the pages of Walden, Thoreau seems to praise the simplicity of the

animal world that is lacking in humankind. Commenting on survival, Thoreau states that,

“None of the brute creation requires more than Food and Shelter . . . for not til we have

secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a

prospect of success” (733-734). This simplicity of survival has been a constant part of

Zen life. Master Rinzai, founder of the Rinzai Sect of Zen, remarked, “When hungry, I

eat; when tired, I sleep. Fools laugh at me. The wise understand”. Both Thoreau and

Zen religion appear to place animals on a higher plane of existence for their intuitive

behaviour. In Walden’s Economy, (or “philosophy of living”), Thoreau writes,

One farmer says to me, “You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it

furnishes nothing to make bones with;” and so he religiously devotes a part

of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; walking

all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones,

jerk him and his lumbering plough along in spite of every obstacle. (732)

Irmgard Schloegl’s book, The Wisdom of the Zen Masters, contains a Zen quote

conveying a similar message on the elevation of animal behaviour in life. The quotation

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