They're called koans. People in the US seem to be really attached to the koans from Rinzai Zen, to the point where anything that's vaguely surreal is a "Moment of Zen". On the other hand, Soto, the other major schools of Zen buddhism, doesn't even use koans (it emphasizes meditation), and they arguably have about as much to do with conventional Buddhism as getting your picture taken with the Santa Claus at Macy's does with Christianity.
Historically, the association seems to be because the beats and hippies (who were also pretty fond of surrealism) had a big part in popularizing Zen Buddhism, while comparatively, most other forms of Buddhism haven't spread that far past immigrant enclaves.
Yup, I know. But Soto has its share of "faith", starting with the quote above: if you do zen for any purpose, you're not doing it right. I get the point and the logic, and I agree with it. But it's just too damn hard to swallow stuff like this without chewing, and if i'm chewing it... well it usually makes sense, but it's still not easy.
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They're called koans. People in the US seem to be really attached to the koans from Rinzai Zen, to the point where anything that's vaguely surreal is a "Moment of Zen". On the other hand, Soto, the other major schools of Zen buddhism, doesn't even use koans (it emphasizes meditation), and they arguably have about as much to do with conventional Buddhism as getting your picture taken with the Santa Claus at Macy's does with Christianity.
Historically, the association seems to be because the beats and hippies (who were also pretty fond of surrealism) had a big part in popularizing Zen Buddhism, while comparatively, most other forms of Buddhism haven't spread that far past immigrant enclaves.
Yup, I know. But Soto has its share of "faith", starting with the quote above: if you do zen for any purpose, you're not doing it right. I get the point and the logic, and I agree with it. But it's just too damn hard to swallow stuff like this without chewing, and if i'm chewing it... well it usually makes sense, but it's still not easy.