The Zen of Advaita - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

Zen it says that we should let goof the ear and the eye.Zen Koan: “Does the sound go tothe ear, or the ear to the sound?”Alternatively:“Does the object go to the eye, orthe eye to the object?”All of these lead to theunderstanding that the seer andthe seen and the hearer and theheard are in consciousness andarise and subside together inconsciousness, but “I” am prior toconsciousness.Zen Koan: “What is it that movesthe legs, lifts the arm, speaksand hears?”This Koan leads us not only toreveal the “I” that imagines itdoes this or that, but to theillusion of the perception orabstracted perceiver or knowerthat knows and believes itis. Moreover it deconstructsthe belief it is separate fromconsciousness and can act anddo “As If” it is a separateindividual conscious entity.23