Episode #235 ... The Philosophy of Zen Buddhism - Byung Chul Han

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So, by this point, we've done three episodes on Bjang Chilhan. And it can start to seem like the guy might just be a negative person like in general. guy needs a like an edible arrangement sent to him or something. Tear him up a bit, you know?

I mean, think of all the criticism this guy brings into a room. My god. Always complaining about something going on in modern society. Apparently, we all live in a digital panopticon if you're him.

Something that most of us, I guess, don't even know that we're in, let alone us being capable of finding a way out of it. He says we have very little that binds or connects us together anymore as a species. That we have no shared understanding of truth anymore or of community. We don't even have shared stories to tie our lives together.

That's what we talked about a couple episodes ago. In fact, I saw an interview with him one time where he said, "It's impossible to be someone who's thinking and paying attention to the world right now and to not be pessimistic about it. But is this statement telling the full story of the work of Bang Choan and all that he has to say? Is it possible that this statement is true?

In a way, he does look out at the world and feel very pessimistic about where most things are headed. but that he also thinks there are certain choices people can make in life, certain ideas someone can pay attention to where there's actually a lot of hope for an individual that's willing to put in the time and effort. In 2002, long before Bjang Choan ever got famous for his criticism of the digital panopticon we live in, he wrote a book about Zen Buddhism. And being someone that's so well-versed in both Mahayana Buddhism as well as German idealism and most of Western philosophy, this book instantly became a respected cross-cultural dialogue where he uses ideas ...