66. ZEN REMARKS

66. There is a widely held view that Zen is not philosophy. Such a view fails to recognise that Zen can, and indeed should, embrace philosophy. In his exposition of the teaching of Zen Master Dogen Kigen the scholar Hee-Jim Kim has this to say: 'The philosophic enterprise is as much the practice of the bodhisattva way as is zazen'. He then adds, 'this view implies that metaphysical theory itself is a koan realized in life' (Dogen Kigen: Mystical Realist, 1987, p.97).