On Dialogical Philosophy and Zen Buddhism

Abstract

this chapter is not an academic study on zen or buber. this is a dialogue i hold with two friends for life. it is true that zen defies definitions, but that is also a way of defining it. i believe that zen can still be understood in myriad ways. i offer here this, my own understanding of the premises zen stands upon, and of the ways it has influenced my thinking on dialogue, or interbeing, as zen poet thich nhat hahn speaks of the dialogical foundations of zen practice.