Notes from Form

Notes from books & talks. Mostly focused on Soto Zen. Sometimes the notes are long.

Personal Summary & Thoughts

  • Differentiation isn't separation
  • Our thoughts are part of the single I , or put another way — neurons are real and thoughts are part of everyone reality.
  • Our thoughts and actions aren't 'ours'. They are a byproduct of environment, linage, and just everything.
  • Cherishing the ego is cherishing suffering.

Detailed Chapter Notes

  • The self that is a bag of skin is a hoax and a fake.
    • Because nothing can truly be separated, only differentiated, the only true I is the all.
  • The accrual of memories is an essential re-enforcement of the ego.
    • neurons store memory and are present in the all ( part of your world and mine ) making memories part of the physical , true I and moving along with it. Not something that is persistent outside of reality.
    • Many qualities of the true self only exist in relation to the brain ( i.e. color sound )
    • The physical neurons that exist as part of the whole build meaning and value but aren't separate. –“They [reality , the world] wiggle[s] so much and in so many different ways that no one can really make out where one wiggle begins and another ends, whether in space or in time.”
    • I really enjoyed this quote, it is fun to think about. –“Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way, like the problem of cause and effect. Make a spurious division of one process into two, forget that you have done it, and then puzzle for centuries as to how the two get together. So with “form” and “matter.”
    • This quote is really hard for me to 'believe'. I can see the shapes of the argument but it is so scaring to conceptualize a reality where there aren't separations of things like cause and effect.
    • I also don't know how useful this type of knowledge is. It seems much more practical in achieving happiness to realize cause and effect as a complex process that is trying to make sense of the differentiation of the greater all
  • In the later portion of the chapter the author offers a lots of veiled criticism of physicist & scientist in general — jibes at naturalist, etc. I am not saying that the author is wrong ; however, he has definitely not provided ample logical or evidence proof that the “automated” universe is wrong.
    • In a lot of ways I feel like he is presenting a straw man argument of the automated universe and alternative view or presentation of it could fit in line with some Buddhist thinking.
    • I feel that the author is committing some of the faults he mentioned in previous chapters , reality isn't black and white, there isn't one clean answer always. In this case the self could have temporary or persistent differentiating characteristics that drive clusters and behaviors with in reality. These clustering characteristics could be viewed and understand as an 'automated' behavior. I don't think that just because someone accepts that there isn't a self or that nothing is permanent that we have to give up on understanding the behaviors of the self around us. –” If, then, the definition of a thing or event must include definition of its environment, we realize that any given thing goes with a given environment so intimately and inseparably that it is more difficult to draw a clear boundary between the thing and its surroundings.”
    • I think this is a very useful thought and perhaps my previous notes are too critical of the authors critic of science. Recognizing that we understand things through layers of abstractions and that processes that help us predict things in a generalized fashion may generalize well but they don't represent the actual field of reality that is driving the present moment.
    • Recognizing and appreciating the shear immensity of the present moment and the impact that all of reality has on each event can be very productive and keeps us from thinking that simple formulas are encompassing everything. Some formulas are better than others but the greatest formula is all of reality.
    • But, also — I love formulas :)
  • We like to think about our thoughts & actions as 'ours' but in reality they are a byproduct of all reality and the actions & events and linage that precede us.
  • Society lies to us and uses double-bind games to trick us into compliance with the great illusion.
  • Death and disease are a part of reality and we should treat them as such.
    • I struggled with this section. It feels like the author is saying that we shouldn't try and eliminate illnesses.
      • I can see the value in not deluding ourselves into thinking that we wont ever suffer or die; however , that doesn't mean we shouldn't work toward improvements.
  • Cherishing the ego is cherishing suffering.
  • Differentiation is not separation.”

Chapter Notes:

  • The game of black and white is the illusion of division and our tendency to just focus on the mountains and not see the valley— all sense are some form of touch or even more foundational, neural triggers ( 0s & 1s )
    • there is no on without off, etc
  • Eyes and ears respond to the up & down beats but our minds only notices ups or the presence of things.
  • Sound is both the presence of sound and silence.
  • If there is nothing outside of something, there is only something.
    • Space is the relationship between bodies
  • Cause and effect
    • we often ask the wrong question instead of “does everything have a cause and an effect” we should ask is there actually separation of anything?
    • The world isn't made up of cause and effect or bits but instead is just one thing.
  • We selectively remember things despite their existence.
  • The things we notice are often dictated by what we view as important.
  • “we cling to ourselves and our lives in chronic anxiety, however pushed into the back of the mind. But when the time comes where clinging is no longer of the least avail, the circumstances are ideal for letting go of oneself completely. When this happens, the individual is released from his ego-prison. “
    • In a very simple way I can relate to this in terms of running
      • when I expect the run to be short I have a lot of anxiety about it finishing 'soon'
      • when I go on really long runs, I just don't worry about the length — I let the anxiety go and just do the run. –” The point is only to know, beyond any shadow of doubt, that “I” and all other “things” now present will vanish, until this knowledge compels you to release them—to know it now as surely as if you had just fallen off the rim of the Grand Canyon.” –“In death we doff the persona, as actors take off their masks and costumes in the green room behind the scenes” –“The speed and efficiency of transportation by superhighway and air in many ways restricts freedom of travel. It is increasingly difficult to take a walk, except in such “reservations for wanderers” as state parks. “
    • This is interesting , I am not sure what to think about it.
      • technology does restrict us in some ways but it seems impossible to deny that it also removes restrictions
      • You can fly to a state part now
        • but, you used to be able to just walk out your door
  • Nothing stays put, everything is a continuing process.
  • power isn't always wisdom — just having a ton of information doesn't == wisdom
  • The later of the portion of the chapter is a monologue against technology as an evolving prison. With more technology we have more constraints and more expectations ( slack means people expect you to respond all the time. )

Personal Thoughts:

  • Over all I found this chapter relatively flat and one-sided.
    • This is particularly funny given the intro to the chapter is all about sound/no-sound, black/white and how you can't have one without the other and how they are actually all-one-and-the-same.
  • The material about the game of Black-and-White was good, the author presented interesting metaphors that seemed helpful.
  • Technology as a limiter:
    • I understand the appeal to an arguments like this but it also seems very one-sided ( ironically ). Surveillance Capitalism has 100% had a limiting effect on society; however, technology as a whole has had a much richer impact than just a single direction of progress.
    • I believe that you can have healthy relationship with technology. I put my slack on silent after 5 pm and stopped wearing a smart watch. But I practice Zazen every-morning over zoom + meet with my Zen teacher once a week over zen. Because of where I live , I wouldn't be able to do these things. I also connect with my parents over video chat , which has been great over this pandemic.

Personal Intro

  • Historically I've been resistant to reading Alan Watts. I had / have a bit of an unjustified view of him as esoteric. This is based on second hand opinions. So, in order to form my own opinions I am going to give some of his books a read and try and engage with the text.
  • Alan Watts does seem a bit a-traditional in terms of Zen Monks — whatever that means. His beliefs and practices seem to expand past just Buddhism. He was influenced by Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. But, from my standpoint, he seemed most interested in general philosophy and its application to life.
  • he was a zen monk but later in his life he left formal zen training to become a christian priest 1
  • He received criticism for his interpretation of Buddhism & Zazen from a number of prolific zen monks ( Philip Kapleau and D. T. Suzuki )
    • generally he seems to be a pretty contrarian voice in Buddhism / Zen
    • He held some non-traditional views of Zen / Zazen
      • I am all for the criticism and iteration of traditional beliefs. No views, traditions should be viewed as static or 'sacred'. Zen for me is a transformative, experienced life approach — so if something isn't working, change it / try something else.
      • This doesn't mean that alternative views are 'right' but I do support criticism and growth. We're all just looking for what works.
  • He wrote a lot.

Chapter 1 – Inside Information

  • Is there a sensitive secret / taboo that society doesn't tell us as we grow up that is vitally important for people to know but society is sensitive / oppressive around.
    • this use to be sex but now isn't
    • religion has become more and more taboo in modern society
      • reading religious text can be hard and esoteric.
    • The book tries to talk about religious type knowledge but in a more generic, straight forward fashion.
  • An interesting question to ask about reality is 'why is it structured this way, way this universe, and why do humans behave the way they do.'
    • Generally western philosophy has dealt with this question by ignoring it or dismissing it as a silly question.
  • Many people believe that as a human species have grown technologically but not ethically/ logically, etc.
  • “We suffer from a hallucination, from a false and distorted sensation of our own existence as living organisms. Most of us have the sensation that “I myself” is a separate center of feeling and action, living inside and bounded by the physical body—a center which “confronts” an “external” world of people and things, making contact through the senses with a universe both alien and strange.”
  • Our speech reflect this illusion
  • The illusion of being visitors to the universe contradicts our understanding of reality.
    • “As the ocean 'waves', the universe 'peoples'”
      • I believe this is suggesting that because everything is empty , one action is from all action. So the Ocean can wave because it is connected with everything. The entirety of emptiness creates form. So the universe is people and experiences 'people' while the ocean waves.
    • Feeling that we are separate minds in an alien universe creates two primary things: -creates an aggressive , conquering attitude to the world 'outside' us. – “The hostile attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic interdependence of all things and events—that the world beyond the skin is actually an extension of our own bodies—and will end in destroying the very environment from which we emerge and upon which our whole life depends.”
      • We have no 'common' / shared sense. We view opinions & actions as mine vs. yours instead of recognizing emptiness and acting accordingly.
        • This also allows the most aggressive extroverts 'propagandist' to make decisions.
  • This might lead us to think that we need to create a new religion
    • history has show that this isn't enough, they are focused on relativism ( we're more loyal than you, more pure, etc ) .
    • “Irrevocable commitment to any religion is not only intellectual suicide; it is positive unfaithful because it closes the mind to any new vision of the world. Faith is, above all, open-ness—an act of trust in the unknown.”
      • I enjoy this quote a lot. Believe system should be evaluated on historical purity but instead on the value they actualize in your life. They should be experiential and create meaningful results. If they don't we should throw them away and iterate towards something better.
  • “Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency.”
    • Here the author is suggesting that we shouldn't worship scriptures. Just as we know that many other things are arbitrary forms that aren't truly separate we need to recognize that that is true for books and scripture as well.
    • we can use books as a stepping off point but we shouldn't use them as absolutes.
  • “The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego”
    • this is hard to internalize / realize because it is so introspective and outside our experience.
      • because of this we have to build stories & myths to try and help us understand.
  • “God also likes to play hide-and-seek, but because there is nothing outside God, he has no one but himself to play with. But he gets over this difficulty by pretending that he is not himself.”
    • “Now when God plays hide and pretends that he is you and I, he does it so well that it takes him a long time to remember where and how he hid himself.”
      • This view seems to explain why bad things happen ( kind of ) and why we struggle to understand emptiness. But, I would assume that we shouldn't take this literally given the author's previous statements about myths.
      • God can't be seen because they are the self of the universe and there is no not-god.
      • “But the secret which my story slips over to the child is that the Ultimate Ground of Being is you. Not, of course, the everyday you which the Ground is assuming, or “pretending” to be, but that inmost Self which escapes inspection because it’s always the inspector. This, then, is the taboo of taboos: you’re IT!”
    • “This is because we think of God as the King of the Universe, the Absolute Technocrat who personally and consciously controls every detail of his cosmos—and that is not the kind of God in my story.”
    • “In the Vedanta philosophy, nothing exists except God.”
      • I always find these types of quotes unnecessarily clinging to the word 'god'. At least in the western modern times I think it makes sense to let the word God go — there is too much baggage / connotations with the word. It sound romantic and reassuring to say we're all God, but just using any of the words 'reality' / 'oneness' / 'non-self' / 'emptiness' gets the point across more clearly and with less baggage.

Personal Summary & Conclusion:

  • There is no ego driven self.
  • We are god playing hide and seek.
  • That we are all one and that there is emptiness & form is the greatest kept secrete in modern society.
  • Vedanta philosophy & Hinduism have some interesting insight into self and the universe.
  • Actually knowing emptiness is hard but extremely important.
  • I didn't find this chapter too thought provoking. But, I am familiar with Zen philosophy. I do find a lot of the language used 'distracting' and overly romantic — thought, Alan Watts is definitely not the only guilty part of this in Zen :)


Personal Intro

  • The below notes are largely my interpretation of what the article is saying. Please read the actual article to form your own thoughts
  • This is one of the best articles I've read in some time
  • Link to full article
  • If you enjoy these notes please consider supporting Lion's Roar
  • This article presents 6 ways to react with your life and translate them into your practice.
  • The article is written by Zen teacher Norman Fischer. Norman has written a number of books that are on my to read list but I've not read a lot of his content.

Article Intro

  • The way most of us view the world isn't actually representative of the actual state of the world. This is expressed by the zen saying, “the whole world's upside down.”
    • I tried to find who and when this saying was said, but was unable. If anyone knows its origin please let me know
  • A parable about Zen master Bird's Nest Roshi illustrates that living in ignorance to emptiness and instead only focusing on form
    • I find this story kind of funny. I take the point however the argument feels very “yeah but”. Mediating on a branch is still dangerous regardless of behavior of others.
  • “We think it makes sense to protect ourselves from pain, but our self-protection ends up causing us deeper pain. We’re attached to what we like and try to avoid what we don’t like, but we can’t keep the attractive object and we can’t avoid the unwanted object.”
    • on a surface level this seems kind of silly but thinking about it a bit deeper ( not just physical pain ) makes more
    • I think this is speaking more toward the clinging to comfort or the fleeing of all pain — pain is inevitable and the anxiety that comes from trying to run around it causes delusion and suffering.
    • “We think we have to hold on to what we have, but our very holding on causes us to lose what we have”
      • I enjoy this quote, I find it more approachable / understandable than the top level quote in this tree while saying the same thing — it is more pedantic.
    • It seems like the author is using the word “dangerous” in a context that is confusing to most readers. I don't interpret the meaning to be physical threatening but instead a danger of living ignorantly or in a way that results in unnecessary suffering.
    • “The world may be upside down, but we still have to live in this upside-down world, and we have to be practical on its terms. The teaching on transforming bad circumstances into the path doesn’t deny that. ”
      • I kind of wish the author lead with this context, the skeptic in me would have liked to have this to interpret previous points.
      • The teaching isn't to dwell on suffering but instead to adjust your attitude and approach to create a smoother path to happiness.
  • The final line of what I am calling the intro is subtle but, personally, very important, “Transforming bad circumstances into the path is associated with the practice of patience”
    • As I've tried to practice the following points I have found them to be very related to building 'constructive patience'.

The Six Ways to Deal with Life's Toughness

  1. Turn all mishaps into the path.
  2. Drive all blames into one.
  3. Be grateful to everyone.
  4. See confusion as Buddha and practice emptiness.
  5. Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy, pray for help.
  6. Whatever you meet is the path.

Turn all mishaps into the path

  • I've found this slogan immensely helpful in my life ( over the past few weeks , after reading this article )
    • any situation you encounter that seems 'just' frustrating/unfair, etc is actually a moment for you to build your practice and recognize emptiness.
  • “Patience is the capacity to welcome difficulty when it comes, with a spirit of strength, endurance, forbearance, and dignity rather than fear, anxiety, and avoidance.”
    • This is a fantastic & highly functional definition of patience. Historically I've always thought of patience as a stoic opposition to frustration. In this presentation of patience it is more of a change in view point vs. an opposition or test of will.
  • When something good or bad happens we take note of both the ways we cling and avoid it. Instead of gut reacting to a good or bad event we take notice and investigate our response and emotions.
  • By being present with our emotions we can forgive them ( and ourselves ) which fosters relief and gratitude
    • This is a demonstrable , phenomenological exercise that we can practice and experience some of the authors previously ( and personally confusing ) comments about danger & suffering which I noted in the intro section.
    • Through accepting our emotions & recognizing how they are arising we can reduce our suffering vs. trying to flee from something that we can never fully flee from.

Drive all blames into one

  • I struggled with directly aligning “Drive all blames into one” and the authors explanation. I like the explanation and trust that it is correct , I just have a hard time with the word blame — I think.
    • Authors expanded explanation “whatever happens, don’t ever blame anyone or anything else; always blame only yourself.”
  • Blame doesn't mean the traditional convention of blame yourself ( which as the author notes, we're already really good at )
  • You can't blame anyone for what happens. Things happen & all we can do is deal with them.
    • I am not sure I 100% agree with this. Something are directly caused by actions ( at least as much as we can tell ) we can place blame on an action and respond to that action with patience and compassion vs. anger , etc.
  • “You take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life”
    • again, I feel weird about this. Why do I need to take full responsibility vs. realizing that some things just happen from the field of existence. Responsibility seems to be a very functional / 'one' based concept vs. recognizing the result as a stand alone event that is more a portion of emptiness. 1
      • Generally I think I am being too critical here and missing the point — stop trying to blame everything else!
  • I think the general , more abstract take away from this slogan is that we should stop trying to place blame everywhere and instead focus on Turning all mishaps into the path.

Be grateful to everyone

  • We're all connected , no one is truly independent, so be grateful & contemplative of everything.
  • It you really think about it the degree of connectivity is much much deeper than it seems at first-blush.
    • ” Literally every thought in our minds, every emotion that we feel, every word that comes out of our mouth, every material sustenance that we need to get through the day, comes through the kindness of and the interaction with others.”
  • I've heard this slogan and variation of this sentiment in many places, I always struggle with a cringe type reaction to it — it sounds so wishy-washy but over the past few weeks I've been trying to make it more 'piratical' / 'grounded' in my life. Instead of trying to be grateful to the soil I am grateful to my partner. Starting closer to home has made it easier to interact with this slogan. Maybe someday I can be grateful to the soil :)

See confusion as Buddha and practice emptiness

  • ” This goes beyond our conventional or relative understanding to a deeper sense of what we are. Though conventionally I am me and you are you, from an absolute perspective, a God’s-eye view, if you will, there is no self and other. There’s only being, and there’s only love, which is being sharing itself with itself without impediment and with warmth.”
    • I don't think I agree fully with this statement, I would rephrase it as there is both self and no self or put another way, there is both form and emptiness.
  • We see confusion as Buddha and practice emptiness by recognizing the tanha of our body and interacting with them on a deeper level.
    • we engage with our emotions & cravings to go a level deeper than just reacting to them.
  • “[...] when someone leaves this world and enters death (if there is such a place to enter), you know then that this emptiness is not just philosophy. “
  • “When you view your daily human problems in the light of actual birth and actual death, you are practicing with this slogan.”

Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy, pray for help

  • This seems reminiscent to the Three Pure Precepts at least the first two precepts.
    • Do not create Evil
    • Practice Good
    • Actualize Good for Others
  • I like this sentiment a lot , I've heard it expressed in many different ways: “If spiritual teachings are to really transform our lives, they need to oscillate (as the slogans do) between two levels, the profound and the mundane. ”
    • “We have just been contemplating reality as Buddha and practicing emptiness. That was important. Now it’s time to get back down to earth.”
  • Appreciating Lunacy means to be okay with your cravings and recognize them for what they are. Don't dwell on faults ( similar to the grave precept “See the perfection” ).
  • I am not much for praying in the traditional sense so I will take a slightly different interpretation than the author did. Strive for an ideal , to me the Buddha is largely an objective that I look to for introspection and , potentially , examples on how to handle difficult situations ( aka life! ).
    • Not all zen Buddhist pray ; ) but I think I am arguing over semantics.

Whatever you meet is the path

  • This seems very very very similar to the first slogan Turn all mishaps into the path..
  • The author notes that this slogan sums up all the others ( in my opinion, so does the first ).

Personal Takeaways:

  • I think the first slogan could have been the entire article. The rest was great but felt like variations of the first.
  • I really enjoyed the context the author sets out around patience. Generally I've thought of patience a struggle of wills but instead framing it as a form of practice was a great perspective shift for me.
  • Constructive Patience is the term I've been using in my mind to describe the authors definitions. Patience is the practice of realizing truly what is going on and reacting accordingly — it is logical not a feet of strength.
    • Practicing with this is great. It doesn't take months. You can do it today.
    • Feeling it for the first time is encouragement.

Personal Intro

This is a talk Given by Zenki Christian Dillo Roshi at the Boulder Zen Center titled 'Transforming the Self'. These are the notes I've taken on part one of the series. These are raw notes right now. I am going to go back and add personal anecdotes and further readings in the near future.

If you find these notes interesting , I suggest following the Zen Mind Podcast and/or checking out the wealth of digital content available from the Boulder Zen Center.

Link to full session

Four Tenets of Buddhist:

  1. Transformation is possible
  2. Liberation from suffering ( freedom )
  3. Living in accord with how things exist ( wisdom )
  4. Living for the Benefit of all beings ( compassionate action )

These tenets aren't tied to any specific tradition. Once you see them clearly and separate them from any specific tradition , they open up to all traditions ( science, philosophy, etc. ).

Not very invested in hopefulness for the world but what could make him hopeful is that there is this motivation to Transform ( freedom, wisdom, compassionate action ). It isn't always actualized; however, it is a source of hope.

Buddhism as a Transformative Phenomenology :

  • explore your alive-ness through how you experience it.
  • it is also helpful to have others speak about what they experience, but it is up to you to decide if it is helpful.
  • Buddhism is a description of human experience ( Phenomenology ) with the goal of transformation ( freedom, wisdom, compassionate action )
  • This focus on transformation is largely missing from western philosophy.
  • In Zen you need a prescription for how to achieve this transformation ( i.e. zazen )
    • how can we expect zazen to transform ( freedom, wisdom, compassionate action )?
    • Dogen says that there are buddha's that don't know there are buddhas.
      • implying that the results aren't always visible.
    • Transformation isn't something you think your way too. It is something that matures & with good teaching it can be noticed.

Buddhism & the Self

  • Buddhism shocks w/the notion that there is no self.
  • When Buddhism makes a 'no self' statement, it is making a very specific statement, “ there is no independent, unchanging essence to each of us.” — even this is something to explore & to not just accept
    • everything is interdependent & changing
    • the self emerges from the field of everything
  • Possibly when you truly find that lack of essence, mind, & self that is liberation from dukha and leads to transformation.
    • inversely, when that construction of self or essence is in place it stands in the way of liberation , wisdom, and compassionate action.
  • Selflessness can't be binary so a fun, useful term is less-self-ness ; you can look at this practice & transformation as a spectrum. You can observe when there is more or less selff-ness.
  • there are domains in which you can observe self-ness:
    • Skin bag: you can experience being stuck in the skin back , feeling the separation between you & the world. When we feel that we are located inside vs. outside, this is more self-ish feeling.
    • Emotions: Giving a presentation may result in anxiety, when that physical feeling becomes a knot — something you must remove before going about your life.. Then you are feeling more self-ness. You aren't afraid that others will judge your actions, but instead that they will judge you
    • Continuity: its not important what I think , it is important that I think — because, with each thought there is a thinker that is thinking the thoughts. So, when I experience a thought I experience 'me'. When you exp a period of non-thought the continuity is interrupted, I no longer exp. the thinker.
      • Zazen , attempts to push us into the space of non-thought and an exp. of less-self-ness
    • Story: When someone ask you who you are, you are ready to pull together a story. You might or might not be walking around telling yourself a story but you are always ready to tell a story about yourself when asked. When you recognize that the story is just a story and it isn't you ( isn't defining you ) this is an exp. of less-self-ness.
      • Being strongly vested in beliefs is form of self-ness
    • Transcendent Self: changing from a time shape to single moment that is more relaxed. A lightness of being, less heavy because there are less future / past concerns.

We're just experiencing moments of less-self-ness and then we can go forward with these experiences / learning and apply them to our lives.

The Teachings of the Two Truths

  • The Fundamental & conventional ( emptiness & form ) , the important thing is that they are both true.
  • The two truths become useful when they work together, we're wired to experience our perceptions as reality and when we recognize this we can call it true.
  • As a Buddhist you can recognize that the above point causes suffering and that underlying this seemingly solid reality is a field that is the form of emptiness.
  • With the above two points you can then live within forms (seeming reality) with out identifying with it too much.
    • you can realize that you need money to move within the field of forms but from the point of view of emptiness it is just a constructed conventional reality.
    • if you attach too strongly to emptiness you wont be too functional
  • To take the point of view of emptiness is wisdom to take the point of view of convention is the path of compassion.

Personal Summary & thoughts ( WIP )

  • I enjoyed this weekend seminar a lot. It was simple but thought provoking.
  • I am not sure that the comments around the focus on transformation being missing from western philosophy are fair or correct.
    • Friedrich Nietzsche who is one of the most famous western philosophers was extremely focused on transformation and transcendence. In a lot of ways his focus was similar to a lot of Soto Zen practices. He was focused on aiming for a lofty ideal — similar to Buddha , nirvana, enlightenment — through piratical and experiential ways . (i.e. Nietzche's concept of the Übermensch as a goal humanity can set for itself – be it a different objective in transformation than Soto Zen , it is still a transformation and an experiential process that Nietzsche is suggesting.