Human Nature and Zen

<p>Buddha, in the first of his Four Noble Truths, states that&nbsp;"All is suffering." What does he mean by that? Is this starting point of Buddhism in any way connected with human nature? Is there such a nature at all? What sets us humans apart from other animals? And how is this difference related to religion?</p><p>In this book, the fruit of a life-long quest, Richard DeMartino explains what makes us members of the species <em>homo sapiens sapiens</em> unique: we are conscious of being conscious. This reflective consciousness or self-consciousness forms the basis of our personhood, of our identity as an "I." Irrespective of sex, nationality, race, age, etc., being a self-aware "I" or "self" is what makes us human. But how is this related to the first Noble Truth? To be a self-aware subject-"I" implies facing objects-including myself-to which I am inextricably bound and yet from which I am alienated. Along with other religions and philosophies of Oriental origin (such as Advaita Vedanta), Zen Buddhism calls the human being's constitutive subject-object matrix "duality," and identifies this duality as man's root problem.&nbsp;</p><p>This book focuses on the initial nature and the basic problem of the human person. The resolution to this problem-Non-duality or Awakening to the self-less Self-is a major theme of the companion volume <em>Zen Encounters</em> (ISBN 978-3-906000-22-0) containing Dr. DeMartino's seminal essays and conversations.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Richard DeMartino</strong> (1922-2013), Zen practitioner and thinker, long-time student of D.T. Suzuki, Shin'ichi Hisamatsu, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebuhr, and co-author (along with D.T. Suzuki and Erich Fromm) of the classic <em>Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis</em>, was senior associate professor of religion at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.</p>