The Method of Zen

The method of Zen is

To baffle, excite, puzzle and exhaust the intellect

Until it is realised that intellection is only thinking *about*

It will provoke, irritate and again exhaust the emotions

Until it is realised that emotion is only feeling *about*

And then it contrives when the disciple has been brought to an intellectual and emotional impasse

To bridge the gap between second-hand conceptual contact

With reality and first-hand experience.

~Alan Watts