ABSTRACT
The Buddha is well-known for refusing to speculate on a particular set of fourteen questions that were metaphysical in nature: for example, “What happens to us when we die?” I am sure that if he were alive today, the relations between science and religion would become his fifteenth question. Speculation is not prized very highly in Buddhism, and especially avoided in Zen. I recall the story of a very distinguished university approaching a famous Zen master from Japan to come and give a public lecture. The Zen master repeatedly refused, but the university professors persisted. Zen masters like persistence, so he finally gave in. A large auditorium was filled with eager students and faculty, and the Zen master was introduced with much praise. The old man tottered up to the lectern, looked out at the audience, and struck the podium with his fist-WHAM!—and sat down. That was it. A rather stunned university president thanked him for coming, and that was the end of the evening.
