Mutterings to the Wall

• Authors: Kevin C. Taylor

Abstracts

EN

This paper takes up Hadot’s call for more comparative work on Buddhism and Philosophy as a Way of Life by comparing Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku’s artwork Pilgrims with the graffiti artist Banksy’s The Street is in Play. Beyond the striking similarities in form and apparent tongue-in-cheek criticism of graffiti, this paper explains the context of Hakuin’s artwork and the text of his painting before exploring the importance of graffiti in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. I argue that by taking up Hadot’s call for more comparative work we find that Hakuin’s Zen bears fruitful points of comparison with Hadot’s account of philosophy as a way of life. Furthermore, a comparison of the two artworks of Banksy and Hakuin helps us better understand both figures via thematic elements of humor and socially disruptive writings.

Keywords

EN

Hakuin; Zen; Banksy; graffiti; Hadot; philosophy as a way of life; Spiritual Exercise; Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski
• Journal: Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 98-115

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Kevin C. Taylor

• Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis

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Identifiers

DOI

10.14394/eidos.jpc.2022.0027

Biblioteka Nauki

2161783