The seeds of absurdism finds its soil, especially, in those who have looked for the meaning of life but have found little or no meaning as a result of their search (it is usually never a profound search). Facing this dead-end, they can live existentially, accepting that life for them is basically meaningless: there is no God or some hidden absolute within them that they can realize.

Of course I am not saying that Zen has any connection with this type of thought. Far from it. But it doesn't weed out those who come to Zen harboring such ideas. Nor does Buddhism. One could make a rather sound case that secular Buddhists and secular Zennists are existentialists who freely admit that truth is relative and subjective not even thinking that this, in fact, is nihilism! On the same track, doing zazen, that is, sitting for the sake of sitting or quiet sitting (宴坐), is more like the existential acceptance of the inevitable emptiness of life; it has no meaning.

Somehow Zen gets stuck with people who fit the profile of existentialists; some of whom even believe the actions of Zen masters expressed absurdism; that actions and words are meaningless. They signify nothing. Please put your sandals on your head like Joshu and walk away. That's Zen because it is absurd. But, truth be told, Zen cannot be understood by the Western mind in its current philosophical crisis. I know exactly why Joshu put his sandals on his head and walked away. He demonstrated the function of Buddha essence. Our entire life is a demonstration of this profound essence. But we have to awaken to its presence. One just cannot accept it on faith and leave it at that.

I don't have a high regard for the intelligence of those who take up Buddhism and its various schools like Zen. I think they are taking up Zen for the wrong reasons. In the minds of those who take up Zen, it is more of a therapy—a sitting therapy. The more you do the better you feel. I spent most of my early Zen career trying to make heads or tails out of D.T. Suzuki's books. What was Zen pointing to I wanted to know? What was satori? I sat in zazen, but it didn't provide any answers. I was more relaxed afterwards, but it offered no profound glimpse into ultimate reality. That would come later with seeking pure Mind within my very being. I am not saying that all of Zen is becoming a cult of the absurd in which you just sit. But it does draw those kinds of people who don't believe there is an essential nature to realize.