Book Review: LOUIS E. WOLCHER, Beyond Transcendence in Law and Philosophy. London: Birkbeck Law Press, 2005, xix + 250 pp., ISBN 1859419852, £60 (pbk)
| Date | 01 December 2007 |
| Published date | 01 December 2007 |
| DOI | 10.1177/09646639070160040802 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
an interesting read which will be able to appeal, I think, not only to Critical Legal
Studies enthusiasts but also to otherwise inclined legal scholars.
REFERENCES
Boyd, Robert and Peter Richardson (2005) Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Trans-
formed Human Evolution. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Laland, Kevin and Gillian Brown (2002) Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspec-
tives on Human Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Plotkin, Henry (2002) The Imagined World Made Real: Towards a Natural Science
of Culture. London: Allen Lane.
Rose, Hilary and Steven Rose (eds) (2000) Alas Poor Darwin: Arguments Against
Evolutionary Psychology. London: Jonathan Cape.
Wilson, David S. (2002) Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of
Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
BART DULAING
Katholieke Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
LOUIS E. WOLCHER, Beyond Transcendence in Law and Philosophy. London: Birkbeck
Law Press, 2005, xix + 250 pp., ISBN 1859419852, £60 (pbk).
In a famous Zen story, the Japanese master Nan-in receives a visit from a university
professor seeking enlightenment. Serving tea, Nan-in continues to pour until the
professor’s cup is overflowing. The professor finally says, ‘It is overfull. No more will
go in!’ The Zen master replies, ‘Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and
speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?’ (Reps and
Senzaki, 1998: 19). In Beyond Transcendence, Louis E. Wolcher, is both Nan-in and
the professor, sage and seeker, in a quest for the emptiness of non-opposition that will
reverse the bondage of suffering. Wolcher offers a closely reasoned brief in favour of
modesty, which the Chinese master Zengetsu called the foundation of all virtues (Reps
and Senzaki, 1998: 87–8).
Zen Buddhist enlightenment may be summarized in the following commands: (A)
not two; (B) not one. We must first resist the temptation to divide our world into
conceptual and moral dualisms. Then we must be vigilant that our new awareness
does not itself become the basis for a dualistic discrimination favouring this aware-
ness over other worldviews (Nagatomo, 2006). Wolcher situates these two commands
between three mountains, described in the following Zen algorithm: (1) all is one; (2)
one is none; (3) none is all (p. 32). The first mountain is our unified, but dualistic,
ordinary understanding of reality. The second mountain embodies the complex frag-
mented reality that accompanies intellectual thought. The third mountain symbolizes
the possibility of an enlightened holistic view of reality (pp. 220–2). Command (A)
leads us from mountain (1) to mountain (2). Command (B) takes us from mountain
(2) to mountain (3). Of course, all three mountains are actually the same mountain,
so any idea of ‘movement’ is illusory. Enlightenment is not a destination, but rather
a return to the beginning.
Wolcher does not waste time discussing the lack of enlightenment found on the
first mountain. Beyond Transcendence asks whether Western philosophy has ever
travelled from the second mountain to the third mountain so as to satisfy command
(B). Wolcher examines the paths of ascent followed by three extraordinary climbers
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