This paper attempts to present Zen as the ultimate wisdom of Asia described in the 16th century Zen classic titled A Paragon of Zen House written by a Korean Zen master, Xishan (1520-1604 CE). The wisdom, according to the classic is the vision that truth or reality must never be sought on the plane of opposition. Xishan’s intent is to invite humankind to enter into an unconditional union with life in its totality. He points outs many salient features of Zen. One of them is that Buddhism in its essence is not the hatred of life but the love of life. According to Xishan, to achieve the unconditional union with life is to be rescued from all forms of estrangement from life. He sees that human awareness of one’s self as being apart from life is not an intellectual error but an existential symptom of the unenlightened condition. Until one is liberated from such a fallen condition, one feels oneself as an alien who is not at ease with the world. This paper attempts to show how Xishan deals with this state of alienation from both self and all that exists, and how he finds the way out.
