The Wild Fox Chan: The Practice of the Same, Critical Chan Liminality, and Gong’an Therapy in Times of Climate Crisis

Abstract
Much of the way we respond to the climate change crisis today repeats our routinized old habits. For example, most people (including me) may respond to the crisis by repeating established consumption patterns, such as the use of reusable bags. While these provide relief, our basic way of life as consumers, and indeed the entire economic structure, has not changed. In other words, we are still collectively responding to an unprecedented large-scale climate crisis in a manner that is familiar to us without radically changing our cognition and our way of life. This is an interesting but unfortunate problem that humanity faces over and over. That is: when humanity is met with uncertainties in time of crisis, the response strategy is regressive. Instead of taking a radical move to revamp our way of life, we instinctively shrink back into our familiar (techno-capitalist) comfort zone of inertia and convenience, and use the easiest, low-cost ways to “save the planet” by doing token changes. What this suggests is a gap between our knowledge and action: when our human civilization is aware of its own crisis and must make changes immediately, we are caught and constrained by habitual (inert) thinking and behavior. Whether it is cultural (e.g., the scapegoat mechanism), subconscious (e.g., denial or repetitive obsessive- compulsive disorder), biological (e.g., forces like species reproduction, expansion, and maximization of resource), or karmic imprints (Skt. vāsanā; Ch. xiqi). These habits are the basis of what I call, “the practice of the same.” Such practice prevents us from taking innovative measures to respond to the current crisis. Since these deeply ingrained habits have seriously affected our ability to respond to disasters, how then do we combat them? After articulating the array of “the practice of the same” that dictates every corner of our civilization, this paper proposes to turn to gong’an (Jp. kōan) to dismantle that dysfunctional habit of repetition. The soteriological practice aiming at realizing one’s Buddha nature provides a way to think about what I call “critical Chan liminality,” which deconditions us from the practice of the same. Here I use “Baizhang’s Wild Fox” (Ch. Baizhang yehu) as a case in point to illustrate how gong’an narrative.

Keywords
Anthropocene/climate crisis, Baizhang’s Wild Fox (Baizhang yehu), critical Chan liminality, gong’an/kōan, identification/the practice of the same