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Zen and the Art of Essay Writing

Tamayyurt

23:46 / 27.03.02

Right, I have a ten page paper on how philosophy = practice in Zen Buddhism due tomorrow morning. I'm obviously not going to ge this done SO do you think it would be wise to stapel ten pages together and handing them in? (With my name at the top of course.) Thoughts?

Trijhaos

23:57 / 27.03.02

Wise? Probably not.

An interesting approach to the assignment? Damn skippy!

I'd love to be able to do something like that, but I don't have a philosophy class.

What I'd look at is this. How important is this grade to you? I mean, if you were to get a 0, F, or whatever, how badly would it impact your overall grade. If it doesn't affect it too much, go for it and tell us how it went.

Of course, if it would affect your grade to a great degree, just try to get what you can done. If it isn't ten pages, don't worry about it. My philosophy when it comes to writing papers is "Something is better than nothing".

Tamayyurt

00:17 / 28.03.02

what if I write something like, "Every buddhist text ever written are on these ten pages."

Tamayyurt

00:20 / 28.03.02

then he'd get me for plagiarism, huh?

Trijhaos

00:23 / 28.03.02

Would that just go on the first page, or all ten pages? Either way it too is an interesting idea.

It kind of reminds me of that episode of Boy Meets World where we see a future where everything didn't work out. Eric, now known as Plays with Squirrels, has written a 1000 page manifesto. THe manifesto details everything he believes to be important. Only the first page has any writing on it, and it says "Lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself".

Good god, I'm ashamed I remember that.

Trijhaos

00:25 / 28.03.02

Plagarism? Nah. What you do is write that on the first page and make the last page the reference page. There, your work is properly cited and you can't get in trouble for plagarism.

Tamayyurt

00:34 / 28.03.02

hah, good idea! And Boy Meets World is a great show!

Trijhaos

00:39 / 28.03.02

Yeah Boy Meets World is a wonderful show. I'm not too up on the whole Zen thing, but isn't it just some state of mind?

What you could do is make a note at the beginning of your paper along the lines of "This paper was written in a zen-like state of mind" and then just write. Don't worry about what's being written. Write until you have ten pages and stop.

grant

18:51 / 28.03.02

Nine blank pages.

On the 10th, the words:
"Chop wood.
Carry water."

Logos

01:21 / 29.03.02

Nah. Just hand in a flower. If your professor smiles, he's a bodhisattva.

alas

05:26 / 29.03.02

i'm a prof, myself--i say go with grant's suggestion. i have no idea what i'd do, but it would make my day and i'd remember it forever. and you'll have a great story for the rest of your life.

Mystery Gypt

06:10 / 29.03.02

plagarism indeed. this "original concept" is something that comes up just about anytime there's an undergraduate class dealing with zen. not only is it not clever, it misses the point entirely. if yr lucky, the professor will smile and so ok, you can have an extension.

or maybe you've ascended so far into the buddhalands that the distinction between passing and failing has lost its duality.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

00:51 / 30.03.02

By all means, yes. If you're professor knows the first thing about Zen, he/she'll realize it's as informative as any other document on Zen.

I like the idea. I mean, it's for your philosophy = practice class, for christ's sake. He/She's asking for it. Title it, print your name, and by all means have a bibliography, but not a single goddam word on any of the ten pages.

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