The scientifically minded West applies its intelligence to inventing all kinds of gadgets to elevate the standard of living and save itself from what… - D. T. Suzuki

The head is conscious while the abdomen is unconscious. When the master tells his disciples to “think** with the lower part of the body, he means that the koan is to be taken down to the unconscious and not to the conscious field of consciousness.

Some primitive people were once visited by an American scientist, and when they were told that Western people think with their heads, the primitive people thought that the Ameri¬ cans were all crazy. They said, “We think with the abdomen.” People in China and also in Japan—I do not know about India —when some difficult problems come up, often say, “Think with your abdomen,” or simply, “Ask your belly.” So, when any question in connection with our existence comes up, we are advised to “think” with the belly—not with any detachable part of the body. “The belly” stands for the totality of one’s being, while the head, which is the latest-developed portion of the body, represents intellection.

Tennyson’s plucking the flower and holding it in his hand, “root and all,” and looking at it, perhaps intently. It is very likely he had a feeling somewhat akin to that of Basho who discovered a nazuna flower by the roadside hedge. But the difference between the two poets is: Basho does not pluck the flower. He just looks at it. He is absorbed in thought. He feels something in his mind, but he docs not express it. He lets an exclamation mark say everything he wishes to say. For he has no words to utter; his feeling is too full, too deep, and he has no desire to conceptualize it. As to Tennyson, he is active and analytical. He first plucks the flower from the place where it grows. He separates it from the ground where it belongs. Quite differently from the Oriental poet, he does not leave the flower alone. He must tear it away from the crannied wall, ”root and all,” which means that the plant must die.