Page 176

By Jack Joseph Smith

Top Song THE bEAUTY of ZEN, THE wonder of it, is that when one speaks About it, or even indicates some- thing concerning its notion, then that very thought, or suggestion, makes all not ZEN. IT is just that when before is After, And After is before, is when ZEN steps in to say itself does Not exist, Rose Marie's Daily Task

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page turns Zen into a paradox of speech, arguing that the moment one tries to define it, one has already moved outside it.

The page works by undoing its own statement. It tries to name Zen only in order to show that naming breaks it, and the time-language of before and after pushes that paradox further. The closing note, 'Rose Marie's / Daily / Task,' gives the page a sudden domestic edge, as if this abstract problem were also part of ordinary lived discipline.