reconstructed claim.  What I would like to argue for
　　   is that, as far as Zen is concerned, whether  Action
　　   is in some static  sense  empty, what  is of crucial
　　   importance  is the fact that in a dynamic  sense  it
　　   must and can be made so through meditation practice.
　　   Indeed, the whole thrust of Zen practice is directed
　　   toward the realization  of the emptiness  of Action.
　　   The  Zen student  traces  action  to its  source  in
　　   Action  and then uproots  its source.  (I shall have
　　   more to say of this in the second section.)

　　　　  When  Action  has been rendered  empty, then the
　　   world  has been  stopped  and, to use the expression
　　   found   again  and  again  in  Zen  literature,  one
　　   realizes that "There is nothing at all."(11) Because
　　   karman  creates  the world  in the sense of creating
　　   the  permanent  ego-based  illusion  that  there  is
　　   something rather

　　　　　　　　　　　　  P.80

　　   than  nothing, karman  is  more  the  enemy  of  the
　　   realization  of actual  nothingness  than  it is the
　　   enemy of the attainment  of virtue--at  least as far
　　   as Zen is concerned.  The reason  one's karman--good
　　   or bad--stands  in the way of enlightenment  is that
　　   it represents  the permanent  illusion that there is
　　   ultimately  something  rather than nothing.  What is
　　   the   characteristic   concern   of   Zen   is   the
　　   deconceptualization and deobjectification of karman.
　　   Freedom   from  karman   means   freedom   from  the
　　   objectification  of karman.  Such objectification is
　　   incompatible  with the spirit of emptiness.  Through
　　   meditation  practice  the student  learns how not to
　　   objectify  his karman  and his actions;  the  reason
　　   meditation  practice  can teach  this  all-important
　　   lesson  is that it is action  which  is itself  free
　　   from objectification and conceptualization.  Because
　　   meditation,　　 strictly　　 speaking,　　 cannot　　 be
　　   objectified, it  can  free  us from  the  pernicious
　　   habit  of objectifying  our  actions.  It is in this
　　   sense that meditation  practice  can be spoken of as
　　   being both karman-free and karman-freeing nonaction.
　　   It is ''doing nothing" (rather than "doing nothing")
　　   in the words  of the  contemporary  Zen master  Soen
　　   Nakagawa, who thus expresses the essence of Rinzai's
　　   notion　　 of   buji.(12)   Meditation　　 stops   the