I am not an authority on Zen.  In fact, I'm not an authority on 
anything.  But I am somewhat familiar with Taoism and the spirit of 
Zen, and I have found the document ZEN.TXT to be somewhat inaccurate 
and/or misleading.  What follows are some excerpts and rebuttals.  The 
original quotes are in all caps, my replies are in upper/lower case.
  
  
     ZEN DOES NOT REPRESENT NIRVANA,  NOR THE TAO,  BUT REPRESENTS THE 
MEANS  TO  BE AT ONE WITH THOSE ENDS.   ZEN IS THE METHOD  OF  TRAVEL, 
NIRVANA THE DESTINATION.
     Zen may be the method of travel, but nirvana is not the 
destination.  Nirvana is a side-effect produced by Zen, and only 
exists while Zen is being practiced.  If nirvana is being at one with 
the Tao, it must also be a nameless condition... beyond definition.  
Therefore, believing you have achieved nirvana is deceiving yourself.  
Ultimately, nirvana cannot be consciously experienced at all.
  
  
     VALUES,  MORALS AND ETHICS DO NOT EXIST OUTSIDE OF OUR  CULTURAL- 
EXISTENTIAL  MINDS.   THEY DO NOT EXIST IN REALITY AND ARE THEREFORE A 
FIGMENT OF OUR CULTURALLY AND EXISTENTIALLY INDOCTRINATED IMAGINATION.  
WE  BELIEVE  OR THINK VALUES EXIST WHEN IN FACT  THEY  DO  NOT.   THIS 
DESCRIBES THE SCHIZOPHRENIC MIND.  
     Sentence one: true.  Sentence two: false.  Values are very much a 
part of reality.  They exist in the reality of our minds.  People die 
for them every day.  
      If values were not real, we would all experience nirvana and 
satori without effort.  (And it is as "schizophrenic" to believe real 
things don't exist as it is to believe imaginary things are real.)
     The danger of values lies ONLY in believing that they exist 
anywhere OUTSIDE of your mind.  You must own your values before you 
are free to change them.  
  
  
     SINCE CONFUSION, CONFLICT AND INSANITY ARE THE CONSEQUENCE OF OUR 
COMMITMENT TO VALUES,  MORALS AND ETHICS,  AND PEACE EXISTS WHEN THERE 
IS  NO CONFUSION,  CONFLICT OR INSANITY PRESENT,  IT CAN BE  CONCLUDED 
THAT  PEACE IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF HAVING NO VALUES,  NO MORALS AND  NO 
ETHICS.
     Impossible.  The author has already decided that he/she values 
the removal of conflict and suffering from his/her life (and/or the 
lives of others), and is using Zen to remove them.  If one has no 
values, there is no reason to remove suffering and conflict from their 
life.  Also, satori and nirvana would have no value, so there would be 
no reason to pursue them.
     Peace comes from living your life in harmony with your values, 
morals and ethics... by studying them in an enlightened way and 
eliminating those that do not stand the test of reason.   To throw 
away your values is to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
  
  
      ZEN,  AS  REPRESENTED BY ENLIGHTENMENT AND SATORI,  IS IN  
DIRECT OPPOSITION OF THE FASCISTIC/DICTATORIAL CONTROL THE SUPER-EGO 
HAS OVER THE MIND OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND OVER THE CULTURAL PATTERN.
     How can someone who has no values define their opposite as 
fascistic and dictatorial?  Do I hear the faint stirrings of hypocrisy 
here?
  

      ZEN, BY ELIMINATING VALUE, CONSEQUENTLY ELIMINATES DESIRE.
     If one pursues Zen, it is because he/she desires it.  There is no 
other reason to pursue Zen.  If one lives their life in the illusion 
that they have no values and desires, it is because this illusion is 
important to them.  There is no such thing as a "desireless" 
existence. 
     "Zen"... as described in this text... only serves as a 
brainwashing function whose ultimate end is to convince someone that 
they aren't desiring and valuing the things they desire and value.
     To achieve peace, one must live in harmony with ones' desires as 
well as their values and ethics, etc.  To pretend that you can or have 
eliminated them from your life is schizophrenic.
  
  
     THE  MESSAGE  IN  THE BIBLICAL "BOOK OF GENESIS" AS  THE  KEY  TO 
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL SALVATION.
     IT STATES,  "DO AS YOU WILL IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, BUT DO NOT EAT 
FROM  THE  TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL."  IF WE DO EAT  AND 
THEREBY POSSESS THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL,  WE WILL  CONSEQUENTLY 
PSYCHOLOGICALLY  SEPARATE OURSELVES FROM EDEN,  TO SUFFER AND TO CAUSE 
SUFFERING  TO OTHERS UNTIL WE REALIZE THE ERROR WE  HAVE  MADE.   ONCE 
REALIZED, WE MUST REFUSE TO PARTAKE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, 
THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHICH IS THE DIRECT AND ONLY CAUSE OF HUMAN SUFFERING 
AND CONFLICT, THEREBY REALIZING EDEN ONCE AGAIN.
     So... we are being told that discriminating between good and evil 
is an evil thing to do.  
     Discrimination between "good" and "evil" is not inherently 
wrong... it is the belief that good and evil can be defined by 
objective standards (i.e. from somewhere other than our own minds) 
that leads to a fall from nirvana.
  

      THERE  IS BUT ONE PATH.   ALL OTHERS LEAD TO  FURTHER  
CONFUSION, CONFLICT AND INSANITY.
      The above message, brought to us by an anonymous author, has 
also been brought to us (in one form or another) by Jim and Tammy 
Bakker, the Ayatollah Khomeni, Ronald Reagan, Mahatma Ghandi, and 
hundreds of other prophets and wise men.  Will the REAL "One Way" 
please stand up?