I'd suggest that the difference is that Zen (at least in some schools) is after a meta-cognitive experience (by definition inexpressible in concrete terms) whic

I'd suggest that the difference is that Zen (at least in some schools) is after a meta-cognitive experience (by definition inexpressible in concrete terms) which transcends (even short circuits) cognition - whereas the aim of Western philosophy (at least in some schools) is a description of experience in concrete terms accessible to the intellect. I oversimplify, of course. But the extent to which Hofstadter is "into" Zen is open to question. (I don't remember much Zen in GEB.)