The old problem of the goose in the bottle

Riko once asked Nansen to explain to him the old problem of the goose in the bottle. If a man puts a gosling into the bottle, he said, and feeds the gosling through the bottle's neck until it grows and grows and becomes a goose - and then there is just no more room inside the bottle, how can the man get it out without killing the goose or breaking the bottle?

RIKO! shouted Nansen, and gave a great clap with his hands.

Yes Master! said Riko with a start.

See! said Nansen. The goose is out!

That which is never lost cannot be found, and to search for it is absurd. But the moment this absurdity is understood all seeking stops by itself and that which is never lost is found! That is why I say: SEEK AND YOU WILL NOT FIND, because the very seeking is the barrier. The search itself is the hindrance because it creates the seeker, the ego, the illusion that I am, and I am not. Do not seek and you will find it: the I-AM-NOTNESS. This nothingness is the gate. THE GATELESS GATE.

What is the sound of one hand?

Mamiya went to a great teacher to learn meditation. The teacher told him to concentrate on the famous koan:

What is the sound of one hand?

Mamiya went away and came back a week later shaking his head. He could not get it.

Get out! said the Master. You are not trying hard enough. You still think of money and food and pleasure. It would be better if you died, then you might learn the answer.

The next week Mamiya came back again.

When the Master asked him: Well, what is the sound of one hand?

He clutched at his heart, groaned and fell down as if dead.

Well, you have taken my advice and died, said the Master, but what about the sound?

Mamiya opened one eye: I have not solved that yet, he said.

Dead men don't speak, said the Master.

Get up and get out!

The whole yoga has gone dead because of imitation. One cannot imitate anything that is real, the real is always spontaneous: one can jump into it but one cannot practice it. Any practice is of the mind and by the mind - and the mind is the past, the dead; the mind is the thing one has to jump out of. Out of the mind is the explosion, so be aware of the mind and its tricks!

The mighty cock

Suzuki tells a story: Chi Hsing Tzu was raising a fighting cock for his prince.

Ten days passed and the lord asked: Is he ready?

Chi answered: No sir, he is not ready. He is still vain and flushed with rage.

Another ten days passed and the prince asked about the cock.

Chi said: Not yet, sir. He is on the alert whenever he sees the shadow of another cock or hears its crowing.

Still another ten days passed and when the inquiry came from the prince, Chi replied: Not quite yet, sir. His sense of fighting is still smoldering within him ready to be awakened.

When another ten days elapsed, Chi replied in response to the inquiry: He is almost ready. Even when he hears another crowing he shows no excitement. He has now become positive. He has grown in subtle inner awareness. Now he resembles one made of wood, he is so quiet and silent.
His qualities are integrated. No cock is his match and to win he will not have to fight because other cocks will at once run away from him. They cannot face him now.

And really it proved so. He won fights without fighting at all.

And I say that you can do likewise with yourself: learn the secret from Chi Hsing Tzu's cock!

The real thing is not to fight with your thoughts or desires or instincts because that is negative and the negative cannot help. The real thing is to grow in awareness in meditation because then one wins without any fight whatsoever - and to win through conflict is not a real victory because that which has been suppressed will have to be suppressed again and again. Through conflict there is no end to conflict and through fight only more fight is born. But there is a victory without any conflict, fight or suppression. That victory comes through positive growth in awareness. Do not fight with yourself but grow in awareness and understanding and silence, and all that is negative and diseased will have withered away by itself.

The one sword

Kusunoki Masashige came to a Zen monastery when he was about to meet the overwhelming army of Ashikaga Takanji and asked the Master: When a man is at the parting of the ways between life and death how should he behave?

The Master answered: Cut off your dualism and let THE ONE SWORD stand serenely by itself against the sky!

Mind means duality and meditation, oneness. In Zen they call it - THE ONE SWORD.

What does it mean to be empty?

Once a student asked Joshu: Sir, you teach that we must empty our minds, but I have nothing in my mind; now what shall I do?

The old Master laughed and said: Throw it out!

But I have nothing. How can I throw it out? asked the student.

Joshu said, If you can't throw it out, carry it out! Drive it out! Empty it out! But don't stand there in front of me with nothing in your mind!

Emptiness is not really emptiness: rather, it is the All. It is not negative: rather, it is positivity itself. It is out of it that everything is born and to it everything returns. It is the source and ground of all existence. So whenever I say EMPTINESS I never mean just emptiness! To me emptiness is not the absence of anything but the presence of emptiness itself.