IS
UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF
One
day a student from Chicago came to the Providence Zen Center and
asked Zen Master Seung Sahn, "What is Zen?"
Zen
Master Seung Sahn held his Zen stick above his head and said,
"Do you understand?"
The
student said, "I don't know."
Zen
Master Seung Sahn said, "This don't know mind is you. Zen
is understanding yourself."
"What
do you understand about me? Teach me."
Zen
Master Seung Sahn said, "In a cookie factory, different cookies
are baked in the shape of animals, cars, people and airplanes.
They all have different names and forms, but they are all made
from the same dough, and they all taste the same."
"In
the same way, all things in the universe - the sun, the moon,
the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth - have different
names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance.
The universe is organized into pairs of opposites: light and darkness,
man and woman, sound and silence, good and bad. But all these
opposites are mutual, because they are made from the same substance.
Their names and their forms are different, but their substance
is the same. Names and forms are made by your thinking. If you
are not thinking and have no attachment to name and form, then
all substance is one. Your don't know mind cuts off all thinking.
This is your substance. The substance of this Zen stick and your
own substance are the same. You are this stick; this stick is
you.
The
student said, "Some philosophers say this substance is energy,
or mind, or God, or matter. Which is the truth?
Zen
Master Seung Sahn said, "Four blind men went to the zoo and
visited the elephant. One blind man touched its side and said,
"The elephant is like a wall."
The
next blind man touched its trunk and said, "The elephant
is like a snake."
The
next blind man touched its leg and said, "The elephant is
like a column."
The
next blind man touched its tail and said, "The elephant is
like a broom."
Then
the four blind men started to fight, each one believing that his
opinion was the right one. Each only understood the part he had
touched; none of them understood the whole.
"Substance
has no name and no form. Energy, mind, God and matter are all
name and form. Substance is the Absolute. Having name and form
is having opposites. So the whole world is like the blind men
fighting among themselves. Not understanding yourself is not understanding
the truth. That is why there is fighting among ourselves. If all
the people in the world understood themselves, they would attain
the Absolute. Then the world would be at peace. World peace is
Zen.
The
student said, "How can practicing Zen make world peace?"
Zen
Master Seung Sahn said, "People desire money, fame, sex,
food and rest. All this desire is thinking. Thinking is suffering.
Suffering means no world peace. Not thinking is not suffering.
Not suffering means world peace. World peace is the Absolute.
The Absolute is I."
-Next
Page-