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ambitions, desires.
HOGEN SAID, "I DON'T KNOW."
His answer, his response, is not parrotlike. He has not repeated the same thing again. The question was the same, remember, but the answer has changed. That's the difference between a knowledgeable person and a man of knowing, the wise man, who functions out of a state of not-knowing.
"I DON'T KNOW."
Keishin must have been tremendously happy. He said:
"NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."
Knowledge creates a distance between you and reality. The more you know, the greater is the distance -- so many books between you and reality. If you have crammed the whole of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, then there is so much distance between you and reality. Unless reality tries to find you through the jungle of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA or you try to find reality through the jungle of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, there is not going to be any meeting. The more you know, the greater is the distance; the less you know, the thinner is the distance. If you don't know at all there is no distance at all. Then you are face to face with reality; not even face to face -- YOU ARE IT. That's why the Master said:
"NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."
Remember, such a beautiful sutra, so exquisite, so tremendously significant:
"NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE."
The moment you don't know, intimacy arises between you and reality, a great friendship arises. It becomes a love affair. You are embracing reality; reality penetrates you, as lovers penetrate each other. You melt into it like snow melting in the sun. You become one with it. There is nothing to divide. It is knowledge that divides; it is not-knowing that unites.
Listening to this tremendously significant sutra:
"NOT KNOWING IS THE MOST INTIMATE," HOGEN SUDDENLY ATTAINED GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT.
HE MUST HAVE BEEN VERY CLOSE, obviously. When he said, "I DON'T KNOW," he must have been just on the borderline. When he said, "I AM MAKING PILGRIMAGE AIMLESSLY," he was just one step away from the borderline. When he said, "I DON'T KNOW," even that one step disappeared. He was standing on the border-line.
And
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