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I have done so much for buddhism -- so many scriptures have been translated, distributed all over the country, millions of copies, thousands of buddhist monks are fed by treasury, hundreds of monasteries are run by my treasury -- and I have been doing whatsoever I can do to bring my country to the buddha feet. What is my merit?'
Bodhidharma looked at him and said, 'Merit? There is no merit in it!'
It was so unexpected -- it was a shock. The Emperor must have thought in his mind, 'What type of man is this?' The emperor was on an ego trip in the name of religion, conversion, merit, virtue, he was trying to attain to some paradise -- and here comes this man who says, 'No merit at all!'
The Emperor wanted to change the subject. He said, 'Okay. I would like one thing. I have been waiting for you to ask you, "What is the first principle of truth, of holiness?"'
Bodhidharma again looked into the emperor's eyes -- and Bodhidharma had very penetrating eyes, dagger-like -- and he said, 'It is so vast, it cannot be a principle. Principles are tiny and truth is so vast -- it cannot be a principle, it cannot be a theory. And holiness? There is no holiness in it -- it simply is!'
Now this was too much! The Emperor was offended. He must have thought in his mind, 'By what authority is this man saying this. The emperor had read all the scriptures and there was not a a single statement to support it!
In anger he asked, 'Then who are you standing before me?'
Bodhidharma laughed -- an uproarious laugh, a lion's roar -- and he said, 'I don't know, your majesty.'... A very rare man who can say, 'I don't know.'
This is what the taste of ultimate knowing is. To know, is to know that to know, is not to know. And not to know, is to know.
So while you are here, relax into ignorance, into not-knowing, and you will feel very very blessed. Don't try to learn anything while you are here -- unlearn. That was the whole teaching of dharma -- unlearn, become unknowledgable.
' The mind is knowledge. When you drop knowledge, you drop the mind also. The mind dropped, there is nothing to attain -- you have already attained. And that's
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