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strange for a seven-year-old child to understand this. It has been discovered only now by the psychologists that man's greatest barriers are the father, the mother. If you want to be a totally free consciousness you have to drop, somewhere on the way, your teddy-bears, your toys, the teachings that have been forced upon you. They have all been of good intent, there is no question about it, but as it is said in an ancient proverb, "The path to hell is paved with good intentions."
Just good intentions are not enough; what is needed is a conscious intention, which is very rare. To find a father and mother with a conscious meditative energy is just hoping for the hopeless.
When his mother died Dogen was translating the most significant Buddhist scripture, abhidharma -- "the essence of religion" -- from Chinese into Japanese. He showed every sign of a tremendous future. And at the age of seven, when his father and mother had both died, the first thing he did -- which is unbelievable -- was to become a sannyasin. Even the neighbors, relatives, could not believe it. And Dogen said, "I will not miss this opportunity. Perhaps if my father and mother were alive, I might not have left the world in search of truth." He became a sannyasin and started searching for the master.
There are two kinds of seekers who become interested in truth. One starts looking for scriptures: he may become a great intellectual, he may become a giant, but inside there will be darkness. All his light is borrowed, and a borrowed light is not going to help in the real crises of life.
I am reminded of a Christian priest who used to repeat in every sermon Christ's saying, "If somebody slaps you on one cheek, give him the other, too." Everybody liked his sermons, he was quoting such great statements. But in one place a man really stood up and slapped the priest on one of his cheeks. The priest was shocked, because he had just been quoting Jesus. But anyway, to save his face, he gave his other cheek. And that man must have been a real rebellious type; he slapped the other one, too. Now this was too much!
The priest jumped at the man and started beating him. And the man
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