| |
such a question be asked. But the answer is even greater.
"ALL OF THEM," REPLIED KYOZAN.
Isan was not expecting that much. Buddha's words, and Kyozan is saying all of them are devil's words! And it is perfectly in line with Buddha's approach to life. It is not through books, it is not through words.
So Isan will go on teaching the Nirvana Sutra, and at the same time will remind his disciples, "Don't cling to any sutra -- Nirvana or Diamond Sutra -- don't cling. These are simply footsteps leading to your ultimate disappearance."
"If you start thinking that these words of Gautam Buddha's... You may start loving them, you may become attached to them. Attachment is very easy when you love a book. And the Nirvana Sutra is so full of splendor, with so much of beauty; each word implies so much. It seems impossible for a man to make words dance like this; one is bound to fall in love. And of course the Nirvana Sutra will not say no to you; it is just a dead book, paper and ink and nothing else."
Kyozan said to his master, "ALL OF THEM."
It simply means: all words are only echoes of faraway truths. Don't cling to the echo; otherwise, who is going to discover the truth? Avoid the echoes.
What are all the buddhas? -- just an echo of the ultimate truth, just echoing the eternity of your being. Experience what they say, but don't cling to the explanations.
There is so much difficulty. First, the man who has come to realize his ultimate consciousness is in a difficulty how to convey it. There are not words which are capable of conveying it. Whatever he says, he immediately looks and finds it is not the same as it was in the experience. Explanation has fallen far away; it has betrayed.
And then the explanation is caught by the disciples, which is another tragedy, because the disciple is going to comment according to his conditioning. That will change the meaning again. And if the disciple also starts teaching people, then the truth has been left far behind. Not even a single ray reaches that far. Hundreds of mystics have remained silent for just this reason.
So when Kyozan says, "All of them," he is not talking
|
|
|