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just tell me about the third and the fourth."
THE MONK STAYED SILENT.
BOKUSHU HIT THE MONK AND SAID,
"YOU EMPTY-HEADED FOOL!"
Zen is strange -- nowhere else in the world has anything like this happened. The monk, the stranger, remaining silent gave the answer. He could have shouted a third time, he could have shouted a fourth time, a fifth time... what is the problem? But rather than shouting a third and fourth, he simply remained silent. He is saying, "Don't waste time. As far as the game, the traditional game is concerned, it is enough; now silence is my third and fourth shout." And only in Zen would it be possible that BOKUSHU HIT THE MONK AND SAID, "YOU EMPTY-HEADED FOOL!"
It is acceptance. He has been accepted as a disciple because of his silence. To hit him is to accept him, and to call him "You empty-headed fool" is a very affectionate expression. It is almost saying, "Sweetheart, my darling." It is not rejection. In those two shouts he followed the tradition, but he would not go on repeating the tradition; he gave his own shout, and that was silence.
BOKUSHU HIT THE MONK AND SAID,
"YOU EMPTY-HEADED FOOL!"
In Zen an empty-headed fool is almost ready for meditation. A man full of knowledge is far away from meditation. An empty-headed fool is simply a loving way of saying that you are not far away from becoming wise.
The fool can become wise; the knowledgeable never. The empty-headed can become empty-minded, but the man who is carrying scriptures and degrees and the universities and the libraries in his head, he is far away. A master will not unnecessarily waste time on such a person.
The anecdote is complete, but the same schoolmaster, Setcho, puts it like this:
TWO SHOUTS, THREE SHOUTS;
THE KNOWING ONE KNOWS WELL;
IF GOING HELL-BENT,
BOTH ARE BLIND.
WHO IS BLIND? FETCH HIM!
EXPOSE HIM TO THE WORLD!
It is sheer stupidity -- I am afraid we will have to meet this fellow Setcho again and again. Schoolmasters should not enter into the lion's den, but this Setcho has entered; now I cannot save him.
Question 1
Maneesha, you say,
"I
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