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for forty years after he became enlightened? What did Ikkyu himself do? For so many years he remained enlightened on the earth; he was doing the same.
Yes, but with a difference. That difference has to be understood. Now, a Zen man lives as absolutely ordinarily as everybody else, so you cannot make any other distinction. For example, if you go and see a Jain monk he lives differently: he still eats, excretes, sleeps, gets up, and the round moves on, but he has made special ways of eating. He does not earn, he begs. For excretion also he has made special ways; he excretes in an extraordinary way. He does not go to the ordinary toilet, no -- he has to go outside the town. He cannot use your bathroom; he is no ordinary human being.
Now, just see how foolishly we go on -- extraordinary things. He goes outside the town. He eats only once a day. A certain sect of Jains is even more difficult: they eat standing. The Jain monk stands and eats, he remains naked, he never takes a bath, he never cleans his teeth. He does not sleep on a bed, just on the floor with straw under and over him. He has no shelter, he moves from one place to another, he is constantly on the move.
But these differences are in detail. Basically, whether you go outside the town to excrete, or you just use the ordinary toilet everybody is using, what is the difference? Whether you earn for yourself, or somebody else earns for you and you beg, what is the difference? Whether you eat twice, thrice or five times or once, does it make any difference? How does it make any difference? These are just habits, they can be cultivated.
There are tribes in Africa who eat only once in twenty-four hours. They have eaten that way for centuries, and they are accustomed to it. They cannot believe that people eat twice; once is enough.
Now, these differences in details are just to create the idea that "I am special." These are ego trips.
A Zen man simply lives as you live. It is very difficult to see the difference, but the difference is there. The difference is that he witnesses everything that is happening -- that is the only difference. He eats, but he is a witness. Now, that
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