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timeless is to grasp it.'
'That is so, that is so' asserted the Master. The push has worked; the Master could not provoke him into any nonsense. The temptation was given; the Master could not succeed in tempting him. Otherwise, the easy way, the way of least resistance, would have been for him to have fallen into the trap. But he remained out of it.
Huineng said 'That is so, that is so.'
At this Yoka acted according to the prescribed ceremonial, and prostrated himself. Now, see the beauty of it. Now it is happening spontaneously, now it is not something formal; it is of the heart, it is of the being itself. The moment the Master says 'That is so, that is so' -- this affirmation from the Master's side, and great reverence arose in him. Not a traditional reverence, not anything of the head and the concept, not that 'He is enlightened' -- he has heard, so he has to bow down. In this moment when the Master spoke to him with his grace -- he showered in his affirmation on this new arrival -- his heart moved; there was a contact.
This is real meeting: the Master has found his disciple and the disciple has found his Master. Immediately, that which had been prescribed in the scriptures happened on its own, not according to the prescription, not because of the prescription, but because of some real encounter.
At this Yoka acted according to the prescribed ceremonial, and prostrated himself
See the difference; the difference is great. You go to somebody -- you have heard he is a great sage -- and you bow down. If it is only because you have heard that he is a great sage, then you are not bowing down really; you are bowing down to the people who have said that he is a sage, not to him. You are a victim of the propaganda, you have been conditioned by the public opinion. You are bowing down to the public; your bowing down has nothing to do with this person, this real person. When you look into the eyes and you find the sage there... and not according to your ideas, because you may have certain ideas how a sage should be. If according to your ideas a person is a sage and you bow down, you are bowing down to yourself; you are paying respect
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