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he says, "I was simply astonished."
Gurdjieff laughed and said, "Have you heard? Now go and rest."
But what was said? Nothing was said. The question is not that the master should say anything. The question is that the disciple should be so silent... and he was silent because he was so tired that he could not even think, the mind became utterly empty. In that silence there is no need for the master to say anything, he can just indicate it as this, and the sermon is over.
But Hyakujo goes even further than Gurdjieff. He did not even say, "This." He forced his disciples to work to the optimum, where their energy was completely absorbed by the work and the mind had nothing, no energy to contain its chattering. Again and again disciples came to him, but he would simply repeat, "Go and work in the field."
But one day those who had remained with this strange man who teaches nothing, who simply says, "Go back to the field and work as hard as possible..."
And he was known to be one of the great masters who knows the secret. Many came, but only a few remained. He was a difficult man.
When only those few remained who had become silent working in the fields, who had come to a deep harmony with nature, whose minds had settled down, he accepted the invitation.
THIS TIME -- after many efforts of the disciples to invite the master and getting the same reply, "Go back and work in the field" -- this time when they came and asked, "PLEASE GIVE US A SERMON,"
HE QUITE READILY AGREED TO DO SO.
AFTER A WHILE ALL THE MONKS GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE HALL. THE MASTER QUIETLY APPEARED BEFORE THEM, WALKED UP TO THE PULPIT, SPREAD OUT BOTH HIS ARMS AND , WITHOUT A WORD , IMMEDIATELY RETURNED TO HIS ROOM.
This is known in the history of Zen as the greatest sermon. It is, because he said nothing and yet he said everything. Those two hands spread like a bird's wings opened the whole sky to the silent disciples, a transmission without words.
We have become too much accustomed to words, we don't know the beauty of wordlessness. Even if you see a beautiful rose, immediately your mind says, "How beautiful," and you have missed.
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