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Main Index
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is one. He knows the oneness of life, hence he is not disturbed by any contradictions.
The man of Zen contains all contradictions. He is vast enough, he can contain contradictions. He enjoys paradoxes. He does not make life a problem. He looks at life as a mystery. He is not interested in solving it, he is interested only in living it -- living it to the uttermost.
HE KNOWS THAT ILLUSION IS UNFOUNDED.
Hence he is not worried like the Hindu monks who escape from the world because the world is illusory. Do you see the stupidity of it? If the world is illusory, why are you escaping from it? For what? If it is not, if it is not really there, then why are you escaping?
If you see a man running and you ask him, "Where are you going?" and he says, "There is a rope which only appears to be a snake -- it is not a snake -- and I am running away from that appearance of a snake," you will say, "You are stupid! If you know it is a rope, then stop running. And if you know it is not a rope, then stop saying that it is illusory, that it is only an appearance."
But that's what Hindu monks have been doing for thousands of years: calling the world maya, illusory, and yet renouncing it. Renounce your wife because the wife is illusory, renounce your children because they are illusory, renounce your day-to-day, ordinary life because it is illusory. Escape to the Himalayas -- everything is illusory. But then why are you escaping? From what?
That is the beauty of Zen. Zen says:
HE KNOWS THAT ILLUSION IS UNFOUNDED AND THAT SATORI IS NONE OTHER THAN HIMSELF.
He knows that all is illusory so there is no need to escape. It is unfounded, you need not be worried about it. It is a rope -- it appears to be a snake. So why escape? Why renounce? Let it appear to be a snake, let it be there as a rope. Whatsoever it is, the appearance is unfounded, hence there is no need to renounce.
Zen does not teach renunciation. It teaches understanding, awareness, alertness, the capacity to see things as they are. And then there is no need to escape from anywhere. Wherever you are, Zen helps you to relax.
And there is no need to search for
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