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It also means, "You are not receptive, what is the point of answering?" And fundamentally it is a life experience, not a question-and-answer philosophical discourse.
The monk was surprised, obviously. A great master, known to thousands, worshipped by many, says that he won't answer a simple question.
"WHY NOT?" ASKED THE MONK.
"BECAUSE," SAID BOKUSHU, "YOU THINK AND THINK AND THEN COME AND ASK ME."
He is saying, "Think about your question, think about my not answering, and perhaps you may have a certain insight." Something may open for the monk through thinking on this -- that a great master who is supposed to be enlightened is not willing to answer a simple question. There may be something wrong in the question or there may be something in the experience of Buddhism that cannot be put into words. Or perhaps the man who experiences himself disappears into nothingness, into silence.
He cannot answer. All answers are wrong. "Just go and think and think and then come and ask me."
THE MONK FURTHER ASKED, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BODHIDHARMA COMING FROM THE WEST?"
These are traditional questions in Zen.
Bodhidharma founded Zen in China; he went there from India, fourteen hundred years ago. In Zen it has been asked by the newcomers again and again, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BODHIDHARMA COMING FROM THE WEST?" And now particularly it refers to Bokushu's saying, "I WON'T ANSWER."
If a man of enlightenment cannot answer a simple question, what is the point of Bodhidharma traveling to China from faraway India? The journey took three years -- what is the point if it cannot be explained, if it cannot be taught? Why did Bodhidharma take such trouble?
BOKUSHU SAID, "ARE WE NOT TEACHER AND LEARNER? WHY DON'T YOU COME NEARER?"
To be nearer to a master simply means: drop your defenses. We all have defenses, we are all afraid of being vulnerable. Rather than answering his question, he made a different approach possible for him: "We are teacher and learner. We both belong to the same dimension. I may be a little ahead of you, but I am ready to share. Why don't you come a little nearer?"
Gautam Buddha used
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