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Main Index
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life. The same idea of prison becomes the idea of hell. And the same idea of reward -- governmental rewards, presidential rewards, gold medals, this and that -- that same idea becomes transported as heaven, paradise, FIRDAUS. But the psychology is the same.
Zen destroys that psychology from the very root. Z.n has no condemnation for anything. It has only understanding: it says try to understand things as they are. Try to understand man as he is -- don't impose an ideal, don't say how he should be. The moment you say how man should be, you become blind to the reality that he is.
The 'should' becomes a barrier. Then you can't see the real, then you can't see that which is -- your 'should' becomes too heavy. You have an ideal, a perfectionist ideal, and every man falls below it, naturally. Then every man is condemned.
And those egoistic people who can manage somehow to force themselves into these ideals -- at least superficially, at least outwardly -- they become great saints. They are nothing but great egoists. And if you look into their eyes, just one flavour you will find: holier-than-thou. They are the chosen few, they are the chosen people of God. And they are here to condemn you and to transform you.
Zen is not interested in anybody's transformation. AND it transforms -- that is the paradox. It is not concerned with how you should be, it is only concerned with what you are. See into it, see into it with loving, caring eyes. Try to understand what it is. And out of this understanding, a transformation comes. And the transformation is natural -- you have not to do it, it simply happens on its own accord.
Zen transforms, but it doesn't talk about transformation. It changes, but it is not concerned with change. It brings more beatitude to man than anything else, but it is not concerned with it at all. It comes as a grace, as a gift. It follows understanding. That is the beauty of Zen, it is unconditionally value-free. Valuation is the disease of the mind -- that's what Zen says. Nothing is good and nothing is bad, things are just as they are. Everything is as it is.
In Zen a totally new dimension opens, the dimension of effortless
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