even if you say like this for a whole day, it is not Zen.
Zen, Zen, Zen ..., even if you say like this for a whole day, it is not Zen.
If you really want to know Zen, right away, you should relinquish even that thought of Zen, and keep your mind pure and clear holding on to the question of your koan.
An eminent teacher said,
Figuratively speaking, though Zen-realm is like the empty skies without a speck of cloud, yet if but a single thought of the sky arises within you, it is no longer a correct staying in the Zen-world.
I would want to ask you, “Where does the empty sky come from, and who makes it?”
Zen-realm is just the world of pure mind which all sentient beings should cultivate and attain. If you wish to live in Zen-realm, I would like to exhort you to go straight for ten thousand years towards the place that there is neither the Heaven nor earth. Yet, at this moment, if giving rise to other thinking or moving your calmness, then you will at once fall in hell. And why? Because the very moment you move is already mistaken. Therefore, day and night, only sitting silently (not body sitting, but a Koan mind), you should reflect your true face and remain unmoved. If then, you must be in the state of real poverty which all disappears. In substance, the actual existence of ours is nothing but a light of pure mind without possessing anything. I.e. the light of pure mind is ultimate bliss. However, you should know that the very light is even a fault.
Therefore an eminent teacher said,
Whosoever realizes above stanza will be able to attain a way that one who has no tongue can speak, and a man without arms can clench a fist.
Do you see such a man now? Really if then, you should be one who lives in Zen-realm.
A-k! (Shouting: Hal)
Put it all down! And only holding on to your Koan fast, go straight for ten thousand years.
