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ZEN BUDDHISM
"For such as, reflecting within themselves, Testify to the truth of Self-Nature,
To the truth that Self-nature is One-nature, Have gone beyond the ken of sophistry.
For them opens the gate of the oneness of cause and
effect,
And straight runs the path of non-duality and nontrinity.
Abiding with the Not-particular in Particulars, Whether going or returning they remain unmoved; Taking hold of the Not-thought in thoughts In every act they hear the voice of Truth."1
122
All meditation in Zen is a preparation for this experience, but note that there is no effort to attain, no conscious striving to pass "from the unreal to the Real" or "from darkness to the Light", or any other motion between two opposites. In Zen "there is nothing infinite apart from finite things", nor holy that is not with us here and now. If Zen is not in the room beside you it will not be found in heaven, nor shall any hell withhold it from your eyes. Zen may be wooed in vain in za-zen, the formal "sitting" for satori, yet be found in the garden, with a spade in hand. In the same way, the mondo takes place as often in the course of a day's work on the farm as in the silence of the Master's room, and the rising spiritual excitement, as I call it, which often heralds a moment of satori, may come when washing up, or shaving, no less than in the meditation hour.
If this chapter has come some way before the typical
1 From the famous Song of Meditation of the Zen Master, Hakuin. There are many translations. This is from DR. SUZUKI's version in an article on "The Meditation Hall and the Monkish Life". (The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 2, p. 49.)
