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SATORI
149 nowhere and its circumference everywhere. From such a centre he rushes out to deal with events as the spider on its famous web. "Stating this psychologically, anything that happens at the periphery of human consciousness sends its vibration down to the Zen centre of unconsciousness." This produces, in those in whom the intuition has begun to function, a "Zen sense" which will lead, as a candle in the darkness, to the feet of a Master who will guide the student's energies into the cul-de-sac of the intellect, and drive him up to the end. Whatever the poor monk does with his koan will be wrong. He will be abused, ignored, sneered at, struck, but he will never give up. If he does, he will not reach satori; if he fights till he drops he will, as he rolls on the floor, achieve it. Then, in the fierce intensity of the mondo, his mind will be sharpened and sharpened until by a process of ultrarapid reasoning he transcends all reasoning, and the sparks begin to fly between the terminals. The bridge so laboriously built, no longer needed, is just kicked into the stream. Then he jumps. ...
We in the West are growing used to Kierkegaard and his "existential leap”, and it is but the jump of Zen. You may, if you wish, be dramatic about it. Drag yourself with the last ounce of your intellect to the jaws of the abyss. Thought can go no further; heaven lies beyond. With the last gasp of the whole soul's will that doesn't sound right somehow)... or you can meditate on one of the most famous haiku in Japan.
The old pond. A frog jumps in
Plop!
