-- The Enlightened --

Once there was a well known philosopher and scholar who devoted himself to the study of Zen for many years. On the day that he finally attained enlightenment, he took all of his books out into the yard, and burned them all!

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Truth cannot be found in scriptures. Scriptures contain only words. Truth is found in deep silence and meditation. Truth has to be found within oneself!
Down the ages religions have been deceiving the humanity by saying them that only their religion's book is the real scripture and the book of God. No book is book of God! All books are written by human beings. Read the books. It's perfectly OK to read the books no matter which religion it belongs to. But don't rely upon them. Rely upon your own meditation!

-- The Buddha Demon --

"If you seek the Buddha, you will be caught by the Buddha Demon; if you seek the patriarchs, you will be bound by the patriarch-Demon.
Whatever you are seeking, all becomes suffering."

~ Zen Master Rinzai ~

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These Zen Masters are wonderful! Such type of fun is possible only in a Zen environment. If you go to a Christian society and there you say 'Jesus Demon', or if you go to an Islam society and there you say 'Mohammad Demon', then your life is in danger!
Zen is only one which has made humor and iconoclasm religious!
Keep smiling and of course continue with the meditation by being a witness and not a seeker. All seeking becomes suffering. Don't seek. Just be a witness!

-- The Strange Teaching --                    

Zen Master Caoshan asked Venerable Qiang, “The true body of Buddha is like vast emptiness. When a thing appears there, it is like the moon reflected in water. How would you express this teaching?”
Qiang said, “It’s like a donkey looking into a well.”
Caoshan said, “You’ve said a lot, but you’ve only gotten eighty percent of it.”
Qiang said, “What would you say, Master?”
Caoshan said, “It’s like the well looking at the donkey.”

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Rumi has said that when he realized the truth he got to know that not only he was seeking the truth, but also the truth was seeking him! If truth keeps evading you how will you realize it?

-- Te-shan’s Ultimate Teaching –

Seppo asked Tokusan, "Can I also share the ultimate teaching the old patriarchs attained?" 

Tokusan hit him with a stick, saying, "What are you talking about?" 

Seppo did not understand, so he repeated his question the next day. 

Tokusan answered, "Zen has no words, and neither does it have anything to give."

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Remember! This blog is only for meditators and only a meditator free from orthodox faith systems can understand these posts.

The existence is infinite and accommodates contradictory things – the day and night, the yin and the yang all are the part of existence. But words are limited. When I say day, it leaves night behind and so on. All the philosophies and religions are therefore culprit of the humanity because they have kept the truth away from the world by giving words to the world!

Understand this! A theist believes that there is God. An atheist believes that there is no God. And each of them believe that only their set of words and philosophy are correct and hence keeps fighting. But did you see, a child was there some time ago and one day it dies and becomes NOT. Being and NOT Being, both are the part of the existence. So both theists and atheists are talking about only one side of the coin. Words are always limited. The truth is beyond words. It cannot be expressed in words.

This is why Zen doesn’t give you any philosophy. It says: Just meditate and realize the truth in your meditative silence! This is why I say, a meditator cannot be a theist or an atheist. He understands that all faith systems are bunch of words and truth is much bigger than your words. If you are not meditating and merely reading these stories then you are doing nothing but just deceiving yourself!!

-- Tao-wu's Greatest Depth --

Zen Master Tao-wu was sitting on the high seat of meditation when a monk came and asked, "What is the greatest depth of the teaching?"
(Means what is the ultimate truth?)
Tao-wu came down from the seat to kneel on the floor saying, "You are here after traveling from afar, but I am sorry to have nothing to answer you."

Later on Zen Master Fugai commented on this story : "Look out, brother! You are endangering yourself in the deep sea."
Later on Zen Master Nyogen said: "Yes, it is true. This monk does not realize his danger even though he is on the verge of drowning."

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There are multiple aspects of this story:
First : None of the answers to this question can be real answer. Each answer will give rise to thousand and one more questions and the original question will still remain unanswered. Understand this! If you ask me "Is there any God?", I can say either Yes or No. But whatever answer I give you, will give rise to thousand and one more questions. None of the answer is the real answer. And there are people who have faith on some answers and they have become so clinged to their answers that they find out all kinds of rationalization that their answer is right. Someone is theist, he believes in God. He can give you hundreds of rationalization for his answer. Someone is atheist, he doesn't believe in God. He can also give you hundred of rationalization for his answer. If you refute their answers, they will become angry with you because their answers are very superficial. Deep down they are suffering from their ignorance. By refuting those answers you are unveiling their ignorance. This very anger is the proof that they don't know the answer. They just believe that their answer is correct. This very anger is the proof of their ignorance.
No! Zen doesn't give you any new kind of answer. You are already filled with lot of answers. Zen is the art of making you empty of all the answers, making you empty of all the words and diving deep in silence.
Second : 'THAT' cannot be given by someone else. 'THAT' you have to find in your own meditation.
Third : The monk missed the lively truth in the master. He was looking for some words. This is how people have missed the Buddhas. They see them, they hear them, yet they miss them.
Meditate! Don't waste time in rationalizing your answers or seeking the answers outside. Without meditating, your answers may become right but YOU yourself will remain wrong!!!

--Matter of extraordinary wonder--

Zen Master Hyakujo's monastery was located on Daiyû Mountain.
A monk once asked Hyakujô, "What is the matter of extraordinary wonder?" 
Hyakujô said,"Sitting alone on Daiyû Peak!" 
The monk made a deep bow. Hyakujô thereupon hit him!

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No one can give you the truth. You have to meditate yourself. By practicing meditation you start living in the present moment. This is why master hit him to imply that no one can give anyone the truth!

-- The Seat --

A monk asked, "Teachers of our order say to 'abide' by sitting in the bodhi seat. What is the seat?"

Zen Master Changsha said, "Just now I'm sitting. Just now you're standing."

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Being in the present moment is the Bodhi seat!!