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A THIRD MONK ASKED, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE COMING OF BODHIDHARMA FROM THE WEST?"

These are traditional Zen questions.

DOYO SAID, "MEETING NO ONE ON THE ANCIENT ROAD."

These small questions had been answered thousands of times by different masters in different ways, but they always brought a new light to it. Now Doyo is bringing a tremendous new insight: that Bodhidharma came to China from India, but wanted to meet no one; he wanted to meet someone whose ego had died, who was no more a personality but just a presence, a fragrance. This is MEETING NO ONE ON THE ANCIENT ROAD. All the buddhas have been moving in search of those who are ready to disappear into the ocean.

This is what we are doing here: trying in every possible way to put aside the mind that is given by the society, and to bring our innocence - the gift of nature - and disappear into the silence of the sky and the trees.

If your thoughts stop, you stop; then what remains is the divine dance of consciousness.

Hakuin has written a small poem:

YOU NO SOONER ATTAIN THE GREAT VOID THAN BODY AND MIND ARE LOST TOGETHER.

HEAVEN AND HELL - A STRAW.

THE BUDDHA-REALM, PANDEMONIUM - SHAMBLES.

LISTEN: A NIGHTINGALE STRAINS HER VOICE, SERENADING THE SNOW.

LOOK: A TORTOISE WEARING A SWORD CLIMBS THE LAMPSTAND.

SHOULD YOU DESIRE THE GREAT TRANQUILITY, PREPARE TO SWEAT WHITE BEADS.

These small poems stress a single point: that you have to be so receptive - with no obstruction to your eyes, to your ears, to your sensitivity - that the whole of life becomes a music, a poetry. Then everything starts looking different: the green is greener, the rose is rosier. It is the same song, but with a new meaning, a new significance; the same mirror, but there is no longer any dust gathered on it.

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