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Meditation cannot be taught directly

because it is not a mechanical technique,

but a living art.

Dogo had a disciple called Soshin.

Soshin waited long with his master

to be taught the art of meditation.

He expected lessons the way a schoolboy

is taught at school,

but there no special lessons were forthcoming,

and this bewildered and disappointed the disciple.

One day he said to the master:

It is a long time since I came here

but not a word has been given to me

regarding the essence of meditation.

Dogo laughed at this heartily and said:

What are you saying, my boy?

Since your arrival I have continually

been giving you lessons on the matter!

At this the poor disciple was even more bewildered

and for some time he could not think what to say.

Then one day he gathered courage and asked again:

What kind of lesson could it have been, sir?

Dogo said:

When you bring me a cup of tea in the morning, I take it;

when you serve me a meal, I accept it

and when you bow to me I return it with a nod.

How else do you expect to be taught in meditation?

Soshin hung his head

and began to think about the

puzzling words of the master,

but at this the master said again:

If you want to see, see, right at once,

because when you begin to think

you miss the point altogether.

308. Love.

Meditate, pray and wait.

Do not will anything,

for in you there is strength

greater than any strength of your own.

But it works only when your will is at rest.

309. Love.

Be free at the center;

let the center relax and die:

be only a circumference –

and this is the only renunciation I know.

No man is free until he is free at the center.

When he lets go then he is really free –

and then life is not anguish

and then life is not agony

because no hell can exist without the self, the center.

310. Love.

Do you hear me?

Do you see me?

I stand at the door and knock,

and I knock because of a promise made

in another life and another age.

311. Love.

Be in the crowd as if you are alone

and vice versa.

Receive a guest with the same attitude

you have when alone,

and when alone

maintain the same attitude you have in receiving guests.

In this way the drop drops into the ocean.

On retiring, sleep as if you have entered your last sleep,

and upon awakening be reborn again.

In this way the ocean drops into the drop.

312. Love.

Emptiness is not really emptiness:

rather, it is the all.

It is not negative:

rather, it is positivity itself.

It is out of it that everything is born

and to it everything returns.

It is the source and ground of all existence.

So whenever I say emptiness

I never mean just emptiness!

To me emptiness is not the absence of anything

but the presence of emptiness itself.

And now you can understand it

because you yourself are in it,

and it is in you.

Once a student asked Joshu: Sir, you teach that

we must empty our minds,

but I have nothing in my mind;

now what shall I do?

The old master laughed and said:

Throw it out!

But I have nothing. How can I throw it out?

If you can’t throw it out, carry it out!

Drive it out!

Empty it out!

But don’t stand there in front of me with nothing

in your mind!

313. Love.

Come here whenever it is possible.

You will always be welcomed.

And stay with me a little longer,

and let me help.

It will be difficult for you

because you will have to let go of yourself completely.

But it is not impossible –

and for you especially

because I have seen in you the great potential

that is awaiting its opportunity.

With you much that is impossible is possible.

There is a seed which is longing to explode.

Its very longing is the source of your search,

its longing is the tension that you are today

and its longing will be the freedom

that you will be tomorrow.

The essence is there and

the existence will follow if you so wish.

Please follow its call to the conclusion.

Go on doing meditation.

Do not seek results,

they will come by themselves when the time is ripe.

And the time is ripe

but you still are not.

Let meditation ripen you.

314. Love.

Life is non-fragmentary,

but mind makes it appear fragmentary;

and this fragmentation creates all the problems.

Beware of fragments

and always look beyond them

and below them

and through them –

then you will be able to see the ocean

in spite of all the waves.

The waves are in the ocean

but the waves are not the ocean.

The ocean can be without the waves

but the waves cannot be without the ocean.

315. Love.

Mind means duality