Enlightened and Unenlightened Are Empty Names
One Thursday evening, after a Dharma talk at the Cambridge Zen Center, a student asked Seung Sahn Soen-sa, "Is an enlightened man's behavior different from an unenlightened man's?"
Soen-sa said, "One, two, three, four, five, six. This begins with one. Where does one come from?"
"Mind."
"Mind? Where does mind come from?"
The student couldn't answer.
Soen-sa said, "Now your mind is don't-know mind. You only don't know. Where does mind come from? What is mind? I don't know. This don't-know is your true mind. This true mind cuts off all thinking. So mind is no mind. Why? True mind is empty mind. Empty mind is before thinking. Before thinking there are no words and no speech. So mind is no mind. Mind is only a name; it is made by thinking. If you cut off thinking, then there is no mind. If you are thinking, you have opposites: good and bad, enlightened and unenlightened. But if you cut off thinking, there are no opposites, there is only the Absolute. Opposites words are dead words. Absolute words are live words. Buddha said, 'All things have Buddha-nature.' But Zen Master Jo-ju, when somebody asked him if a dog has Buddha-nature, said, 'No!' Which answer is correct, Buddha's or Jo-ju's?"
"I think I see that. They're just words."
"Yah, just words. Then they are the same?"
"It doesn't matter. But what I want to know is how a man with empty mind differs in his behavior from a man with thinking mind."
"So I ask you: are Buddha's answer and Jo-ju's answer different or the same?"
"Well, all things have Buddha-nature. Some people know they have Buddha-nature and some people don't know they have Buddha-nature. Maybe the dog doesn't know."
Soen-sa said, "That is a very good answer. The dog doesn't know Buddha-nature, so he has no Buddha-nature. But if you gave me this answer during an interview, I would hit you thirty times. Why?"
"Uh…I'm not answering to play a game."
"And if you asked your question about an enlightened man's behavior during an interview, I would also hit you thirty times. Do you understand?"
"I understand that this question has no answer."
"It has many answers." (Laughter from the audience.) "But if you have not attained enlightenment, everything is different. If you attain enlightenment, all things become one. You must understand this."
The student bowed and said, "Thank you very much."
