Many of us entered Buddhism and Zen through our expectations of what we supposed Buddhism and Zen would be about. Many of us found out that it was like any other religion. There was the pastor and the congregation, only they had different names, but it seemed like the same routine.
We didn’t, fundamentally, have to change or adapt to something new and unexpected. Basically, it was a religion without God. Or if there was a God it was represented by Amitābha Buddha (J., Amida Butsu) or some other Buddha.
What I didn't find until much later was Buddhism, and this includes Zen, was about transforming yourself to be able to intuit, directly, your true nature. But one has to first abandon all presuppositions about what they think or imagine their true nature is.
This seems impossible to do because we have to transcend the binary structure of consciousness/vijñāna in which perceiving is a relative process which proceeds from a perceiver. This dual nature can never converge with the source which is never other than singular (S., eka).
Those who have accomplished realizing their true nature; who have transcended the perceiver and perceiving; who no longer swim in the ocean of relativity are truly enigmatic: their words and gestures are not understood by the unawakened.
Master Tao-wu's dance with his tablet, Master Shih-kung's aiming a bow, Master Mi-mo's holding a pair of tweezers, Master Chu-ti's raising a finger, Master Hsin-chou's striking the ground, Master Yün-yen's toy lion—all were displaying he great functioning of the Mind’ — Chinul (Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen)
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