Zen and Enlightenment

[Zamurito]

~

Goso Hoyen, of the Sung dynasty, tells us the following to illustrate the Zen spirit that goes beyond intellect, logic, and verbalism:

"If people ask me what Zen is like I will say that it is like learning the art of burglary. The son of a burglar saw his father growing older and thought, 'If he is unable to carry on his profession, who will be the breadwinner of the family, except myself? I must learn the trade.' He intimated the idea to his father, who approved of it.

"One night the father took the son to a big house, broke through the fence, entered the house, and, opening one of the large chests, told the son to go in and pick out the clothing. As soon as the son got into it, the father dropped the lid and securely applied the lock. The father now came out to the courtyard and loudly knocked at the door, waking up the whole family; then he quietly slipped away by the hole in the fence. The residents got excited and lighted candles, but they found that the burglar had already gone.

"The son, who had remained all the time securely confined in the chest, thought of his cruel father. He was greatly mortified, then a fine idea flashed upon him. He made a noise like the gnawing of a rat. The family told the maid to take a candle and examine the chest. When the lid was unlocked, out came the prisioner, who blew out the light, pushed away the maid, and fled. The people ran after him. Noticing a well by the road, he picked up a large stone and threw it into the water. The pursuers all gathered around the well trying to find the burglar drowning himself in the dark hole.

"In the meantime he went safely back to his father's house. He blamed his father deeply for his narrow escape. Said the father, 'Be not offended, my son. Just tell me how you got out of it.' When the son told him all about his adventures, the father reamrked, 'There you are, you have learned the art.'

The idea of the story is to demonstrate the futility of verbal instruction and conceptual presentation as far as the experience of enlightenment is concerned. Satori must be the outgrowth of one's inner life and not a verbal implantation brought from the outside.