Ungan said: “One is six…”

because that one contains all the energy of the six. It pulls every energy from every center into the flowering of the ultimate being, into becoming a buddha. The whole energy is absorbed.

Yakusan’s answer did not create a puzzle to Ungan. He commented,

“One is six; six is one.”

“Just a little more time. I am moving towards the one. Six will become one just as one contains all the six.”

This can be said only by a man who has reached to the sixth center, because from the sixth, you can see the seventh. It is just there, a very small distance. Everything is clear.

Ungan is only one step behind Yakusan, but he can see Yakusan. He has gathered the whole energy of the six centers into one. He is at the sixth, any moment he will be moving to the seventh. And then the six will become one.

This is a beautiful anecdote between a master and a would-be master, one who is going to become a master soon.

Later on, when Ungan visited Isan,

another enlightened master,

Isan said, “I have heard that when you were with Yakusan, you had a conversation about getting and dealing with lions. Is that true?”
“Yes, it is,” replied Ungan.
Isan asked, “Do you continue to deal with them, or do you sometimes stop doing that?”
Ungan replied, “When I want to, I deal with them; and when I want to stop, I stop.”

His answer is immensely beautiful and significant. A man who has gone beyond the mind to the seventh center is capable, if he wants to use the mind, of using it. I am using it, but only when I am talking to you. When I am sitting in my room, I am not using it.